Rock N Roll Ocean Motion - Will better shocks help?

I like most things about my new Tacoma but going down the road it seems that every corner is going up and down all the time. Call it sway, floating, or too soft a ride or whatever, would some 5100's or other shocks make any difference? I am trying to get rear spring TSB hoping that will make a difference. The funny thing is that when riding a gravel road with a lot of bumps it seems to recover faster and not have this floating feeling.

 

what do u have now?how many miles?the billie 5100s r way better than any of the stock trd shocks.

 

I forgot to say I have TRD OR 4x4 AC. These shocks seem not to do the job. 1250 miles

 

ok,most people imo wouldn't have any issues with them and that kinda milage.i thought mine road great. the 5100s made a night and day differance but i had 62'000 on mine when i replaced them.if u do get new ones im sure you could sell your used ones on here to someone to recoup some money.

 

What's your previous vehicle? Partly the softer ride is what allows it to absorb bumps, and there's only a sway bar on the front end and a fairly high CG, which will make for quite a bit of body roll.

I'm about 1300 miles in on a brand new TRD OR Prerunner access cab (should handle pretty similar to your 4x4). I really notice the body roll when cornering on pavement, but my previous daily driver is a Mazda RX8 with aftermarket springs, sways and shocks which lowered it a bit and makes it ride on rails.

Sometimes it's just an adjustment to the feel of a new and different ride.

 

even with coil overs I still feel what he is desribing. not as bad as stock, but some of the cement freeways here are jacked up and you notice it.
When I finally get new wheels and maybe some spindles I will have a wider stance, it may help.

 

I have a 93 Toyota 4x4 and it doesn't do this. Also a Dodge truck-it doesn't do this. I guess you are right - I will just have to get used to it as I have 30k into this ride. Was hoping someone who had changed the shocks would say "and it rides much better now..."

 

most people get billys to get a softer ride i thought. If you want a lift and to stiffin it up, get the OME 886 coils with either OME shocks or the billys. My truck was stiff as hell and rode like crap when I had my front spacers and AAL in the rear, I felt every damn bump in the road.

 

5100s set to 1.75 or 2.5 will definitely be stiffer than stock.

I went from stock SR5 suspension with about 30,000mi to bilsteins set to .85 with eibach springs. It's firmer but also better damped. I much prefer the stiffer 5100s.

 

If you've got 30k miles driven on the new rig and are coming from trucks, it's probably not just an issue of adjusting to a different driving feel. I just wondered if is was a more drastic difference (coming from a Civic or a Mustang to a Tacoma for example). It could be that I've got the same issue you have but have just been chalking it up to the drastic difference in handling between my cars.

I've had experiences in the past where certain patches of road have a wave in the pavement and can match the frequency of the suspension at certain speeds, but that'd cause a weird feeling in straightaways, not so much in corners.

If you can find out the spring rates on your previous trucks and compare to the springs on the new ride, or if the other rigs had rear sway bars in addition to the front, that could explain some of it (stiffer springs will reduce body roll with or without sway bars, but you'll also feel bumps more). There are lots of complaints on these boards about how soft the rear leaf springs are on the 2nd gen Tacos, which combined with no rear sway bar could give you lots of body roll (especially if you've got some relatively tall weight in the back, possibly including a topper if you have one).

Also the 2nd gen tacos don't have boxed frame rails (but they are reinforced and have somewhat better torsional stiffness than clear open channels), where your other two trucks might be boxed frames and will therefore flex less in corners; that might be some of what you're feeling as well.

 

Same issue here. This is Toyota truck #6 and my third lifted truck and it makes me crazy! I have 5100's @ 1.75 and TSB rear w/5100's which helped some but the damned truck feels loose with lots of lateral motion at highway speeds, bump steer, wandering, and much more prone to cross winds. None of my other trucks ever rode like this one. I'm thinking about going to Icons and then have a complete alignment done but hate to spend the cash right now.

 

Your Caster is probably too low. Do you have aftermarket UCAs?

 

No but at 1.75", do you really think that's an issue? I grant you when they aligned it after, I'll guess it was a quickie adjustment. Are Gen II's that much different than older models that they need UCA's with this little amount of lift??? Keep in mind also, this condition existed before the lift. The truck steers straight on flat ground and hitting large bumps, it seems to absorb them pretty well. It just seems to "float" for lack of a better word.

 

Float like you lose steering feel? or the vehicle floats like a Cadillac?

Toyota's are known for having low caster when lifted. Too low and the vehicle will not track straight and will get bump steer easier.

 

A stiff Cadillac maybe. You don't get the bounce that you might in an old Caddie but a lot of lateral movement....hard to describe. It tracks straight on flat ground but will follow an off grade and bump steer off high or low spots in the road. Passing a car or one passing you gives you white knuckles keeping the damn thing in it's lane, very touchy steering. Maybe another alignment (different shop) is worth a try before I go nuts with new shocks.

 

I meant 30K dollars - just bitching that a $30K truck does this. I only have 1500 miles. My other truck are dodge 2500 stock and 93 4x4 Toyota stock.

 

Dang, I was hoping to solve the problem with 5100's and the rear TSB. What shocks are better than the 5100?

 

I was thinking complete coilovers where the coils are designed to work with the struts so they're not compressed to start with.....and then maybe not.....