Rerun on hard ride

[Art Wallsi]

I know this has been gone over before but I can not really get a satisfactory answer in search as to why my 97ex rides so hard besides the fact that it is a truck. Mine is real bad terrible bad. I have driven my Sons 93 Ranger a couple of times and it rides considerably smoother than my Ex. I have passenger tires and he has Lt tires. I did not measure but the wheel base but looks the same on both. I don't know if it makes any difference but both have the 4.0 engine (mineSOHC) his standard Tranny mine Automatic. It is hard to believe there can be that much difference in two similar trucks

Thanks --Art

 

[97greenmonster]

Wow, i have A/T's with the sohc 97, and mine rides nicer than a car. We rented a galant and that felt like a truck, felt ever tiny bump. Idk what to say. that surprises me. Id guess check you entier suspension and make sure everthing is working propertly. Go by a haynes or Chiltons and follow what they say.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

His Ranger is going to have more flex because the cab is seperate from the bed. An Explorer is more or less a one piece body. I also garantee your Explorer has a shorter wheel base than his Ranger.

The shorter the wheel base the stiffer the ride. Also his Ranger has a TTB (twin traction beam) as opposed to your Explorers torsion bar front suspenion.

 

[Art Wallsi]

I think I messed up I should have said Explorer Sport in case it makes any diff. It has 88,000 miles and far as I know these are the orignal shocks. I wonder if I should put new shocks and if so what would be the best choice.

Thanks again---Art

 

[gijoecam]

I think I messed up I should have said Explorer Sport in case it makes any diff. It has 88,000 miles and far as I know these are the orignal shocks. I wonder if I should put new shocks and if so what would be the best choice.

Thanks again---Art

Uuuh, yeah. Your shocks were shot long ago. The OEM shocks are good for about 20,000 miles at best. IMHO, they're not good from the start, but that's just my opinion.

It's going to ride stiff... the torsion bar front suspension coupled with the leaf spring rear, combined with the short wheelbase and body-on-frame architecture generally results in a vehicle that {gasping in horror} rides like the truck it is.

What tire pressures are you running?

-Joe

 

[Art Wallsi]

Am running 30#. I don't know for sure about shocks but the guy I bought it from said he had never had any major work done on but it he sure could have changed the shocks and maybe made other small repairs that would not be considered major. I think I will change them just to make sure. I wonder what would be a good brand that would give the best ride posible considering that it is never going ride like a limo.

 

[gijoecam]

I've got a set of Monroe SensaTracs brand new with all the hardware you can have for $100 to your door.... they were a great riding shock, I just wanted something firmer when I replaced them. I like a more 'trucky' ride than they provided, so I replaced them with a set of Rancho RSXs.

Many people also swear by the Bilsteins for on-road use. They're a bit more expensive but Bilstein makes a good shock...

 

[cgriffin_5139]

oh and living in vegas dosent help eather there freeway are all cement

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I like and prefer monroe sensa trac for street driving- oh and the roads around vegas are rough. Sports just ride choppy to me, I've been in many different models, with passenger tires and LT's, they all ride kind of rough. You could do a reverse TT to soften the front a bit, but it will lower it a bit.

 

[cgriffin_5139]

Oh yeah my monroe sensa trac's are sweet!