Rear end suspension issue

[YungICY]

I have an 85 std cab shortbed ranger. My rear suspension is driving me insane. It is ridiculously stiff and any time I drive on somewhat soft dirt or gravel or anything I get a ridiculous amount of wheel hop (if that's what its called) to the point that I almost can't even press the gas pedal. And with it being so stiff I ended up just drifting and chasing the rear end the entire time as it slides around from every little bump.



I have stock rear suspension with recently replaced struts but I do have flipped shackles.



Any idea as to why my rear end is so ridiculous? Worn out leafs? Shackle flip? Wrong struts?









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[swynx]

Standard cab shortbed....

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

If you can find a set, there are Rangers that came with fiberglass monoleaf rear springs. Those and over the spring traction bars will really help.

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[alwaysFlOoReD]

Struts? What struts?
Trucks behave as you describe naturally because they have a fairly stiff spring rate for when carrying loads. If you don't carry a load in your bed often you can try one of the following;
-There are a few people that swear by the 63" chevy spring mod.
-You may try using one less leaf in the spring pack.
-Another idea is using thinner leaves from a b-II or other scrap yard leaf-pack and adjusting how many leaves in the pack.
All these ideas take a fair amount of work and so if you do one or the other, please report back with your results.
Good luck,

Richard

 

[Road Angels]

ruff

60lbs sand bag over each wheel also if you have over load springs on your shocks take them off, also make sure your not bottoming your shocks from the flip

 

[TrueTarzan]

Shocks?

If by when you say you replaced the struts you mean shock absorbers in the rear i would make sure you got the right ones. If the shocks are meant for a taller truck they would be sitting at the bottom of the "travel zone" if you will and constantly bottoming out giving a nasty harsh ride. This would really only apply to the driving concern starting after the shocks were replaced.

 

[wildbill23c]

Its a truck, the back end is light so its going to hop and skip all over the place on rough rutted roads, my Bronco 2 does the same thing, my 1988 Ford F-250 does the same thing, my 1999 Dodge Ram did the same thing, every truck I've owned and driven does the exact same thing. My advice: Throw some weight in the bed couple hundred pounds will settle it down.

 

[YungICY]

Yeah I meant shocks. My bad.



I realize that any truck is going to be fairly rough as they're maid to carry a load, but this ain't my first rodeo by any means. When I say its ridiculous I mean its bad and gotten progressively worse.



With the flip I have about 3" of room which isn't much and I understand on a decent sized bump I will have a pretty good jolt but on a pretty smooth road it would be fine.



With removing a leaf and making my rear end softer is that not going to increase my axle hop whilst accelerating in softer dirt and gravel? My logic could just be as backwards on this one.





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[alwaysFlOoReD]

Yeah I meant shocks. My bad.



I realize that any truck is going to be fairly rough as they're maid to carry a load, but this ain't my first rodeo by any means. When I say its ridiculous I mean its bad and gotten progressively worse.



With the flip I have about 3" of room which isn't much and I understand on a decent sized bump I will have a pretty good jolt but on a pretty smooth road it would be fine.
Why did you do the flip?


With removing a leaf and making my rear end softer is that not going to increase my axle hop whilst accelerating in softer dirt and gravel? My logic could just be as backwards on this one.

With the flip it will be next to impossible to remove a leaf. And yes I agree with increased axle hop under acceleration. Do you get the same skipping sideways when under decel or coast?



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Richard

 

[YungICY]

I did the flip because I'm trying to upgrade to deavers. Long story short, I got bored one day and flipped them cuz I already built and installed my long travel beams.



I do still get the skipping and sliding under decel and coast but not as bad as accel.





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[alwaysFlOoReD]

I would wait until you install the deavers to make any decisions. I now suspect your original springs are pooched and the problems will go away once you swap in new springs. You could try clamping the front half of the springs together to make them act more like a single bar, It may help spring hop.

Richard

 

[Teddyzee]

Good shocks help, and so would a limited slip diff of your choice. The wheels hop less when they don't spin.

 

[YungICY]

Thanks guys. I'll try clamping them together for now and see if that helps. When I save up and put some deavers with some big fox shocks with reservoirs I figure that should take care of pretty well all the issues.



I didn't think about a lsd helping but that totally makes sense. I've been looking for a loc rite but I'm gonna swap out my rear end first because I have the 3.08 gears and tires that are like 4.5" taller that the stock ones so power and mpgs have greatly suffered.





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