I had an 89 regular cab 4x4 Dakota and the back end always bounced around
regardless of the shocks I had in it (put 256,000 miles on it). My 99 CC 4x4
Dakota rides light years better than the 89 but the back end will still bounce
around on rough roads.
I just put ProComp 9000 shocks in the 99. They tamed the back end down
considerably but a washboard road still will get the back end skiterring
around. They made a dramatic improvement in the handling in transition
maneuvers and control when the suspension is being loaded/unloaded over large
dips in the road. On the down side the truck is much stiffer over small road
irregualities compared to the stock shocks.
I do a fair amount of driving on the beach and there is about 1.5 miles of hard
packed dirt road to get to the dune cross over point. This hard packed road
develops a washboard surface quite quickly. There is a 15mph speed limit on
this section. With the stock shocks I could drive at the speed limit and have a
nice smooth ride. With the ProComps at 15 mph the ride will rattle my eye balls
out. But, if I take it up to about 30 mph they are as smooth as glass, doing
that with the stock shocks would have had the truck floating all over the road.
Bilsteins are typically considered to be top tier shocks, I would think if you
are not happy with them stepping down to a Rancho or ProComp won't be an
improvement.
Dave Clement
99 SLT+ CC 4x4
In article <BAY4-F17OVnOwNo9YqE00036779@hotmail.com>, dusterrt@msn.com ("Travis
Bailey") writes:
>
>
> I'm quite aware my truck is a truck, I haul stuff regularly and think 16
> second quarters are reasonably quick (for stock at least), lol. And it's
> going up in the air a little, when was the last time you saw a lifted car?
> I too like a firmly sprung ride but that doesn't mean it has to be choppy at
> all times. Although since it's so nice and I refuse to subject it to the
> abuse (fun) I put my old trucks through I'm kind of thinking I should trade
> "down" to a 2wd street screamer Dak..anyway, what I was looking for was if
> people had seen noticable differences in ride quality when changing from
> stock shocks to high quality aftermarket. I'm looking into finding
> Edelbrock or the adjustable Rancho shocks that will work for 87-96. But it
> isn't worth the time, trouble or money if it isn't going to change anything.
> At the rate I'm going I will put 20,000+ miles a year on my truck (just
> hit the 10k mark tonight at almost exactly 6 months), I'm willing to invest
> in some comfort as well as performance, function, and visual appeal...
>
> And speaking of squatting with a load, I had 23 cinder blocks in the bed and
> it seemed to squat an awful lot...but how much would that weigh? Couldn't
> have been more than 500#...
>
> Travis
> '92 Dak 5.2 4x4
>
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