hey all,
here it goes...I bought my bronco almost 2 years ago and i love everything about it. It is my daily driver and the only major thing thats gone wrong with it was the ignition module and old plug wires. IF GOD DROVE A 4X4, IT WOULD BE A BRONCO!!! Now my problem is that my bronco is riding pretty rough, and its done that since i bought it but I never really noticed it till my girlfriend brought it up. I can feel every small pot hole and tiny bump in the road when i drive. And the bigger bumps almost jolt me out of my seat. I crawled down to look at the shocks and they were "MOTORCRAFT" which is the OME for ford trucks (i believe). Ive got 133,000 miles on the truck.(also i have quad shocks in front)
*MY QUESTIONS ARE*
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES THAT THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL STOCK SHOCKS(they look pretty worn)???
DO BRONCOS JUST NATURALLY RIDE REALLY ROUGH, AND IF SO DOES THIS SEEM UNUSUALLY ROUGH OR NORMAL???

 

Rough? Yeah a little but mine (a 93 with 116K miles and Monroe sensa trac shocks, put on by the previous owner @ 70K) hardly rides or jolts me out of the seat. Of course my drivers has a piece of taped cardboard and very flat cheap Wal-Mart pillow to relieve the sag. I would not be surprised if the shocks are original. Look for leaks around them. Look at your body bushings too. They could have a small part of the harsh ride, esp if they are cracked, split(maybe). My Monroe shocks are a great ride but a little soft for my liking. Its hard to define "hard" but I can hit a 2-3" pot hole @55MPH and hear and feel but not lift out of my seat. If you decide to replace shocks, do a search on here and don't go for the cheapest, unless you want to replace in a year or so. The cheap ones from what I have read will leak/blow sooner than later...Good luck.

 

So the body bushings could have something to do with the rough ride. Are there any other bushings i should look at that may affect the ride.

 

Radius arms bushings will help too. Get some new shocks tho. Sounds like those are the originals and if so..they need replaced. Besides, technology has made em better since then anyway.

 

I had brakes done 2 years ago at about 115k miles on my '93 XLT, new to me in '99, with quad fronts. On the pre-work inspection form, they had a note of "Shocks...OEM?" I had gotten it with 65K miles and had never put new shocks. So, mine were probably OEM...so yours could be also.

Tire wear was fine so I didn't seem to notice the rough ride.

The battery was a Motorcraft. It finally died last fall. Since most people wouldn't replace with a Motorcraft, and the year stickers were not used, we think it was also OEM....10 years and 10 Minnesota winters, not bad.

 

Not to highjack the thread but KSPARKS I have a 97 Ranger bought in Feb of 97. Still has the OEM battery. I still can't believe it. <crossing fingers still>...

 

okie dokie, that just about answered everything. Money is pretty tight these days (& gas prices dont help ) so i am trying to pinpoint any problems before i go out and start replacing parts. Thanx for the help guys.

 

Also, check the ply rating and psi in your tires... mine was a beast with the Swamper TSL's and the Wild Country's... but since I dropped back to the Mud Kings which are just a 4 ply radial the ride has gotten a lot softer. You may have a more rigid high load rated tire on there.

 

I just went through this. I had KYB Gas-a-Just shocks installed on my Bronco. They handled great and really made the truck stick to the road, but you feel every little imperfection in the road. I just installed KYB GR-2s and they ride much better. I did notice that the truck sits slightly lower now. If anyone is interested in my KYB Gas-a-Just shocks, let me know. They are still in good working condition; still very hard to compress by hand!!

 

I took the sway bars of mine, and WOW there was a huge differance. The ride has never been this good, and i dont even notice any more body roll that before, and its even lifted

 

"I never really noticed it till my girlfriend brought it up. "

There's your problem.

 

Well, you have to remember that your driving a 4X4 based off of a 1/2 ton suspension package with only a 104" wheel base. It's not going to ride like a lexus without some serious suspension mods that will probably sacrafice it's off road ability. The new 4X4 pick-ups have a little better ride, but I rode in a new gmc short wide 4x4 the other day that didn't feel much better on the backroads than my bronco does, in fact the rear-end walk on the washboard bumps was horrible... it bounced like a rubber ball. You can play with your shocks, and body bushings and all to keep it from beating you to death... but I doubt it will ever be considered great. But hey, what you sacrafice with the ride you get back in the turning radius, she's a dream to park... nothing cuts better than a Bronco.



Are you crazy man? You may not notice body roll in normal driving... but what if you have to ditch it or end up putting it into a slide to avoid an accident? Do you like being inverted? Been there done that and I promise it isn't fun. I mean... it's your rig and all, but you may want to re-think that mod, or install a really good roll cage.

 

They were binding on there mounts at the wheels, and i did some testing before i just left them off, there really wasnt much differance, i dont think the rear one did anything. Needless to say it suprised me to

 

well i checked the body bushings and they ARE CRACKING to bits!!! also there were a couple bushings on the steering linkage, if not on the linkage then right around it (i cant remember but i hope you can tell where im talking about) and they were shot too. i know this has some effect but would this have a 'dramatic' effect on the ride too ?

 

i mean a noticeable effect?