Washboard roads....

[sundown]

Mmmmmmyyyyyy '''9999966666 Sppppppoorrtttttt hhhhoooppssss ssssiiiiddddeeewayyyyyyssss.....

(*pulls to the shoulder of the road)

The rear end of my 96 Sport hops out sideways something fierce on washboard roads....worse than anything I've ever driven. Anyone else have this problem? It has the stock shocks, I'm replacing them with RS9000's soon, but I'm not sure this will help. Won't firmer shocks make it worse?

All in all, I guess it could be worse.....I could have Hurculiner on my Hootus.

[Edited by sundown on 08-18-2000 at 11:53 AM]

 

[Tom Wilk]

Shocks are the primary culprit. Mine used to do that with the stock shock/spring setup even on paved streets. Any good sized bump would send the rear end skittering sideways. Ironically, after a trip to Moab, the bouncing problem improved for some reason.

I bought OME Nitro-charged shocks for all four corners (along with OME rear springs) which made a huge improvement.

You may want to check your tire pressure as well; if you keep them really hard, you will get more sideways bounce. The tires absorb some of the initial jounce. If you have Firestones, don't go too soft. I would tend to keep them at about 30 psi or higher.

 

[Robert]

I get around it by switching to 4x4 high. There are many desert roads around here that are like a washboard. It sure seems silly to put it in 4x4 high on a dry dirt road, but at least it keeps the backend in check. My Edelbrock shocks did help a little though.

 

[William Schumacher]

4X4 high for street roads ?

Robert:, I'm not sure if I understood you when you said you put it in 4X4 high for street driving,I don't think that's good for the 4X4 system,(not enough slip) if you were to make a turn on dry ground and the wheels could not slip,you could damage the system,maybe I misunderstood you.
Tom summed it up well !!,better shocks,not as much psi in the tires,and the ome springs did wonders !!!

 

[Ru Dawg]

washboard roads

ok, call me stupid..but what is a "washboard road"?

 

[William Schumacher]

rippled road

ripples very close together in a tight series of bumps,sometimes happens from the heat or on truck routes from the weight of the big trucks,if you were to hit them at 40-50,with less than a 1/4 tank the back could bounce out to the side,

 

[Peter Weber]

Bill,
as sundown and Tom have said, the backend of the truck bounces and skitters all over on a washboard road. That is caused by the ruts across the road, hence the name washboard. The wheels bounce and loose contact with the road constantly, so it's save to drive in 4x4 mode.
I have found that by speeding up you sometimes can get so your truck kind of floats over the road irregularities. Unfortunately quite often you have to go fast enough to be on the edge of loosing traction around any bends or curves. Makes you feel like on the track with the tail end hanging out.
Ask Gofast how much fun that is.

 

[William Schumacher]

But I guess it aint is bad as
Hurculiner on the Hootus

how did he do that anyway ouch. . . .

 

[sundown]

Actually, what I meant by washboard roads was a lot of bumps (20-50 yards) extremely close together (high frequency), but on dirt roads. I'll take a pix.

 

[Ru Dawg]

OK I GET IT NOW!

Just never heard them called that...actually had those problems in my '95 ranger all the time. I took a corner one time and hit a "washboard" during the turn and I'm not kidding the rear tires came about 12" off the ground and the rear end swung out a good 5 feet! when it landed sounded like the rear axle broke in-half!

 

[Peter Weber]

Ripples across the road, a couple inches apart, half inch to an inch deep. Is that what you mean? If so, I'll stick to what I said above.

 

[William Schumacher]

nope !

Peter:, that's not what I meant,the ripples that i'm talking about were about 2-3" high,and at least 3-4" wide,they are called washboard,however,I was just giving an explanation to
Ru-dawg,like I said,hit them at 30-40 with not much in the tank and you will know it in a hurry.

 

[Peter Weber]

Bill, I think we're talking about the same thing. As long as the ripples are across the road, right?

 

[Robert]

Re: 4X4 high for street roads ?

Originally posted by William Schumacher
Robert:, I'm not sure if I understood you when you said you put it in 4X4 high for street driving,I don't think that's good for the 4X4 system,(not enough slip) if you were to make a turn on dry ground and the wheels could not slip,you could damage the system,maybe I misunderstood you.
Tom summed it up well !!,better shocks,not as much psi in the tires,and the ome springs did wonders !!!

NO! not pavement The washboard roads I am talking about are the dirt, washboard roads as I indicated in my post. I definately do not recommend driving in 4x4 high on pavement if it sounded that way. Y

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by Peter Weber
Bill,
as sundown and Tom have said, the backend of the truck bounces and skitters all over on a washboard road. That is caused by the ruts across the road, hence the name washboard. The wheels bounce and loose contact with the road constantly, so it's save to drive in 4x4 mode.
I have found that by speeding up you sometimes can get so your truck kind of floats over the road irregularities. Unfortunately quite often you have to go fast enough to be on the edge of loosing traction around any bends or curves. Makes you feel like on the track with the tail end hanging out.
Ask Gofast how much fun that is.

Very dangerous thing to do! I found that out in my '82 2WD Toyota pickup. I was going about 40MPH on a washboard dirt road. I was going over a slight hill that curved to my left. As soon as I got to the top of the hill, by truck slid into the right side bank and bounced across the road coming to a rest against the left bank. I learned a valuable lesson when driving on washboard roads. I usually just shake my head when I am with people that go tearing off ahead of me on them.

 

[2001ExpSport]

What about a washing machine road? I never can seem to get traction on those, even in 4wd mode. I do get better traction on drier roads, though.

 

[Peter Weber]

Robert, I agree with you. That's why I made the comment "Unfortunately quite often you have to go fast enough to be on the edge of loosing traction around any bends or curves."
Used to do that in my younger days, mostly in controlled situations like rallying. Fortunately never had anything happen like your experience. I'm older and wiser now.

 

[William Schumacher]

Peter:, I was speaking of the bumps running accross the road,not the length of the road,and Robert cleared up the fact I first thought he was running in 4Xhigh on the pavement,on the dirt no problem,

 

[sundown]

Huh?

Oh hell....nevermind!

 

[Maniak]

We have a 2-4 mile dirt road to drive down to get to our house and with all the new houses going in and big trucks driving on it, it is always a washboard road.. Ripples a couple inches high and a few inches apart. We use rs9000 shocks set on 3 in the rear, and 4 on the front with no sway bars. The front springs are progressive rate (from James Duff... 2.5" lift).. The rear springs are the stock springs with 201k miles on them with an add a leaf (again from James Duff).

Stiff springs in my opinion is just as bad as bad shocks. You want the springs to move when they hit the bumps.. But you want your shocks to control the bounces... To give you an idea of how our suspension is setup.. We have these speed humps a few places in town that are about 8" high.. 6 feet across. I can hit them at about 50mph and I get 0 bounces when I land (not really airborn.. but close).. The front compresses.. and then the rear.. but the suspension doesn't bounce. If we had stiff springs we would most likely hurt ourselves as we hit the hump unless the suspenion conformed to the hump. If the shocks were too soft (or weak etc) we would get all kinds of bounce (more than one) when we came off the bump.

The other hard part is finding the right speed for the spacing of the ripples on the dirt, washboard road. I have found that 45-50mph on the straight part is perfect.. you barely feel the ripples.. I slow down to 30 for the turns but it is still in control. One BIG NO NO is tire spin. If you are spinning your rear tires you will get all kinda of slide... The dirt make it bad enough.. but the dirt in combination with the washboard can make the back end slide off the road...

I hope this helps a little..