Suspension issues - which new upgrage to buy

[MelbGMC]

I have an '82 GMC stepside that I have been having issues with since I purchased it 2 years ago.
The suspension is so uncomfortable, after an hour or so of driving it fels like I have been driving it for 8 hours. It bounces over every bump on the road, it's got bump steer and is getting to the point of being dangerous.
I have replaced the power steering box, replaced all front ball joints, replaced all upper and lower comtrol arm bushes, replaced tie rod ends, replaced front and rear shocks with Gabriel Gas shock absorbers. The front I have also added shock extenders to try and help
In the rear I have removed the over ride spring plus 1 extra leaf to try and soften the ride. The rear also has the Gabriel gas shocks. (Pic before leafs removed)
It does have a flip kit in the rear, done by previous owner and the front coil springs have been cut by the previous owner.

After going to a car show on Sunday both my wife and I have decided we need to do something about the suspension, I don't like driving the thing the way it currently is set up.

So...... Any ideas as to what I can do with the current suspension?

And also I'm after ideas for upgrading, I don't want to go down the air bag road though

Pic attached of how it currently sits.
It has 20 inch wheels with 295 rear tyres and 245 front tyres with low profile tyres, I'm also thinking if I could increase tyre profile it may help with the bone jarring I'm currently getting.

Budget wise I'm willing to spend up to $5,000 AU dollars to start with to get a quality ride.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I have an '82 GMC stepside that I have been having issues with since I purchased it 2 years ago.
The suspension is so uncomfortable, after an hour or so of driving it fels like I have been driving it for 8 hours. It bounces over every bump on the road, it's got bump steer and is getting to the point of being dangerous.
I have replaced the power steering box, replaced all front ball joints, replaced all upper and lower comtrol arm bushes, replaced tie rod ends, replaced front and rear shocks with Gabriel Gas shock absorbers. The front I have also added shock extenders to try and help
In the rear I have removed the over ride spring plus 1 extra leaf to try and soften the ride. The rear also has the Gabriel gas shocks. (Pic before leafs removed)
It does have a flip kit in the rear, done by previous owner and the front coil springs have been cut by the previous owner.

After going to a car show on Sunday both my wife and I have decided we need to do something about the suspension, I don't like driving the thing the way it currently is set up.

So...... Any ideas as to what I can do with the current suspension?

And also I'm after ideas for upgrading, I don't want to go down the air bag road though

Pic attached of how it currently sits.
It has 20 inch wheels with 295 rear tyres and 245 front tyres with low profile tyres, I'm also thinking if I could increase tyre profile it may help with the bone jarring I'm currently getting.

Budget wise I'm willing to spend up to $5,000 AU dollars to start with to get a quality ride.

not to sound uncaring but I mean youre looking at low profile tires/wheels, barely any suspension travel in terms of how far it can go, a short wb truck, heavy unsprung wheel weight(the wheels help but the heavy drums and rotors are hard to avoid but rear disc thats as lean as far as weight goes would be helpful id think

also look at this

You must be registered for see images attach

when thinking about what options you have for isolation, you have little ways you can help your truck ride nice considering its an old ass truck(not known for nice ride) and your springs and shocks cant be floaty simply because of your desire to have it Lowered which is fine just presents limits on options.

for your truck, you may consider something a little strange sounding or spicy, but honestly i would put a lot more effort into creating a isolated cabin from the frame more than creating a ultra lightweight synthetic nasa level suspension with bells and whistles. Definitely explore those to be clear, but i expect you will have not all that many


However, what i said involves the secondary suspension and the final suspension, the body mounts and the seat as a system you obviously want your seat to be solid mounted ,but body mounts which are more squishy are also going to flex potentially and you cant really change the design of them very much without some custom engineering maybe, but if you can find people, maybe see about additional body mounts. the rear cab to my understanding has a solid member that the two usualy sit on back there and you have some room under the floor to potentially engineer something like additional supports or cross beams or something that would then provide additional places to put mounts with frame brackets needing to be implemented. My thinking here is that more, softer mounts can take place of fewer solid/unyielding poly and have no issues. But who knows.
You should also make sure to use any NVH measures in the cab like matting and stuff, because sound is a factor in fatigue and vibrations are by nature part of this dynamic, and somehting like a resonating cab will do a lot especially if your harsh ride is something that wouldnt by itiself be as bad because it wouldnt be present in all instances. Resonating really sucks because of the fact things start vibrating themselves without much input. there is a science way to say that, i dont know what it is lol.

