New Tuff Country EZ Ride Springs Bouncy

[1970BannerBlazer]

Just installed 4 new Tuff Country leaf springs and Bilstein shocks. I have to say I’m disappointed in how bouncy the truck is now.

I have their 4” ez ride lift setup which replaced an old Rancho 4” setup. The old springs weren’t bouncy but rock hard. The new Tuff Country bounce a ton more and don’t seem to reduce the hard bumps.

Also, now I have a bunch of wheel movement when I bounce where before I had none. Might be because I changed all the ball joints and there is no slop now.

Maybe it bounces because I have the weight of a 454 in the engine bay?

Anyone have experience with this issue?
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[hemi43]

Springs don't make truck bouncy, shocks do. Sounds like you need shocks with different valving.
Also, ball joints won't make any difference in ride quality especially on a solid front axle.

[LEEVON]

I just put a 4" EZ Ride on my '79 and it's definitely bouncy. But I haven't ridden in a spring lifted truck that's not. Of course the stock shocks are typical cheap "kit" shocks and an upgrade would surely help.

If you're having bump steer install a dual stabilizer, that will take care of 95% of that.

Did you follow the procedure on the shackles? Hand tight, then 40ft-lbs on the ground. If you cranked them down in the air they won't move properly that could contribute.

[1970BannerBlazer]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

I just put a 4" EZ Ride on my '79 and it's definitely bouncy. But I haven't ridden in a spring lifted truck that's not. Of course the stock shocks are typical cheap "kit" shocks and an upgrade would surely help.

If you're having bump steer install a dual stabilizer, that will take care of 95% of that.

Did you follow the procedure on the shackles? Hand tight, then 40ft-lbs on the ground. If you cranked them down in the air they won't move properly that could contribute.

I had my mechanic do the install so I will ask them. My old setup with crappy Rancho shocks and stabilizer never had bump steer. I have a Bilstein on there now. Hard for me to believe it’s worse than what was on there.

[1970BannerBlazer]

Originally Posted by hemi43

Springs don't make truck bouncy, shocks do. Sounds like you need shocks with different valving.
Also, ball joints won't make any difference in ride quality especially on a solid front axle.

Interesting.
These are on the rear, https://www.summitracing.com/parts/BSN-33-104652

These are on the front, https://www.summitracing.com/parts/bsn-33-186542

From what I gather these are the shocks most people, including ORD, recommend.

[hemi43]

I also have tuff country springs ( 2") with Rancho 5000 shocks, and have no complaints.

I'm not sure what kind of ride you expect out of your Blazer, but if you want it to ride like a modern vehicle, that will never happen. I mean, mine bounces a bit too, but that's just the way these trucks are. They are short wheelbased (only 104") and have solid axles. I guess if this is your first Blazer, you may not be used to the way they are supposed to ride. They are similar to Jeeps, and you may just have to learn to live with the way it behaves.

As I've said 100 times on here, the best improvement you can do to make these trucks handle better, especially with a bit of a lift and taller tires, is to increase your caster angle with tapered shims. You want around 6 1/2 degrees of caster.

I've had a few people on here PM me telling me they did this and were amazed with the improvement. If you decide to do this and don't want to do the work yourself, make sure you go to an alignment shop that understands off-road vehicles, because an ordinary shop will just align it to factory specs which don't work with lifts and taller tires.

[1970BannerBlazer]

Originally Posted by hemi43

I also have tuff country springs ( 2") with Rancho 5000 shocks, and have no complaints.

I'm not sure what kind of ride you expect out of your Blazer, but if you want it to ride like a modern vehicle, that will never happen. I mean, mine bounces a bit too, but that's just the way these trucks are. They are short wheelbased (only 104") and have solid axles. I guess if this is your first Blazer, you may not be used to the way they are supposed to ride. They are similar to Jeeps, and you may just have to learn to live with the way it behaves.

As I've said 100 times on here, the best improvement you can do to make these trucks handle better, especially with a bit of a lift and taller tires, is to increase your caster angle with tapered shims. You want around 6 1/2 degrees of caster.

I've had a few people on here PM me telling me they did this and were amazed with the improvement. If you decide to do this and don't want to do the work yourself, make sure you go to an alignment shop that understands off-road vehicles, because an ordinary shop will just align it to factory specs which don't work with lifts and taller tires.

I expect it to still be a rough ride it’s just that I also expected that installing new, quality components wouldn’t make the ride worse. It is significant more bouncy now that before. Before I would hit large bumps and it would shock the truck. But it never bounced.

