Suspension upgrades?

[85_Ranger4x4]

It's kind of a common sense thing.... Want a better "road" ride.... don't buy an off-road package.

Historically the off road packages have had a firmer ride, not bouncier.

IMO I wonder if the shocks are inconsistent. Some folks say play it up like it is similar to riding down a river in a bathtub and others say it is fine.

I have never ridden in one but the same was not said for the older Rangers when new and I don’t see how it can be both ways... unless maybe some bad shocks sneaked out.

 

[HenryMac]

Historically the off road packages have had a firmer ride, not bouncier.

IMO I wonder if the shocks are inconsistent. Some folks say play it up like it is similar to riding down a river in a bathtub and others say it is fine.

I have never ridden in one but the same was not said for the older Rangers when new and I don’t see how it can be both ways... unless maybe some bad shocks sneaked out.

IMO a part of the issue is the rear mono leaf springs.

The Ranger has best in class towing and payload. That means the rear leaf springs need to be up to the task.

With multi leaf springs you get a decent ride before the overload springs engage. My experience is that's not true with a monoleaf rear spring arrangement.

 

[sgtsandman]

You may have a point on the springs. They are the first I've ever encountered that I know of. Everything up until now had been either coil or multi-leaf packs.

Like 85_Ranger4X4 said, my experience with off road package trucks or truck built for off road has always been that they had a stiffer ride. Not to say I'm an expert in the subject matter. I just find a softer suspension to be counter intuitive for trail riding. Overlanding and desert racing may be a different story.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Overlanding and desert racing may be a different story.

Overlanding trucks, especially midsize get heavy pretty fast, I would put them in the high payload/trail riding instead of the jumping sand dune category.

 

[Abox5]

Ok update, I ordered some Rough Country N3 rear shocks. I know Rough Country is Chinese garbage, but they were really cheap ($44 ea) and no one else is offering replacement shocks for the new Rangers yet. So I thought it would be worth a bash. I threw them on this morning. Took about 20 mins. I have to say they were a nice improvement. The rear end seems much more planted on the road and the bouncing has been reduced immensely. But they also highlight how poorly the front end is damped now. Overall, I would call the experiment a success. I will use these until Blistein or Eibach offer a full set of shocks and then upgrade to those.

Another quick update. I bought a full set of Bilstein 5100 front and rears. Installed them today. Back is easy as it can be, but the front‘s take a while and you’ll need some spring compressors and two jacks. The ride quality is a big improvement over the stock shocks and struts. It still has a nice ride, on the soft side, but the Bilsteins stop the bobbing when you stop or hit an uneven patch. My truck doesn’t rock back and forth at stop signs anymore. The set was $398, nice improvement for the price.

 

[sgtsandman]

Another quick update. I bought a full set of Bilstein 5100 front and rears. Installed them today. Back is easy as it can be, but the front‘s take a while and you’ll need some spring compressors and two jacks. The ride quality is a big improvement over the stock shocks and struts. It still has a nice ride, on the soft side, but the Bilsteins stop the bobbing when you stop or hit an uneven patch. My truck doesn’t rock back and forth at stop signs anymore. The set was $398, nice improvement for the price.

Thank you for confirming what I thought was a dampening problem with the shocks. $400 isn't bad for a full set of shocks. I think I paid more than that for the shocks on my 2011.

 

[MXGOLF]

A ford friend of mine said Bilstein is the way to go for shocks. You can't rebuild them but I would not rather rebuild them just get new. I am planning on doing that before next summer. My truck is only 2 months old anyway.

 

[sgtsandman]

You can have shocks rebuilt? Mine are generally too rusty by the time I'm done with them to even think about rebuilding them.

 

[MXGOLF]

I think the Fox shocks are rebuildable!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You can have shocks rebuilt? Mine are generally too rusty by the time I'm done with them to even think about rebuilding them.

Desert people have fun with that stuff.

They get crunchy in unrebuildable ways around here too.

 

[JOLENE_THE_RANGER]

if youre doing any sort of adventuring or exploring offroad bilsteins are OK but will never do what a king or fox does. the adjustability is one thing, but the longevity is another. small shocks like bilstein will heat up fast on what ever trail youre on and when oil heats up it thins out making your shocks dampening capability's diminish quicker than youd think. fox and king have much bigger shock bodies and most of the time external reservoirs to store more oil. more oil means more cooling. more cooling means a more firm and controlled ride on the trail for longer. heres some photos of neglected shocks vs rebuilt shocks

 

[HenryMac]

You may have a point on the springs. They are the first I've ever encountered that I know of. Everything up until now had been either coil or multi-leaf packs.

My 1st car was a '70 Nova, with a 230 inline six and 3 on the tree. It came from the factory with mono leaf rear springs. Same was true for 6 banger Camaro's of that era. The difference though is those were just one thickness. The 5th gen Ranger spring is thicker at the axle and then tapers down toward the eye's at the end.

I used this same sort of spring on my '27 Ford RPU. It's really stiff also. Well not so much stiff as they rebound differently.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My 1st car was a '70 Nova, with a 230 inline six and 3 on the tree. It came from the factory with mono leaf rear springs. Same was true for 6 banger Camaro's of that era. The difference though is those were just one thickness. The 5th gen Ranger spring is thicker at the axle and then tapers down toward the eye's at the end.

I used this same sort of spring on my '27 Ford RPU. It's really stiff also. Well not so much stiff as they rebound differently.

View attachment 52593

Ford calls the rear springs in the Ranger "parabolic"

Parabolic Springs

 

[HenryMac]

Ford calls the rear springs in the Ranger "parabolic"

Parabolic Springs

Which is stupid... because they aren't... more elliptical than parabolic, as the link you provided states.

I guess "elliptical mono leaf spring of varying thickness", while accurate, isn't "catchy" enough.

Parabola - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Curious Hound]

Parabolic springs

Sounds like a pleasant place for a vacation.