Adding weight smooth out ride?

GF says truck is too rough so am looking at suspension. My question is would a front bumper and skids help smooth out my ride? Am thinking of all the guys with the heavy duty rear suspension that is rough when unloaded and smoother when loaded.

 

mine seems to ride better with some junk in the trunk

 

Stock suspension? Too rough? It’s a truck not a Mercedes. The nature of any truck with carrying capacity is it’ll be a little bouncy when it’s unloaded. Otherwise it’d be dragging when loaded.

Skids and a front bumper are awesome... but that’s weight on the wrong end of the truck... sand bags in the bed or a rear tire swingout off the rear would help you much more.

Add weight to the front and you’ll actually probably make it worse.

 

I drive 32K GVWR truck on LA city streets. Im fine. But GF has a herniated disc from car accident. Im trying to get her to be comfortable in truck so we can go camping exploring etc. Ill already spoke with accutune and am looking at some custom valved DSC's. I want it to float over stuff. Im trying to figure out if spending $3k on bumpers and skids and rock rails will make the ride smoother. Or if I should just spend it on suspension.

 

If she is having issues on the street, it will be much worse going camping no matter what you do. Give her back time to heal and go from there.

As was said, the rough ride is coming from the unloaded rear. Put a couple hundred pounds back there temporarily and see what she thinks.

 

does the unloaded rear change how the front rides? Im just thinking more weight effective softens the shock. Baby steps for getting her camping. Gotta get her to run errands in it first. lol. ill have to try getting some sandbags from work.

 

Ditch the girlfriend...
If she bitches about the ride of a soft suspension off road, imagine what else she will bitch about. Shoes, house, food, buddies, sports and everything else.

 

It will to some extent. Remember that the weight distribution is about 65/35 with the rear able to carry about 1,200lb more. The weight up front only really changes due to front seat folks.

Yep! Try the sand bags.

 

Bet that guy feels like a butthole now...

But yes best bet is finding a suspension system tuned for your/the girlfriends liking.

 

LMAO!

 

This.

 

More front weight on stock suspension will make it worse. Spend that 3K on shocks. To achieve what you want custom valved shocks are probably what you will need.
Back problems suck!

 

Lower tire pressures makes a huge difference. Loading up taco suspension doesn't really smooth it out like a 2500HD truck.

I ran 29psi all the time and it was much smoother than 35psi.

 

Simple, get a fat girlfriend. Kills two birds with one stone.

 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/59/44/2e59448863dc059144e9d2644d64a032.jpg

 

Ifffffffffff you really wanna go down this Rabbit hole, don’t spend a dime on armor to “help your trucks ride” lol, though if that’s how you need to sell spending that
Money go for it....

Honestly your absolute best bet would be to find someone with a TRD Pro and buy that suspension when they remove it and upgrade. Pro suspension is pretty legit for ride quality.

All this said if she seriously can’t ride on the road in a Tacoma I’d rethink ever taking her Offroad. A trophy truck driving slowly Offroad is gonna shake the shit out of her compared to driving your Tacoma on pavement.

Perhaps change up your plans. Plenty of amazing shit to see in this country on pavement. Nothing wrong with that. Good luck.

 

This is a pretty good suggestions honestly

 

The OR shocks are weird. They are both soft and wallowy and harsh over small impacts. Swap out the shocks for Billstein 5100s. Way smoother on road in my experience, and cheaper option than bumpers and sliders.

Adding weight will just amplify the jarring ride from the stock shocks.

 

Lots of legit advice here. Some I was expecting. Some of it . . . Ha ha. Very funny. I refuse the whole, it’s a truck mentality as I have driven in 100k prerunners that make running over curbs feel like running over roadkill.

 

KK! I could tell even with my eyes closed!