I’ll see if I can find an off-road alignment shop around me and try the caster angle out. Thanks for the tip.

[1970BannerBlazer]

Originally Posted by hemi43

I also have tuff country springs ( 2") with Rancho 5000 shocks, and have no complaints.

I'm not sure what kind of ride you expect out of your Blazer, but if you want it to ride like a modern vehicle, that will never happen. I mean, mine bounces a bit too, but that's just the way these trucks are. They are short wheelbased (only 104") and have solid axles. I guess if this is your first Blazer, you may not be used to the way they are supposed to ride. They are similar to Jeeps, and you may just have to learn to live with the way it behaves.

As I've said 100 times on here, the best improvement you can do to make these trucks handle better, especially with a bit of a lift and taller tires, is to increase your caster angle with tapered shims. You want around 6 1/2 degrees of caster.

I've had a few people on here PM me telling me they did this and were amazed with the improvement. If you decide to do this and don't want to do the work yourself, make sure you go to an alignment shop that understands off-road vehicles, because an ordinary shop will just align it to factory specs which don't work with lifts and taller tires.

So the shims go just in the front or in the back as well?

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by 1970BannerBlazer

So the shims go just in the front or in the back as well?

Just the front. You want more caster, so you need to rotate the axle clockwise looking at it from the driver's side. There's already around 3 degrees built into the axle assembly, so you want to add another 3 degrees to end up around 6.
FWIW, this mod does nothing to help the ride quality, but what it does is make the truck go down the road nicely and prevents darting from side to side. Lots of toe in helps too but at the cost of wearing out tires. The sweet spot I found with 33" tall tires is 3/16" toe in. 1/4" feels better but I want some life out of the tires.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/bel-4976

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by 1970BannerBlazer

I expect it to still be a rough ride it’s just that I also expected that installing new, quality components wouldn’t make the ride worse. It is significant more bouncy now that before. Before I would hit large bumps and it would shock the truck. But it never bounced.

I’ll see if I can find an off-road alignment shop around me and try the caster angle out. Thanks for the tip.

The ride is something you will have to play with and fine tune, but it will never be perfect because of the inherit design of these Blazers.

All the springs do is support the truck, and the weight of the truck will determine what spring rate you'll need. If you have too high of a spring rate ( too many leaves or too thick) then you will get a hard ride regardless of the type of shock you have because the springs wont flex enough.

What you want is the lowest spring rate to support the truck ( which sounds like that's what you have) and then the ride quality can be tuned by shock selection.

As I said before, you may have to live with it bouncing a bit because the fix is to use a shock with a higher dampening rate, but then that comes at a cost of ride quality. IMO, I would live with a bit of bounce to not have my truck ride like a skateboard.

[1970BannerBlazer]

Originally Posted by hemi43

The ride is something you will have to play with and fine tune, but it will never be perfect because of the inherit design of these Blazers.

All the springs do is support the truck, and the weight of the truck will determine what spring rate you'll need. If you have too high of a spring rate ( too many leaves or too thick) then you will get a hard ride regardless of the type of shock you have because the springs wont flex enough.

What you want is the lowest spring rate to support the truck ( which sounds like that's what you have) and then the ride quality can be tuned by shock selection.

As I said before, you may have to live with it bouncing a bit because the fix is to use a shock with a higher dampening rate, but then that comes at a cost of ride quality. IMO, I would live with a bit of bounce to not have my truck ride like a skateboard.

I was speaking with my mechanic and he also believes it’s the shocks that are causing the issue. Which is weird because these Bilsetins are the ones people swear by.

He suggested taking a look at the Rancho adjustable dampening shocks. That way I can play around with the stiffness to see if I can reduce the bounce but not make the ride too harsh.

So far I’m very disappointed in my $3000 spend. I was driving in HomeDepot yesterday and they had some speed bumps. I took the first ones very slow, the truck still bounced. The last one ended up going just a bit faster and I swear the truck front end caught air. My speed was less than a slow walk.

Anyway, I think I’ll experiment with the shocks first.

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by 1970BannerBlazer

I was speaking with my mechanic and he also believes it’s the shocks that are causing the issue. Which is weird because these Bilsetins are the ones people swear by.

He suggested taking a look at the Rancho adjustable dampening shocks. That way I can play around with the stiffness to see if I can reduce the bounce but not make the ride too harsh.

So far I’m very disappointed in my $3000 spend. I was driving in HomeDepot yesterday and they had some speed bumps. I took the first ones very slow, the truck still bounced. The last one ended up going just a bit faster and I swear the truck front end caught air. My speed was less than a slow walk.

