Stiffer shocks in the rear or front?

[Jimmy9190]

I am still goofing around with the shocks on my truck. Right now I have a set of Gabriel Pro-Guards on front and rear. They are similar to or maybe a little better than an OEM type ride. Before those I had Rancho RS5000 front and rear. They rode real stiff so that is why I bought the Gabriels. Now that I have had the Gabriels for almost 3 months they still seem to be kind of soft and bouncy. I feel a lot of the bumps in the road, I can even feel it when I drive over the white turn lane arrows on the road. I tried lowering my tire pressure to 32.5 psi, it feels like it helped a little but I should not have to do that to fix this problem. I always ran my tires at 35 psi before this problem with the shocks.

I still have the Rancho's I took off the truck last year. They were special ordered so I can not return them. I tried to sell them here and on Ebay but no one wanted them. When I drive my truck I feel a lot of the bumps in my lower back and butt. This makes me think that it might help to put the stiffer Rancho's back on the rear and leave the softer Gabriels up front. Does that make sense or should I put the stiffer Rancho's up front and keep a softer shock in the rear? I do not tow or haul anything heavy and my truck is only a 2-wheel drive V6. I do not go off road. Tires are BFG Long Trail T/A Tour, P235/75R15's, they only have about maybe 17,000 miles on them.

I have checked the front end components, a lot of it is either new or not too old and all is in good shape. The leaf springs and coil springs seem to be OK but the only way I know to test those is just by measuring the height..

I appreciate any help on this. I need to figure out what is wrong. I had Monroe Reflex before all this, those rode great, and if Monroe still made the Reflex for a 2 wheel drive Dakota I would have got another set when I started this process last year.

Thanks.

 

[The Critic]

Subscribed, I was curious myself as too.

FWIW, I just ordered new struts and shocks for my father's 92 Toyota Previa, which is a mid-engine RWD minivan. KYB has their Excel-G available for the front, which is a twin-tube OEM replacement strut. For the rear, they have either the Excel-G or the gas-a-just available; the gas-a-just is a monotube shock which is designed to be an upgrade over the OEM option.

So, KYB is giving one the option of a stiffer shock in the rear. I ordered Excel-G struts for the front and the stiffer gas-a-just shocks for the rear. We'll see how well this combo works out.

 

[tinmanSC]

subscribed

 

[TooManyWheels]

My experience with truck shocks says to go with the hard shock in the rear. I have never had the opposite combo, but I have what you are contemplating on my truck now, and have in the past, and like it. I think a hard shock in the front would give you about the same ride as when you had them front and rear.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for the replies. I believe what I will do is try the Rancho's on the rear again and leave the Gabriels as is up front. I will have to drive it a while and see how it does but everything I have learned would indicate the stiffer shock would do better in the rear since there is not as much weight back there.

 

[SuperDave456]

Interesting. Subscribed.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Typical truck weight distribution is heavily biased towards the front.

That makes a huge difference, and you must be cautious about too much roll stiffness in the rear as it can dramatically change the handling.

 

[Smoky14]

I would look at a different set of tires. Those BFGs are really stiff in the side wall if I recall.

YMMV

 

[FFeng7]

I replaced my factory shocks with the plain bright yellow Monroe shocks from Advanced Auto. The shocks are very soft, almost too soft for a truck but I like them. Soft but not bouncy on the highway. Really the shock were about 25 bucks a piece and a great deal at that price. Not sure how long they will last been on there about two years now.

 

[rfeir]

Actually the cheap shocks often have the advantage of simplicity and thus can provide better dampening, strange as that may seem. I do like mono shocks but they are not always available for many applications.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: FFeng7
I replaced my factory shocks with the plain bright yellow Monroe shocks from Advanced Auto. The shocks are very soft, almost too soft for a truck but I like them. Soft but not bouncy on the highway. Really the shock were about 25 bucks a piece and a great deal at that price. Not sure how long they will last been on there about two years now.


I did the same thing on my truck and with a 50% off coupon they were $50 for the four. They aren't bad for the money.

 

[LotI]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Typical truck weight distribution is heavily biased towards the front.

That makes a huge difference, and you must be cautious about too much roll stiffness in the rear as it can dramatically change the handling.

I was thinking the same. Too stiff in the rear can lead to oversteer. When I raced my Neon, increasing the strut damping and sway bar stiffness in the rear led to a few scary moments in the rain on off ramps. Turn 1 at Blackhawks farms on cold tires had some serious pucker factor.

Probably not that drastic just by changing shocks but, you never know.

 

[FFeng7]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Originally Posted By: FFeng7
I replaced my factory shocks with the plain bright yellow Monroe shocks from Advanced Auto. The shocks are very soft, almost too soft for a truck but I like them. Soft but not bouncy on the highway. Really the shock were about 25 bucks a piece and a great deal at that price. Not sure how long they will last been on there about two years now.


I did the same thing on my truck and with a 50% off coupon they were $50 for the four. They aren't bad for the money.


That's a great deal you got!

 

[Jimmy9190]

Well I figured if I did not like the Rancho's before I probably would not like them now, so I called Autozone and asked if they would give me a store credit for the Pro-Guards on a set of Gabriel Ultra's. They said no problem so I removed all 4 Pro-Guards and went to Autozone and paid about $60.00 difference for the Ultra's. Plus this purchase today was my fifth one over $20.00 and I got a $20.00 store credit on my AZ rewards card, so the new shocks really only cost me about $40.00. I could not use the credit today but it will come in handy some time soon I am sure.

After reading up on the Ultra as much as I could I figured they are about as close to the Monroe Reflex as I can get without spending serious money. It is odd but I really did not find that much info or reviews on Gabriel Ultra shocks online. I was glad to get a full refund at Autozone, in a few more days I would have been beyond the 90-day return policy.

I need to drive the truck for a while and see how it goes but my initial impression is these Ultra's are much better than the Pro-Guards. The ride is nice and firm without being stiff as a board like the Rancho's. In city driving the Rancho's rode hard as a rock. The Rancho's did smooth out some during interstate driving, which I read is a characteristic of a 4-wheel drive type shock. On my test drive today I had none of the bumps and rough feeling in the small of my back like I had with the Proguards. The Ultra's ride quality was nice and smooth even when I drove through some construction areas here in town where there are some pretty rough road surfaces.

I put my tires' air pressure back to 35 psi and the truck is once again riding good and smooth like it did with the Reflex. It's not like driving a big old Caddy or Buick but it is a good firm quality ride with no harshness and the Ultra's handle the bumps a whole lot better. The steering is crisp and responsive again too. I really think my Dakota is just too heavy for the valving on a cheaper shock. I will try to update this thread with more results in a few weeks but for now I can say the Ultra's are very good and live up to their name so far.