Hi. I'm writing for myself and my friend. We would like to know what shock thats under 50 each might ride smooth.
He has a 2000 f150 2wd and has replaced
all the front and rear bushings he could find but the truck rides rough. The leaf
springs are not sagging and the shocks don't bounce they just kind of thump i guess you could say.
He had tried the monroe coil overs and truck was too stiff. So he was told that 20.00 gabriel shocks would be the closest to a
car-like ride he could get. He has them on now but it just feels and sounds like the back gets picked up and slammed down. We read about priming
the shocks when they are stored on their side and this really did loosen them up a little. What i'm wondering is if the 20.00 shocks are so weak that they just completely
compress on any bumps and don't absorb the shock. Sorry, trying to write all this while at work.

 

IMHO, a $20 shock is , well a POS. It sounds like you have "street type trucks"...here is some thoughts......

1) Koni- Excellent for racing applications- overpriced for street applications
2) Tokico, QA1 & Bilstein- A very good shock for street/strip applications. If you are running very stiff tires on the street (such as Bridgstone that are 100% steel belted or tires with profiles shorter than 50 series), these provide the extra give that you need for both comfort & stability
3) KYB- A very good shock for street/strip applications. If you are running a softer tires on the street (such as BFG that are a mix of steel & nylon belted or tires with profiles not shorter than 50 series), these provide the extra stiffness that you need for both comfort & stability. The Exel-G’s (formerly GR-2) are the equivalent to the Edelbrock IAS automatic adjusting units. Overall, stiffness between the Gas-a-just and the GR2’s are the same, the difference is the GR-2's valving which stiffens things up from a oem setting to that of the Gas-a-just units.. Best shock for the $/best price typically found at Performance Suspension Technologies (PST) and typically about 1/3 less than Bilstein.
4) Gabriel- A very nice good quality HD OEM replacement type unit.

 

His biggest wish is to find shocks here it might actually bounce up and down like the shocks are bad. He wants it to be that soft. I just think with leaf springs he might be screwed.

 

What he said^. I'd never buy a 20 dollar shock, that just sounds like it'll be bad.

 

Lol all the shops here have told me and him that cheap is softer.. just don't expect them to be like the adjusting shocks that smooth out on diff types of terrain lol. I just saw the r9000xl, 9 settings might be the key. I did just notice almost in the middle between the leaf spring mounts that the frame is bent. Maybe the leafs are binding?

 

Aaarrghhh...you guys kill me with this super soft ride crap on a truck! OK, here's the problem; actually, it's not a problem, it's just how it is...Your truck has leaf springs on it sprung to a certain rate/weight/capability. The problem with trying to find a shock that will make your truck ride like a car is not only does that shock not exist, that capabilty does not exist.

To have a nicley balanced suspension and compliant ride capable of doing the job it was designed for, you need to understand the job of a shock...you apparently do not. The shocks one and only job in life is to control the rate (speed) at which the spring compresses and rebounds from its normal resting postion, period. We percieve this as ride quality when in actuality, the spring rate determines ride quality. The quality of the job the shock does at dampening (or not dampening) this spring speed is translated to your brain as a change or shift in ride. When you install a shock that's too soft for the springs on this truck, its actually counterproductive. It ends up not controlling the spring at all and the spring is free to do whatever it wants. Depending on just how severe the lack of dampening capability is with a given shock, the ride of the vehicle due to the lack of control of the spring can actually be worse than with a stiffer shock that does what its supposed to (controll the spring). I can't tell you how many times I've seen guys improve the ride quality of a vehicle by installing a stiffer shock or even a stiffer spring. (note...maybe "stiffer shock" isn't the best term, but a high quality, dependable, name brand shock would be a better term)

All these shop idiots telling you to install the cheapest thing possible are all idiots. Hell, with that mentality, why not just take the shock off and drive like that?? Might as well, you're almost there anyways. Challenge...you think your truck will ride soft with no shocks on it?? Go try!

When I first got involved in suspension stuff, it was when getting started in motorcycle racing. I really started focusing on suspension set-up and needed to do some work on my bike because the rear end was waaaaay too stiff. My suspesion mentor guided me to install a much stiffer spring! I aruged with him for weeks and said no way that's possible; only to discover I was the idiot...the stiffer spring completely softened the ride, making it more compliant and letting it work the way it was intended. My learving curve only grew up after that.

 

He had the tires road force balanced and part of the harsh ride went away since he warrantied out the old tires and have 4 now. Both back tires were out of round, the shop said it was due to bad rear suspension. I know they are stuppose to be stiff etc but you should ride in the truck it is not like any other truck ive been in. I also noticed the slide things between the leaf springs are missing so it is metal against metal and there is a ton of crap between them(He tried greasing between them for less friction). It is also like the bolts have shrunk, i got under it to where i could watch the shocks and they are loose, even with the shocks torqued to spec, the shocks themself are can be moved up and down almost like bolt is one size smaller than needed. So much wron with this truck lol.