I thought ex's were Strong!!

[jar2187]

The other day my sister had to bring a table back to sams club so I offered to take her and it in my truck. Table was out of the box. Only 3 of us in the truck, my sister her son and I, all together probably weigh only 250 ish. The table only weighs about 40-50 lbs. I put it in the back diagnoly across the 40% so that way it was leaning on it. Well driving their the ex felt completely different, almost like I was pulling a huge boat or something. It didnt have the same pick up, I expect it to be decreased but not at much as it was. The rear end felt like it was draging itself across the ground. The whole ex just felt like it was slugish and no power. Something must no be right, people pull boats and stuff that weighs more than this stupid table. It just really bothers me, I thought my ex was tuff. Anyone know what could be the problem?

 

[Robb]

Shocks bad or rear leafs worn out would contribute to the sagging.

If this was in your '92, the truck is 12 years old now and probably around 150K+ miles on it..................it isn't a new truck anymore.

 

[410Fortune]

ON the + side, it is perfectly capable of towing or hauling, but not as capable as it was when it was new.

Why?

Because leaf springs wear out with time, they flatten out. Does the rear of your 92 Ex sag? If it doesn you might consider an add a leaf or some spring hangers.

Also your shocks are probably toasted

I have a 88 BII with 257K miles on it. I tow a 4000# boat with it. HOWEVER I have done extensive modifications to the truck in order to be able to tow a boat with it.......so basically your truck can haul quite a load, but before you do you need to perfrom some basic maintenence to it.

 

[JDraper]

Yep, time for some maintenance. When was the last time you changed plugs & wires, and your shocks? Yesterday I hauled 600 sq. ft. of hardwood flooring inside the rear of my X and it performed perfectly. Suspension sat down a couple of inches, but it drove fine and accelerated fine.

 

[Alec]

And the more worn your rear suspension is the harder it is to get power to the ground, so it will feel like your motor isn't doing anything.

 

[jar2187]

I knew I would get replies first with a subject like that.
Ok here we go. The Ex has exactly 150300 ish miles on it, Robb 10 points to you. Shocks were replaced like 3 months ago, I was going to go with Bilsteins(may have spelled it wrong dont shut me), but instead the cheapness inside took over and I got the $12 ones there like Gabriel heavy duty or something like that. The reason I got these is this was what pepboys had and one of my front shocks broke a lower shock mount bolt which in turn wore a whole in the shock so i was desprit. The road nice for a few days and now ride even worse then the old ones. The rear doesnt sag when it sitting on flat ground and when I had the table it wasnt sagging it just felt as though it was. Plugs and Wires were changed a month ago.

 

[410Fortune]

remember shocks dont control spring rate or ride height. Shocks simply control spring re-bound, the spring is responsible for taking the weight of the vehicle.


leaf springs wear out.
Your Ex should be fully capable of hauling 4 people and a full cargo area of materials, yes any load will put more strain on the engine and drivetrain.

If you feel your Ex was too sluggish from this weight you may be right, something may be wrong! Is it an auto tranny? did you notice excessive heat or any tranny slipping?

 

[jar2187]

Nope no tranny sliping or excess heat, When I hit pot whole the truck just falls in it like no shocks are there.

 

[410Fortune]

okay if the truck feels like that normally then you need to do some maintnenece.

Now a 92 with 150K + miles on it will need:
sway bar bushings front and rear (huge difference in ride) Use urethane bushings.
New radius arm bushings
New spring eye bushings (leaf)
Better shocks (Gabriels are okay, but they are not as good as you can get, dont buy $12 shocks and expect a better ride)

at the very least!

Now that is all without really getting dirty, with those miles your leaf springs and front coils are probably shot, but unless you plan to keep it forever, its not worth the $$$ to replace.

 

[jar2187]

The radius arm bushing I know are shot because it will klunke sometimes. The sway bar bushing are black, factory maybe, and are falling apart, should I still change them. Oh yea I have to do ball joints too so that will come first. Should I get the cheap ball joints or the middle range ones

 

[MONMIX]

Try that in a Civic

 

[jar2187]

try what in a civic

 

[GaSouthern1]

Also, the OHV motor is not exacly a torue monster so dont expect it to tow a 20 foot boat like it is not behind you. With that said, it sounds like you have some suspension matinence to do, your truck should have no problem with a 50lb table.

 

[mhn3773]

did u clean the air filter?? i ask because i know it gets over looked sometimes..and well my friends car had probably the orig air filter in it and it has 90k miles on it so when we replaced it it was a HUGE difference...just a thought

 

[MONMIX]

Originally posted by jar2187
try what in a civic

Hauling that table

 

[explr1]

Originally posted by MONMIX
Hauling that table

Throw it on the roof and hold it down with duct tape, no problem for Civic's

 

[jar2187]

Air filter might be dirty but I changed it a few months back

 

[Texan01]

I've hauled my entire dorm room in my X with no problems, despite lowering my X 1" it never sat down on the axle didn't even hit bottom on a particularly bad stretch of road, it's performance was a tad slower hauling probably 1300# of stuff inside. I've even packed it floor to celing full of camping stuff and it didn't complain one bit. and that's with 140,000 miles on it and the tranny and 60,000 on the $20 gabriel shocks.

But my X is noticlbly slower with a load of people on board than unloaded.

 

[biggs85]

I would try and replace some other stuff too such as the fuel filter, spark plugs, and wires. It won't help that much but it might help a little and its good to do it anyway .

 

[mhn3773]

try disconecting the batt..mabey the computer needs to be reset? or does it not work that way =)