Looking for a set of shocks that's going to smooth out my ride. Thing feels like I'm riding in a tank so I'm looking for a set of shocks that'll soften up the ride. When I bought the truck it already had a lift on it- I'm thinking about a 6" lift..not sure though. Any suggestions?

 

I'm not sure but I just bought pro comps ES3000s to replace my ruff country shocks and I feel like nothing changed. I think my leaf springs are what's the problem. I wonder if I could take a leaf out.

 

Mine rides hard empty, but it's fine with a load of dirt or firewood in the bed.

 

Bilstein 5100s

 

Enigma, Same here. If I load the bed up then the ride isn't too shabby. Otherwise, it's pretty rough.

Mak92- The adjustable ones? Does it even matter? Are these what you're riding on?

 

No matter what you get, 6" of lift on stock hanger locations will ride rough as hell. Your springs are the problem, not the shocks - try taking the shocks off and jumping in the bed or taking a short ride down a bumpy road and you'll quickly see that the shocks aren't the problem. You're putting more arch in the springs which in turn makes the springs ride more stiff. Longer shackles can help the ride a little and give you more travel, but that isn't a solution to the problem. If you want a decent ride with a 6" lift then you're going to want to get longer springs and relocate your hangers.

If you aren't hellbent on a 6 inch lift, want a good ride and a don't want to relocate the hangers then I would recommend going with an Old Man Emu 2" lift with 5.5" shackles to give you about 3" of lift and Bilstein 5100's. The OME springs are as close to a smooth factory ride that you are going to get. My friend has this setup and it rides really well and because of that this is the exact setup that I used in my truck build (but I may go down to 4.5" shackles to lower the height a little bit). I can guarantee that you will not find a good ride out of any of the "suspensions in a box" (Skyjacker, Pro-Comp, Rough Country, etc) setups that you find online. You have three choices:

1-Stock hanger location with 4"+ lift and rough ride
2-Stock hanger location with 2" OME lift and mild ride
3-Modified hanger location with any lift and mild & capable ride

I see so many people on here wasting their money on "economical" lifts only to find out that they ride like crap. Then they end up getting the lift that they should have bought to begin with. I'm guilty of the same thing, but I have certainly learned my lesson.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the info man! Just to be clear though- economical lifts? As in lifting blocks?

 

Do you think if I take a leaf out of each spring it would help?

 

I'll be honest with you, pretty much any lift other than Old Man Emu that uses stock hanger locations isn't going to give you a good ride.

Couldn't hurt to try.

 

My rear hangers got moved due to new springs. If I take a leaf out will cause the amount of arch in the spring to change? Aka mess up the shackle angle.

 

It'll change the shackle angle slightly, but that would be due to the spring being more "compressed" considering that the spring rate would be lessened. Make sense? You may be able to get away with it.

 

I might try to take the bottom leaf out. It's the shortest.

 

83Toyota, let me know if you do. I'm curious to know how that's going to work out.

 

I just looked at and I'm not sure how to do it. I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them.

 

Little late but here is the picture. I think I could remove the second from the bottom spring.

 

shouldnt be a problem my stock leaf packs are just 2 leafs and an overload which would be the bottom leaf. all you gotta do is take the weight off the springs undo the U-bolts that hold em to the axle and remove the bolts holding them to the shackle/hanger then pull the springs out put a C-clamp on them to hold them together while you undo the center bolt and take off the keeper clamp that you see in the pic up near the shackle then slowly undo the C-clamp you put on and the leaf pack should come right apart. Not hard you might need a can of PB blaster if you have corrosion on the bolts tho. Good luck hope this helps