Anyway, I think I’ll experiment with the shocks first.

Take the shocks off completely and drive it.

Over a bump if the springs are soft it will bounce, then oscillate and settle-out over a few seconds with a real "floaty" feeling.

If the springs are too stiff, it will probably not feel all that different than it does now. It will give you a hard hit on the bump with almost no "float" afterward.... the way it reacts will quickly isolate if you have a spring issue or a shock issue.


-G

[52napco]

The 5100 Bilsteins are the best shock for the money..if you want a better ride you need to put ORD/Alcan springs..I took 4" ez ride tuff country of mine and put the Alcans on and you would not believe the difference...wish you were closer to drive it to see...

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by 1970BannerBlazer

So far I’m very disappointed in my $3000 spend. I was driving in HomeDepot yesterday and they had some speed bumps. I took the first ones very slow, the truck still bounced. The last one ended up going just a bit faster and I swear the truck front end caught air. My speed was less than a slow walk.

Anyway, I think I’ll experiment with the shocks first.

TBH, I wouldn't put anymore money into it because you already have excellent components. Spend some time now and tune the front end by use of shims, alignment and a front anti-sway bar if you already don't have one.

If you talk to the Bronco guys, they are dealing with the same problems and it all boils down to the short wheel base.

I think the only fix would be to get a Suburban!

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by hemi43

TBH, I wouldn't put anymore money into it because you already have excellent components. Spend some time now and tune the front end by use of shims, alignment and a front anti-sway bar if you already don't have one.

If you talk to the Bronco guys, they are dealing with the same problems and it all boils down to the short wheel base.

I think the only fix would be to get a Suburban!

Things like increasing caster, alignment and front swaybar are more like "Round 2" upgrades.... none of them will really improve the issue the OP is complaining about. But once the spring rate / shock package is worked out those are all good suggestions.

In the good old days, I ran a set of custom ORD/Alcan leafs up front. It was a 9-leaf (thin) pack with an overall rate of 237Lb/in. SOFT!!!! Flexed like mad and drove awesome on the road... however, it immediately amplified the bumpsteer from the lousy stock GM "push/pull" draglink... which was fixed with crossover steering. Caster was set to around 6 degrees so the return-to-center feel was great and the truck tracked nice and straight down the road. The ultra-soft springs were an issue on twisty roads and had a lot of body roll. You can't really fix that with shocks.... ultimately, a late-model Blazer swaybar was added (with ORD disconnects) to make the street handling more acceptable.

It's a balance for sure. A soft riding spring with good quality shocks and swaybars is probably going to be best all-around compromise.

PS. This is a BBC truck also, not that it matters.



-G

[Willowrun]

You are front heavy with the BB. Bilsteins are soft and can be bouncy. Rancho 5000's offer more dampening. Spend $100 and throw some Rancho 5000's up front and see if you notice anything.
To me bouncy means under shocked. Stiff means over sprung.

[1970BannerBlazer]

Originally Posted by hemi43

I also have tuff country springs ( 2") with Rancho 5000 shocks, and have no complaints.

I'm not sure what kind of ride you expect out of your Blazer, but if you want it to ride like a modern vehicle, that will never happen. I mean, mine bounces a bit too, but that's just the way these trucks are. They are short wheelbased (only 104") and have solid axles. I guess if this is your first Blazer, you may not be used to the way they are supposed to ride. They are similar to Jeeps, and you may just have to learn to live with the way it behaves.

As I've said 100 times on here, the best improvement you can do to make these trucks handle better, especially with a bit of a lift and taller tires, is to increase your caster angle with tapered shims. You want around 6 1/2 degrees of caster.

I've had a few people on here PM me telling me they did this and were amazed with the improvement. If you decide to do this and don't want to do the work yourself, make sure you go to an alignment shop that understands off-road vehicles, because an ordinary shop will just align it to factory specs which don't work with lifts and taller tires.

I looked at the shims. Would these raise the front up or does the rotation + shims place it at the same height? I’m asking because right now I have about 1/2” before I can’t get into my garage. Also, it currently has a very slight reverse rake. I’m hoping that this goes away as the springs settle a bit.

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by 1970BannerBlazer

I looked at the shims. Would these raise the front up or does the rotation + shims place it at the same height? I’m asking because right now I have about 1/2” before I can’t get into my garage. Also, it currently has a very slight reverse rake. I’m hoping that this goes away as the springs settle a bit.

They will raise the front, but minimally. I guess in theory they will raise the front around 1/4", but because the windshield header is rearward I would guess it would raise it 1/8".