Rough ride on '01 Sport 2WD - torsion adjustment?
Yesterday I had a tire store put new rear brakes and rotors on my son's '01 Explorer Sport 2WD with 102,000 miles. I mentioned to mechanic about how rough the ride has been in last few years on the X, even though his store replaced the Reflex shocks in 2005 at 60,000 miles with Monroe Sensatrac shocks, due the harsh ride. They had replaced the 4 original shocks in 2003 at 30,000 miles with the Monroe Reflex shocks. I was told that they should not have put Reflex shocks on our X in first place, due to stiffness of that particular shock. The Sensatrac shocks improved ride a little, but it is still real bad. When you go over any size bump, you can really feel it and a big speed bump almost knocks you out of your seat. I do not remember the ride being so rough when we bought the truck new and long after that - daughter drove it 98% of time until son took it over a couple of years ago and she never complained and does not recall if it was bad. After having mentioned this rough ride problem to many mechanics over the years, this mechanic said it appears that the X is not sitting level and that I need to have the torsion bar adjusted which should improve how it takes bumps in the road. To my knowledge, no one has ever adjusted the torsion bar or never mentioned it if they did. My son is encouraging me to sell the X, mainly due to the choppy ride. He much prefers to drive our '98 Ranger 4WD which does have a much smoother ride even with big tires (LT31/1050R15). Will adjusting our stock X with BFG 235/75/15 tires make much, if any, difference in ride quality? Any other suggestions for improving ride or is this the nature of this short wheel based truck? Thanks for any input.