Suspension opinions wanted

[turbostang7]

Hey guys, this is probably going to be kinda lengthy and hopefully someone can help before I dump a ton more money in this thing....
First off I got the truck with "some front end work done" all I could verify was new tie rods (Moog problem solver) appearance and the receipt for these.
it already had the 6" Superlift bracket suspension lift on it with 35/12.5R20 Dick Cepek tires and XD badland wheels also had 2" spacers.
it has always had kind of a front end "shimmy" to it not side to side but up and down. but then it started to cup the front right tire. I tore it down and found the lower ball joint was worn, the CV axle was shot as well as the hub. here was the replacement list for that repair, all suspension parts were either Moog or Timken and replaced on both sides
upper control arms with ball joints and bushings
lower ball joints
CV axles (AC Delco)
pitman arm
idler arm and idler arm bracket
steering stabilizer (truck didn't have one so I assumed this was the Shimmy along with the worn parts)
found the pads had cracks in them so I bought the Powerstop drilled and slotted rotors and pads
front hubs
tires rotated and balanced (weren't bad off balance the tire shop said) as well as an alignment

this helped quite a bit but I noticed it still had the shimmy some, but the more I drove it the less it was apparent (tire out of round maybe?)

got to where the truck drove decent, stiff as heck (don't know what shocks are on it but they are STIFF) but then it started the bounce shimmy again. it has progressively gotten worse, I have rechecked all torques about 5 times, greased everything, put new u-joints in the drive lines (they were loose) greased the shaft going in and out of the transfer case both front and rear. It is not wearing the tires funny this time though.

now eventually I will be replacing the shocks and tie rods with something a little more substantial, but I would really love to change the part that will stop all of this from happening so I can drive in the mean time.

any help is appreciated as to what direction I should go, really don't want to buy tires as these have a lot of life left in them, but that is kind of where I am leaning towards being the culprit.

sorry for the long read lol

 

[Max Attitude]

Do you know anyone to swap wheels/tires with?

 

[turbostang7]

Everyone I know up here runs Ford, or new duramax pickups with the wrong pattern on them. Most of the guys don't live here they just rotate to work (I now live in Williston ND)

 

[turbostang7]

Well I bit the bullet and bought tires, got the cooper STT pro put on. The bounce is definetly better but not completely gone.

The shocks are what I think the leftover bounce is from, they are very stiff and don't absorb the road well, so it seems to all transfer up to the driver.

Also on a side note the alignment was way off, if you live in or around Williston ND do not use northwest tire! The toe out was off by over 1.5 inches alone! Let alone the caster and camber settings. This im sure is why the truck rode like crap, but the tires wore on the inside more than I would have liked them to.

 

[Chevy1925]

throw a pic up of your upper control arm with the truck at ride height. take it so we can see how much space is between the metal upper control arm bumpstop and the arm. the lift brackets should have some kind of stop on them for the upper arm. Superlift is not a lift i particularly like....

 

[turbostang7]

Yeah, in the future I was going to look into swapping it for a knuckle lift and get rid of the bracket lift.

I will get out there when I can and get some pics of that

 

[turbostang7]

 

[turbostang7]

Here is the cv angles at ride height

 

[Chevy1925]

Your angles and spacing is good so i would look at shocks being your issue like you were thinking

 

[turbostang7]

Alright, thanks for the confirmation.

 

[fastpunker]

I will second the shocks idea.... sounds like they might be stiff or blown.

You describe it as a bounce, does it feel like a tire bounce or is the whole truck bouncing?

 

[turbostang7]

Feels like an unbalanced tire.
Before the new tires it was more prevalent in the 45-55 MPH range is why I pointed towards tires
Now it seems to be the road condition, what the road is constructed of that makes the difference in the "bounce" which is why I am thinking shocks now.
Crazy how one part fails and causes a chain reaction to take out all the others! So far almost 3500 in the front end and still need shocks lol. My wife is ready to sell it and buy either an LMM or more likely an LML truck

 

[fastpunker]

Are you still using wheel spacers? Do you feel the "bounce" at certain speeds over others, or just throughout the speed ranges?

 

[turbostang7]

It still has the spacers, now it is at all speeds as long as the certain road conditions are met. No longer at certain seed ranges.

Took it for a drive again and the "bounce" now feels more like a washboard road but just slightly. The road that I notice it on is heavily trafficked by tractor trailers so the road is bad, I notice vibrations in my 300 on that road as well.
I still believe that the shocks are stiff causing more of the road imperfections to be magnified to the cab. Probably could use some cab mounts as well.

 

[jollybuildingmover]

How is the adjustment on your torsion bars? If they are cranked too tight there is nothing you can do to save your suspension, or keep any kind of decent ride. What are running for pressure on the front tires? If you have t-bars cranked to tight, wrote shocks and 80 psi in the front tires, it will be rough as a cob! Your wheel spacers are also gonna accelerate and magnify problems.

04 3500 LB7 C&C
We move Portable Buildings!

 

[OregonDMAX]

Are the spacers hub or lug centric. Lug centric will always have a slight imbalance compared to hub centric.

 

[c20elephant]

Are the spacers hub or lug centric. Lug centric will always have a slight imbalance compared to hub centric.

Only one company makes a true hub-to-wheel centric adapter and spacer and they just started that about less than a year ago and I went the rounds with him on mine. The Freds are only centric at the wheel and not the hub where they are lug centric I had a set and sent them back, Freds bores the spacer larger than the axle hub leaving a very thin centric ring at the wheel.
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[turbostang7]

Torsion bars aren't cranked, only enough to level the cv axles.
The wheel spacers aren't hub centric.
And right now it has 50psi in the fronts.

I was thinking I would pull the spacers and see how it does anyways, they can't be helping the situation in any way.

Other than that I have a set of shocks on the way to get rid of these, I found out they were just the superlift super ride shocks, I got a set of Rancho 9000's coming

 

[Chevy1925]

Torsion bars aren't cranked, only enough to level the cv axles.
The wheel spacers aren't hub centric.
And right now it has 50psi in the fronts.

I was thinking I would pull the spacers and see how it does anyways, they can't be helping the situation in any way.

Other than that I have a set of shocks on the way to get rid of these, I found out they were just the superlift super ride shocks, I got a set of Rancho 9000's coming

your 35s will cause more of an imbalance issue than the spacers will unless you got some with really bad run out.

my money is still on your shocks

 

[jliddle]

FYI the new updated hydraulic cab mounts have shown to reduce some "bounce" that people get around 40-50mph. My 06 has a bounce to it too, on 285's with factory suspension and bilsteins.