Also, Tire wheel assemblies are critical for runout and balance, pay the top dollar for a road force balance and have or check runouts and minimize it at all costs. same with hub assemblies and check alignment to be good as possible. make sure your cab in no way touches directly anything mounted to the frame without isolators too. so no bed touching a cab during a flex or a some kind of filler panel or something. You could probably benefit from isolating a stepside from the frame slightly too since the fenders and the panels would be more apt to have flex or contribute to a resonating maybe. Im kinda pulling that one out of my ass but not made up, i did it with logical consideration. Take that as you will tho, because its still just from my ass (Lol)

you may consider checking any large things for proper securement, avoid having components touch if it can be helped like a fender having a small interferance with, say, a battery other than cable or a washer jar that touches the fender well and the fender since that makes a link that isnt solid secured and can flex/transmit etc.make sure no hood rivets are loose on hinges, make sure wiper arms dont have wear in the linkages, door doesnt touch cab except for where latched and hinges (door seals good) and all components in door solid and the right trim seals ,gaskets, screwed down, all glass retained and secured well, etc../.

last thing exhaust. make if possible all pipes extend far enough that the pulses coming out arent vibrating the frame, bed, exhaust tips that are nice looking could help alleviate your concern of extending out further. also, isolate all exhaust hangers with no groundouts and the exhaust freely held, not in a bind. rubber isolators in the last 2 decades have been great tech, may be adaptable with swapping or buying and making custom things. also i dont know your exhaust layout but to my understanding having duals meet but still dump out separate can help with cancelling some vibrations but im just theorizing that more than saying i know that.

 

[Big Chip]

I would start with some proper lowering springs and if you have the stock bump stops on the lower control arms I would trim those. For the rear maybe look at Western Chassis and see if they have a lowering leaf spring option.

I am going to assume you don't know what your front spindles are?

 

[bucket]

With the flipped axle and a leaf removed, is the rear axle contacting the frame since there's no C-notch?

I agree that those very low profile tires may be a large part of the rough ride.

 

[Hunter79764]

I know you said no air bags, but have you considered them as "helpers"? You could look into removing a leaf or two in the existing spring (or replace with the lightest spring pack you can find) and add air bags in the rear to get the ride height and load capacity you want.
I'd also look into a proper set of front springs and/or drop spindles to maintain the stance but have a better setup. The rest of the above info is good too.

 

[MelbGMC]

With the flipped axle and a leaf removed, is the rear axle contacting the frame since there's no C-notch?

I agree that those very low profile tires may be a large part of the rough ride.

The axle isn't hitting the frame, I'm not putting any weight in the back of the truck, it's just a sunday driver.
I'm looking into a new set of springs for the front, I'll have to pull the front end apart to try and work out what spindles are in it.

 

[MelbGMC]

With the flipped axle and a leaf removed, is the rear axle contacting the frame since there's no C-notch?

I agree that those very low profile tires may be a large part of the rough ride.

I had a look under the truck tonight and the shock absorber is only moving about an inch and a half with a lot of free travel either way still left on the shaft, so there's no weight in the back of the truck.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I had a look under the truck tonight and the shock absorber is only moving about an inch and a half with a lot of free travel either way still left on the shaft, so there's no weight in the back of the truck.

I am sorry if I came off overwhelming but saying youre willing to spend 5,000 to increase the ride of your truck made me want to present a multitude of things that would help.

At present, you seem to have a good task path with the rear springs and the tire profile. If you want to be practical about things, those two things being improved will do a lot and you will still have money left over. If you want to do more, consider reading my reply above, if it sufficiently does it for you, then you have more money for other fun parts

the C notch and the drop spindles/new parts in the front are also other ideas that may allow further improvement to a degree I am not sure on the costs or amount, but That just means you have more options

The drop spindles I presume would allow a greater travel on the front, but it seems the focus at the moment is the rear being hay wagon is my read here

 

[bluex]

This is my formula for a decent riding lowered square, it won't ride like a caddy but everyone I've done the customer is always pleased with the out come an I believe they ride better than stock setup like this.

