Drove her for the first time tonight to fill up the tank. Wow. When I got home, I checked to make sure I didn't have wooden wheels.

I have no bed on the back right now so I hope it softens the blows a least a little after it's back on!

 

How are your shocks and how much air pressure do you have in your tires? When I got new tires, they put about 50 or so pounds in them. I dropped it to 30. I have no bed at the moment either. I also don't have shocks. Boy when I drove it on a gravel road that had some washboarding, I had to look behind me to make sure nothing was shaking off.

Also, if your tires are old they can give a rougher ride. My old tires (really old) would scare me over 20 miles per hour.

Oh, don't forget. This is an old truck.

 

No idea about the shocks. They've been replaced not too many miles ago I'd guess, but they could be 10 years old. I don't know the history of this truck but I don't think it's run in quite a while before I bought it.

PSI is also unknown. I pumped them up pretty close to 45-50 before I pulled it home but haven't checked since(they seem to be holding air well). And the tires are pretty old and hard.

I knew it would be rough, but no idea it would be this rough! Can't wait to get the bed back on.

 

The tires can make a big difference. Most of us have been driving on radial tires for so long we forget what a difference they make.

 

I let a little air out of them so they'd be in the 30s. Made a slight difference(I think!).

I was researching bias plies vs radials and one site said that at low speed, bias ply is actually a better ride. But I have no idea.

These are currently on the front:

Power King Tire

And these, on the rear:


I'm hoping adding a couple hundred pounds on the back(put the bed back on) will smooth it out a little. I also saw somewhere that adjusting caster will give a little softer ride in the front so I'll definitely be researching that.

 

I'm no tire expert, but I'm fairly certain you don't want to run trailer tires on your truck. They are constructed differently than LT tires. My guess is that's why you're bouncing down the road.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=219

 

My mistake. All tires are 7.50x16LT.

 

I always ran low air pressure in my trucks to smooth out the ride some. I'm currently running 25 front and 22 rear in my 2004 Jeep Wrangler. It makes a huge difference. In my 48 I was running 28 front and 25 rear.

 

Vern,
I don't know what tires you are running or any suspension mods but that is way below required pressures for the suspension design. While this would be fine for off road and it will ride better going straight ahead, you will have some significant handling problems at highway speed in unexpected situations. Bigger tires and/or lift kits will make it worse.

It doesn't make a lot of difference on our old trucks but newer suspensions have to perform at higher speeds so everything is balanced in the design phase.

 

I can only assume that you have the stock OEM springs still on the rear?
If so, you have to realize they were designed to not only carry the weight of the bed, but also an additional 1500 # of load (the equivalent of 30 50# bags of concrete) over rough unimproved/no roads and still not bottom out!
Then there s the likelyhood the 60 year old springs are quite rusted and worn so the leaves do not slide over each other like they did new, rendering the spring stack nearly a solid block of steel. Finally the spring eye bushings and pins are likely worn out as well. This all adds up to a very stiff harsh ride.
Are you planning on this being a work truck regularly hauling heavy loads? If so it is going to ride hard when empty. If not,then you could substitute f100 springs or remove the extra leafs, clean what's left and add plastic slider strips between them.

 

This is about what I run in my 85 Bronk. It's my daily driver.
I have 20 miles of worn out gravel road before another 20 of
pavement to get to town. They are 31X10.5 tires. And it still
rides harder than I would like. Someday when my ship comes
in and docks I would like about a 2.5 in lift.
Can the suspension lift be bought with like soft ride springs?
Is there such a thing without screwing up handling. Highest
posted speed on my Island is 50. I seldom see much over that.

 

Are your tires nylon ply? If so they need to run a few miles to get the flat spots out of them. I've been in Mud trucks that felt like you were riding a bucking bronco

 

My trucks were not stock. Chrysler T-bar in front and Chevy 10 bolt rear with Dodge Dakota rear springs. I drove it 70 MPH on the interstate often with no handling issues. Tires were 2:25/75 R15. My Jeep, however, is totally stock and no handling issues there either.

 

I assume they are stock. I imagine everything else is untouched and as old as the truck.

I plan on light duty for this truck 95% of the time. Yard debris, couple bags of trash, a lownmower here and there, and the like. Removing leaves doesn't sound too bad. Can always reverse if I don't like it, right?

 

Yes, you can always put them back. Many F100 owners even take out every other leaf to soften the ride and lower the rear with the loads you are talking about. You will need a new pair of centerbolts and the slider strip, Mid Fifty has both. You can take out the bottom leafs to 8 left for 1/2T stiffness or additionally then take out every other leaf as per the instructions in the MF catalog for even softer ride and lowering (still plenty stiff for your occasional load). I have posted a number of times info about how to disassemble leaf springs safely and how to clean and smooth them. DON'T paint them! Do an advanced search on my user name and leaf spring disassembly, cleaning. Do add the slider strips, it's inexpensive (1 roll will do both springs) and will make quite a difference. Order new spring eye bushings and shackle pins and replace as well.