Ummmm...Isn't that part of the "experience" that goes along with driving and riding in these old pickups? Just strap on a nice, fat kidney belt and bounce your way down the road!

 

Ok been doing some work trying to figure this rough ride out. Tire pressure is 32 lbs, the torsion bars are set at the stock height, 63mm, the rear springs are 4 leafs and not stuck together, the rear shocks and front shocks appear to work fine and do not seem to be bottoming out, at least not using the fat guy on the bumper check :-)
The new theory is that the front shocks are too stiff. I am unsure of what the front clip came out of but...... if it came out of say a full size Dodge/Plymouth with a big block motor would the shocks be stiffer than say ones out of a Volare with a 6 cylinder????
I am planning on removing the front shocks for a quick test ride this weekend just to see if it feels a whole lot softer, which I assume it would, that way I hope to eliminate the torsion bars for sure.
Any other ideas? Thanks.

 

well good luck, what end is softer the front or back? I don't think the volare was in any big block cars.

 

318 I think was the biggest.

Sam

 

Sparky, I've been following this thread, but don't have any experience with the Volare, so didn't have anything to add...but I do have a couple of questions and observations.....
Like Gary noted, seems an odd angle on the rear shocks...from the pic you provided, seems they lean forward, rather than following the path of "spring compression or wrap".
Just an observation as noted... the rear is pretty stiff using the"fat-guy-on-bumper check" ??....Have you tried the "5 fat-guys-in-the-bed" check?
Your on the right track if your thinking of removing the shocks and doing another check, at the same time...write down the ride HT , and see what difference NO shocks does for you...this will just be an exercise to see if the shocks have any effect on ride HT...thus chassis component "bind"....
Take it for a short ride around the neighborhood and see how it feels......
I am also wondering why the front-clip is not notched into the frame, again ,I've got no Volare experience,but following this forum past few years...that's the way I thought it was done...following a pattern which required a "BIG" notch...this would affect steering caster and ride HT...How does it steer?
I would take a note-pad and record all the info I founnd , then try to come consensus, conclusion , or decide if more detailed info might be required ...ride ht before and after removing the shocks then compare with someone else with the same set-up...
Seems to me though, with out the "Volare-notch" you wont be able to get comparable #'S...Hope this didn't confuse you, but gave you some ideas...Good Luck!

 

Yeah the rear shocks are sort of weird...... although this is my first 53/56 style truck so I have nothing to compare it to in my memory....maybe I need some pics of another installation. As I said that is where they were mounted when I bought the "box of parts" and the frame was a "new" replacement frame from a supplier in Vancouver I was told. There are two other mount brackets pretty much directly above the rear axle, but I would need very short shocks and probably an alternate mount stud on the rear axle to use them.
The front clip isn't notched into the frame. The frame is set down on it and it is welded/gusseted/boxed etc to the front Volare type crossmember assembly. The upper A arm pivot bolts are set down into the frame, which has been notched/boxed to accept them. The front as far as I can tell has retained the stock angle to the road, meaning the frame may not have been notched but the gussets etc have the same shape as the notch would of had except it adds 3 or so inches to the bottom of the frame......... confused well it made sense when I wrote it
Since I did not do this installation I assume it was down that way to add 2-3 inches to the Volare clip to keep the truck level front to rear.
If I decide to do a "do-over" it will be notched into the frame and the rear axle flipped. But that would entail new engine mounts being made to clear the huge freakin steering box, and a longer driveshaft as the engine is set back so far there was a huge hole cut out of the firewall to clear the valve covers, and if I am making new mounts I will move the engine forward and to the passenger side for clearance. Which also will require moving the tranny mount....... so it would be a complete redo of the front suspension.
As I said earlier I took over an unfinished non-running project that 2 previous owners had attempted to build both with their own ideas...which seem really strarge to me but hey I wasn't involved/consulted on that part of the build
Thanks for the responses and hopefully I/we will figure this out

 

Just had another thought, whoops that can be dangerous.......maybe since the engine/tranny are so far back there isn't enough weight on the front end and the front shocks do not compress enough?????? and with the funky rear shock mounts maybe the same holds true for them????

 

Yeah, I followed you just fine and I think your already all over it, keep us posted on what you find....Good Luck!

 

Generaly speaking...you 'can't" get the engine back far enough in one of these things IMHO...LOL!....I'd like to see them at least 6-8" further back...but but without major firewall mods, interior reconstruction and looking for a new place to sit...I don't see that in the cards...LoL!
Remember this about the shocks though,...all they do is "dampen" the spring rate...unless they are too long or too short...in which case they will either not compress (too long) or bottom out all the time (too short)...somewhere between full spring compression (where axle hits bump-stops) and full spring extension( when your "air-borne"), is where you want the shock to operate...or in simpleler terms,...compress shock 1/2 way and install it there....make sense? Also they need to be in the same plane as spring compression. They just dampen otherwise un-controlable spring ocillations....Later!...and Good Luck!

 

Mine are leaning way back, like these.. but it was a lousy set of choices based on the darned airbags.. long enough to the full height, and then too long to handle the slammed state.

We (me and Air Ride Tech) went thru about 5 different sets to find one with the right length and then to find a position to put them in..

anxious to see how they do in real life..

sam

 

Yeah!, the lower you go with the frame....the less you've got to work with, Ideally , you would want as long a shock as you could fit under it, and let it work the full distance, ...but that's not going to happen in one of our trucks when it's slammed to the ground, without adding some type of out -riggers or something. I've been looking at the
QA1 adjustable gas units but boy are they salty....I chose to incorporate multiple shock mounting positions for a variety of different shock lengths....hope that works.

 

The six and eight cylinder Volares had the same suspension. One thing I would stongly suggest is that you lower the air pressure in your tires. I forget the numbers but it is amazing how much the spring rate is affected by tire pressure. Are you running low profile tires like 50s or 60s? They are notorious for rough riding due to less sidewall flex. I know 32 lbs is optimal for tire wear, etc., etc., but I run about 26 in my front tires (225:75/R15) and 24 in the rear. I find the ride much better at the lower tire pressures than at 32. I'm not as worried about wearing out my tires prematurely and I am about having a good ride...

 

Ok I am going to run out at break, I am at work now, and lower the tire pressures. Then I can see if it makes a difference on the drive home. Thanks a lot. Hopefully it cures the ride and it is a pretty cheap fix

 

if memory serves correct "it plays tricks on me sometimes" LOL Measure your rear ride height take one end of the rear shocks off and put your truck back on the ground and measure the distance between the the mounts on center. this will give you your correct ride height. Add a half or even one inch to the measurement you get, you should have to compress it some to put it back on. If you have to push it more than an inch to reinstall it the shocks are too long. Iam no suspension expert by no means, It was something that had happened to me. There wasnt enough travel they were only moving several inches and they were bottoming out leaking oil and I even broke a mounting stud.
After going through all this. I found an article on how to measure your ride height and finding the correct shocks, made a big difference in the ride. Speedway motors sells a variety of shocks different lengths for custom installations hope this helps.

Bob

 

Well I dropped the tire pressure to 25 lbs all around.. can't say the ride home was worse but also can't say it was significantly better I guess I will have to checkout the shocks....... maybe they are too long, maybe the wrong ones... anyway I will hopefully get time to play around with them this weekend but it is truck driving season not working on truck season so...... Thanks for the help and suggestions, I guess I have some measuring and fault finding to do now.