For the front start with a drop spindle. They don't alter suspension or shock travel an should always be the first choice. If you want more than the 2.5" or 3" the spindle gives then get a drop spring. Avoid the 1" ones though as they usually will actually raise the truck over a worn out stock spring. Go with a 2" or 3" spring for your desired drop amount. Top that off with a stock length, replacement shock without an extender. I use KYB GR2s. The spring is the only thing that affects shock travel an the KYB Front shocks have enough travel to lay the crossmember on the ground. There's no need for a drop shock in the front.

On the rear I use a flip kit, the notch is optional if you aren't hauling or towing but the factory bump stop an bracket must be removed an replaced with a low profile urethane bumpstop. Shock extenders an stock replacement KYB GR2s here as well. You've got to have the extenders to use a stock length shock on the rear. They also correct the working angle of the shock so it can perform better.

If you follow this, an align the front end to have as close to +5* caster, -0.5* camber an 1/16" toe in you should have a good riding an handling pickup. Add a front sway bar too if it doesn't have one.

Good luck. Based on your description an the picture you probably have el cheapo drop shocks or bad/worn ones an springs that are either cut to much or heated in the front. I've seen it alot unfortunately. The front doesn't look low enough to have a drop spindle on it from the picture.

 

[Originalthor]

Are you missing your front sway bar? I see the holes in the lower control arm but nothing there. That could be your floaty ride once those shocks get the fluid moving through them and get hot. Just an idea.

 

[MelbGMC]

This is my formula for a decent riding lowered square, it won't ride like a caddy but everyone I've done the customer is always pleased with the out come an I believe they ride better than stock setup like this.

For the front start with a drop spindle. They don't alter suspension or shock travel an should always be the first choice. If you want more than the 2.5" or 3" the spindle gives then get a drop spring. Avoid the 1" ones though as they usually will actually raise the truck over a worn out stock spring. Go with a 2" or 3" spring for your desired drop amount. Top that off with a stock length, replacement shock without an extender. I use KYB GR2s. The spring is the only thing that affects shock travel an the KYB Front shocks have enough travel to lay the crossmember on the ground. There's no need for a drop shock in the front.

On the rear I use a flip kit, the notch is optional if you aren't hauling or towing but the factory bump stop an bracket must be removed an replaced with a low profile urethane bumpstop. Shock extenders an stock replacement KYB GR2s here as well. You've got to have the extenders to use a stock length shock on the rear. They also correct the working angle of the shock so it can perform better.

If you follow this, an align the front end to have as close to +5* caster, -0.5* camber an 1/16" toe in you should have a good riding an handling pickup. Add a front sway bar too if it doesn't have one.

Good luck. Based on your description an the picture you probably have el cheapo drop shocks or bad/worn ones an springs that are either cut to much or heated in the front. I've seen it alot unfortunately. The front doesn't look low enough to have a drop spindle on it from the picture.

Great information there bluex, I'm going to take a coupple more photos tomorrow of the front setup & I'll take a couple of the rear as well. I was thinking of going down the "coilover" path but don't want to pay the money if it's not going to make that much of a difference. It does have a high clearance heavy duty front sway bar since the photos were taken.

 

[MelbGMC]

Are you missing your front sway bar? I see the holes in the lower control arm but nothing there. That could be your floaty ride once those shocks get the fluid moving through them and get hot. Just an idea.

I have added a sway bar since those photos were taken, I'm using a CPP high clearance heavy duty sway bar on it.

 

[Originalthor]

Good stuff. I just remember busting a sway bar link on the work van and it was quite interesting driving on the freeway and didn't see one in the pictures.

Nice truck I like the yellow pinstripping on it.

 

[bluex]

Great information there bluex, I'm going to take a coupple more photos tomorrow of the front setup & I'll take a couple of the rear as well. I was thinking of going down the "coilover" path but don't want to pay the money if it's not going to make that much of a difference. It does have a high clearance heavy duty front sway bar since the photos were taken.

It may be hard to photograph but look at the back side of the spindle where the axle is pressed into the knucle casting. If it's down by the lower ball joint then it's a stock spindle. If it's closer to the upper it's a lowering spindle.

Coilovers are not a bad option but their ride quality is very dependent on how you setup the shock an what spring rate you choose.

It won't fit your budget probably but the best thing to help the ride an handling will be to get rid of the leaves on the back for a 4 link with air or a coilover. Mine is on air an my ride height is equivalent to a 5/7 drop an it rides great many people are surprised by how well it rides that low.

 

[MelbGMC]

Ok guys and girls as promised I have a few more pics of the front end.