Smoother Ride?

[asg13]

I love my 1008 but man it sure can beat u to death. Am I crazy to think that possibly it could be smoothed out a bit. It's great on hard roads, but man my head nearly hits the roof on back roads or gas we'll roads. Drove 130 miles round trip with some off road and felt like manual labor.

any tips or just suck it up

 

[Westech]

Take a leaf out of the front and add a zero rate to keep the ride hight, take a 4 leafs out in the rear and add a 2" block to keep the stock ride hight. Replace the shocks with monro blue shocks (smaller tubes) and that should help out a ton!!

 

[Drock]

I've thought about trying these. Though they claim not to effect load capacity , I'm skeptical.http://www.sulastic.com/ You could also remove ah couple leafs out of the rear and install air bags for when you have a heavy load.

 

[Westech]

I have seen things like that before but never have seen any. With out removing leafs it's not going to get much better.

 

[cucvrus]

Buy a new truck and park the CUCV. The CUCV is not made for the faint of heart. Remember that sales ad that was on here a few months ago. About this rig being built for the real men and having no AC and all that tough talk. I do know what you mean. After driving them CUCV's for 30 years. I do love driving my new pick up. And it still does the same thing as the CUCV with more comfort. I just like the nostalgic part of the old CUCV. No worries in city driving and parking lots. Not to mention deer infested Pennsylvania. Ride on. and enjoy.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Get a bambalance. The added weight of the box smooths the ride quite a bit.

 

[tim292stro]

Yeah what ^^they^^ all said. The suspension is designed for the maximum weight expected - so when you're empty it's not going to fight the spring so much. Taking out a leaf will reduce the spring force, adding an air spring (air bag, or air shocks) will get your capacity back and help you keep your ride height.

If you're looking for less beat up in the cab you can take out the bench, replace is with a bucket and put in a suspension base for extra absorption.

 

[Sharecropper]

Trade it for a Buick.

 

[goldneagle]

You can always store a bunch of sand bags in the back. The weight will load the springs and you get better traction. You can also use the sand if you get stuck on ice.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I've thought about trying these. Though they claim not to effect load capacity , I'm skeptical.http://www.sulastic.com/

I'm with you. I'm skeptical. I can believe they soften the ride. But a 3 year warranty on the rubber? And they cost $380 for a set for our trucks. That's over $100 per year, labor not included.

Sandbags are cheaper, and you can take them off if you are going to be hauling a heavy load.

 

[tim292stro]

Air springs - these are $275 (plus labor or DIY, $50 rebate until Feb 2015, so ~$225). Limited Lifetime Warranty, 250-5000lbs of adjustable support, if plumbed right you can even take care of uneven loads... You'll probably get about 7-10 years out of them before the air bag(s) need to be replaced, that's ~$32/year or less (assuming 7-years minimum). Much better economics IMHO, and you aren't forced to carry sand/snow in the summer to soften the load (killing any fuel economy).

 

[Skinny]

I'm not sure how air assist is going to help you if you are keeping your stock rear springs. Maybe a link suspension with air bags???

Either way, you need to get as far away from stock springs if you want a decent ride. Probably some half ton springs (probably going to move rear hangers to make this happen), a shackle flip, etc. to soften the rear up along with some weight to balance out the bias. I'm quite pleased with how well mine rides for what it is. Granted it lacks greatly in the steering and handling department but the ride is better than most newer trucks I've been in. Pretty surprising for leaf springs. Its a tough thing to blend ride quality, load capacity, handling, and off road flex into a suspension without spending alot of money, some are just going to be sacrificed.

 

[the skull]

I like a few hundred pounds of junk back there.
Rides like a Caddy!
Ask yourself this question:
Would Arnold Schwarzenegger take the springs out?

 

[evldoer]

My 1031 has a lift with 37 inch tires. I started out with the Goodyear MT tires and it rode rough. I then put on a set of 10 ply BFG Baja ta tires that are 1O ply, I run these with only 15 psi and it makes for a much smoother ride since the side walls are stronger and absorb the bumps much better. When I need to haul something heavy I just put more air in the tires.
Try some E rated tires and play with the air pressure. You might be surprised with the results. But keep in mind the low pressures I run are on wheels with bead locks

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I'd be very careful about running that kind of pressure on the highway. You are asking those sidewalls to do more than they were designed to do. Ask some Ford Expedition/Firestone tire owners about what happens with prolonged under-inflation.

 

[evldoer]

That's comparing apples to oranges imho. The sidewall strength on these 10 ply tires are plenty strong enough for this, and combined with the bead locks I dont see any problems after 10,000 miles.

 

[Westech]

My GF use to run our Tahoe tires at 10 PSI all the time and for some act of god never had a blow out.

I have sense put new tires on and had the rims ground down and the beads sealed when the new tires were put on.
I would think that at 15 PSI on a tire that strong would be ok if not loaded in a 08.

 

[cucvrus]

Recovery 4x4. I like your new Avatar. I was at the Flint plant in 1984 and saw the line with the CUCV trucks being built. It was a strange set up they were building shiny Silverado's and military pickups on the same line. 25 shiny ones and 1 CUCV. The days we were there we were on our way to Imlay City to see the Mark Body Company. That is where the M1010 was being built. GM spent considerable money on training local dealers on the new CUCV series. Basically it was and is a 98% civilian truck as you know. The price stickers that were on them was crazy for the time. I am not sure that the window sticker that was on them had dollar amounts. I can't remember. But the M1009 was like 17K if I remember correctly. The M1010 was close to 45K at the time. Crazy money. Anyway I remember that picture you have and seen it before. Thank you for the memory.

 

[AirForceOne]

You're driving a 1.25T pickup, it's gonna beat you up a little. Trying lowering the tire pressure a bit (free) then add weight to the bed. If that doesn't work for you, pull the leaf packs and remove a single leaf. Realize in doing so you are reducing the trucks' capacity to haul. Driving any M series vehicle equals a lot of sucking it up.

 

[llong66]

If you're looking for less beat up in the cab you can take out the bench, replace is with a bucket and put in a suspension base for extra absorption.

I wonder with a welder and a little fabbing you could make a set of these work on the stock bench on an M1008 and other trucks? Just right off hand I would think maybe the tranny tunnel would get in the way...any other thoughts?