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So you’ve got a lowered truck. It’s fun, right? Cruising around town, occasionally throwing sparks as your frame hits the asphalt. It’s a blast. But sometimes your truck can ride a little bit rough. And that can make the whole process of driving a bit more of a pain in the rear in a literal sense than you want. What’s the fix?
Well, there are quite a few of them. But by the time you’re done reading this article, you’ll have a bunch of options for how to make a lowered truck ride smoother.
Change your tires.
Did you know that tires play a big role in smoothing out your ride? It’s true, and here’s the problem: Chances are pretty good that if you’ve got a lowered truck, you’ve got low-profile tires. There’s not a lot of give to be had when you’ve got rubber on your rims the size of a rubber band, but there is some work you can do.
Check sites like Tire Rack for reviews and information about your tire size. See if there are other brands that have a higher rating, and see if they can help out a bit. Again, since you’re running such a low-profile tire, by nature you won’t have the smoothest ride when compared to a stock Chevy Tahoe. But sometimes it’s a game of inches, so you want to make improvements wherever you can.
Check your shocks.
The shock absorbers on your truck are designed to dampen your suspension. While your coils or torsion bars and leafs actually hold the weight of the vehicle, the shocks control the bounce, both up and down. And that’s pretty critical to the whole process. Plus, if you’re still running the stockers (you know who you are), chances are you’re using them outside of their specified range. And that’s never going to work out well.
Take a look at yours and see how they’re doing. Is there any excess fluid along the shaft? Are they leaking? Do they need replacement? If not, consider upgrading to a smoother riding shock, or one that’s adjustable. By fine tuning your shocks you’ll be able to get another inch closer to the smooth riding truck of your dreams.
Upgrade or swap out your parts.
Shocks aren’t the only thing that you can upgrade. If you bought cheap coils, consider upgrading them with better and softer ones. If you went with a mono-leaf out back, get rid of it and find a softer leaf spring pack — they’re out there — that’ll suit your needs. And if you really want to go big, look at coilovers. Then you can do a four link out back, and between the two you’ll have an absolutely dreamy ride. That’s nice.
You can also swap things out, too. Let’s say you didn’t get dropped spindles, and instead went with coils. Switch the coils for your stockers and get some spindles, and you’ll be back to riding like stock with the same drop. Or again, swap out cut or poor quality coils with some decent ones. That’ll help a ton.
Bag it.
You’re not going to get a smoother ride on your lowered truck than you will with airbags. An airbagged truck rides like a cloud and is infinitely adjustable, both in height and ride quality. Want it to ride like a Cadillac? Set it up the right way, and you’re good to go. Want it to be a bit more like a slot car? With the right shocks and sway bars, that’s totally possible. And, of course, we’ve got what you need when it comes to parts.
Now we get it; not everybody wants to bag their truck. Fair enough. Have you considered air shocks? Putting air shocks in the back can help with a bumpy ride, and since they’re also adjustable, you can tweak and tune them however you like.
Figure out the real problem and fix it.
OK, maybe the issue isn’t that your truck rides poorly, it’s that something else is causing a jarring ride. A good example here is with the rear end. If your truck isn’t c-notched — or not notched enough — then the axle slamming into the bump stop is probably causing you headaches. Fixing that could give you the smoother ride you desire. Same with lifting the front crossmember if it’s hitting too hard, or the same with your transmission crossmember. Maybe your shocks are too short or the mounts aren’t long enough. There are a ton of different things that can cause these issues, so figuring out what’s really going on can go a long way towards that killer ride you’re looking for.
It’s a smooth road ahead.
Look, it’s a complicated path. How do you make a lowered truck ride smoother? Well at this point, you’ve learned about a ton of different options. What you do next is up to you. No matter what you decide though, when you do take action, it’ll be smooth sailing all the way.
