What shocks give the smoothest street ride for a '94 pickup? I am not interested in offroad, only street use.

 

Is this used as a truck ??Just bounce around empty all the time ??

shocks help a little but the suspension gives it the bone jarring bounce when empty

You want a soft smooth ride look at the 4Runner Suspensions compared to the truck .

Then we have such smooth roads here!!

I have the Monroe Sensatracs on my 86 but empty the ride is so very jarring

 

It is empty most of the time. The shocks have 200,000 miles on them. The PA turnpike has bumps every 100ft that launch me into the ceiling. It gets fatiguing on longer drives. I know the torsion bars and leaf springs are mostly responsible for the ride, I would just like to take some of the springiness out of it.

 

As wyoming says the shock dont do anything for ride harshness. Shocks are for rebound damping not compression. Compression is the springs/torsion bars. Unless you put lighter springs in you will have a harsh ride. Its a truck. 4runners have nice squishy coil springs, nice ride but cant put a lot of weight in the back without them bottoming out.

 

2wd or 4wd?

2wd SR-5's had options for soft valve shocks and soft ride rear leaf springs. Those shocks are still available and DO make a significant increase in ride quality.

 

Shocks are damping the motion in compression and extension of the suspension cycle.

If your shocks are old and no longer damping, try some basic replacements first. It will probably make a big difference.

You can also run a bit lower tire pressure. Your tires also act as a spring & damper in the suspension, and it will be softer with, say 28 psi vs. 35 psi.

 

Bilsteins for a quality replacement. they should be a little firmer, but eliminate any harsh characteristics. Or just some new parts store cheapos if you want to save some $$

 

I just replaced the old crusty Monroe's that my '94 DLX 4wd came with. They looked awful, but I don't think they were completely blown out (at least not to the point of leaking or anything). All of this started back in May when my truck began to ride really crappy. It's just a daily driver, so all I care about is ride comfort and utility. I'd rather offroad with my dirtbike than my truck haha.

I ordered Bilstein 4600 shocks in an attempt to fix the awful ride quality, and when I went to install them, I noticed my front suspension was basically riding on the bump stops. Then I realized that it was my fault because, back in May, I lowered the front torsion bars down since the previous owner had them cranked up higher than stock. I just took a stab at lowering them by uncranking them some amount, then setting the truck down and looking at the ride height, which looked stock/normal, so I figured I was ok. Problem is, when these trucks are sitting on the front bump stops, they don't appear like they're sitting too low or anything. Perhaps this is a sign of a small amount of suspension travel, I'm not sure, but that's neither here nor there because once I cranked the torsion bars back up a bit to get it off the bump stops (without going way up -- still slightly under the factory service manual's listed ride height specifications), the ride quality improved a LOT. And since I had already ordered the Bilsteins, I went ahead and installed them and it got better.

No idea if any of this applies to you but just figured I'd share. Take a look at your front bump stops and see if you're already right up on them.