FX4 Suspension Bounce

[P. A. Schilke]

Haha more specifically an unloaded truck which they developed with high tow capacity and payload in mind instead of wheel travel performance

Okay...lets look at the pIckup box. lets fill it with Styrofoam balls..and someone else fills the box with lead balls. Which one is overloaded? Pretty clear...However we have found with trucks that people fill by volume regardless of weight, so Ford has to protect for being overloaded. As such an unladen truck will be pretty stiff. So adding a trailer tongue weight helps reduce the "stiffness". This includes the FX4, which is tuned for offroad...not on road... The above still applies.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

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[psweeney]

Okay...lets look at the pIckup box. lets fill it with Styrofoam balls..and someone else fills the box with lead balls. Which one is overloaded? Pretty clear...However we have found with trucks that people fill by volume regardless of weight, so Ford has to protect for being overloaded. As such an unladen truck will be pretty stiff. So adding a trailer tongue weight helps reduce the "stiffness". This includes the FX4, which is tuned for offroad...not on road... The above still applies.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Exactly. Unladen wheel travel and performance is not what it was designed for since it has to meet so many weight based requirements for the industry/sales/press/many owners who use them as work trucks. And Phil, correct me if I'm wrong, but not only does Ford design to be protected from people overloading it, but the rating isn't even when anything bad happens to the truck (like the frame bending or anything) it's just when it begins to operate outside the DOT safety envelope, correct? For things like the headlights being pointed at the sky, crash test angles not being relevant anymore, etc. So they've actually engineered it to be able to handle much more than the rating before anything truly bad happens to the truck if what I've learned in the past is true.

 

[Msfitoy]

FX4 still bouncing? Perpetual motion...

 

[shred5]

Hi Tom,

Basically I want it to ride well on my horrible CA roads and desert/mountain trails at mild speeds (25-75) no true pre-running I'll do that in purpose built vehicles.

With good leaf building you can get a lot out of them, a lot of dune and jump trucks run front and rear leafs even and run way faster and smoother than linked trucks (though a linked setup as you said would be the way for ultra high speed but I don't really want to spend 20k on a proper conversion haha again I can just use a sxs or a buddy's built truck). So I'm going progressive pack, different arch, different bushings, different joints, different rates, basically everything that will increase performance without sacrificing much for the road (not going all the way to race mode). So I will lose 10%-15% or so on weight capacity (but I'm not hauling 1600 lbs around, it's a daily, camper, etc not hauling concrete). But it should run a lot smoother both on road and trails bc I'm going dual rate etc and the main problem I see is the overload spring anyway so some may do better just by cutting the overload and doing an add a pack, but I'll be investigating that after I've redone the whole thing.

Well it got warmer out last weekend and even though I have said I thought the bounce was not too bad, I was wrong.
Sunday I drove it down the highway and it was 51 and holy cow it is like the truck is always in motion. Today I drove down the same highway and it was 10 degrees and the truck had the best ride out of any truck I drove. See I bought the truck in winter and have not driven it much in warm weather. I know I have been saying the bounce was not too bad but that little cold and stiffness was making the bounce a non factor. I have owned other trucks and none have done that. We are at that time where weather is up and down and causes are road the heave a little as the ground expands and contracts.

What also came back during warm weather was the shudder/vibration from take off at a stop.
The bounce can be fixed but no Idea what the shudder is.. It has ruined this truck for me. Now every-time I come to a stop I am thinking am I going to feel the shudder instead of thinking I really like the truck.. Once you feel it you can stop thinking about it.


Bounce does not bother me much but this vibration/shudder at take off really does. Bounce can be fixed.
At this point though with Ford already talking new Ranger and sales slow except 4th quarter I doubt they do anything about it.
I think they are looking forward now. I mean those with fuel in their oil hear nothing from Ford. When I bought the truck some of these issues had started popping up on the forums but I trusted Ford to find a solution. I no longer do. I am starting to feel Ford rushed the truck to fill a gap they were missing. The whole shudder issue even has hit the truck news sites like ford authority. I figured that would have made this issue a little more urgent.
https://fordauthority.com/2019/12/2019-ford-ranger-owners-complain-of-low-speed-vibration/

https://news.pickuptrucks.com/2019/12/yeah-that-vibration-in-the-2019-ford-ranger-is-annoying.html

I will say I always had respect for Ford especially when they didn't take money form the Government. Even though I am not a fanboy of any brand Ford has always been my go to because of the respect for the company and how they handled problems. Then there was the Focus I owned. There are still lawsuits going on about that garbage. Then to find out Ford knew it was going to be a issue but released it anyway. Strike one. I am hoping they take care of this issue or it will be strike two. I do not want to hear it is a characteristic of the truck. I was leary of buying the first year of a Truck to begin with. Massive rebate lured my in earlier than I was expecting to buy but I had confidence Ford would fix any issues that came about and who knows maybe they still will.

I had someone ask me the other day if I liked my Ranger more than my Colorado.. I had to tell him that I would not buy the Ranger till Ford showed they were interested in fixing some of the problems people are seeing or wait till next gen. It may not be a problem with everyone's truck but Ford needs to fix the issue with those that do. I am going to make a appointment for the Shudder but I feel I will get the same run around as the rest. I am just going to wait till the weather is consistently warmer.

 

[t4thfavor]

the first 2" or so of rear spring travel is quite light and prone to bouncing unloaded, when you get down onto the helper thingamabobs it's much less bouncy. I still want to go full Icon 3.5" kit so I tell my wife "4000$ worth of coilovers will fix the bounce entirely" to which she replies with words I cannot type in polite company about my "house" payment sized truck payment.

 

[SVC Offroad]

I know for sure the new FOX 2.5's will fix that bounce! personally ran around 1000 off road miles with them down in BAJA chasing down fully built jeeps and Raptors in all type of terrains

 

[VAMike]

Why is the door jamb sticker rating always much less ?

Examples:
Loaded FX4 Lariat = 1469
FX4 XLT = 1462

because skid plates are heavy pieces of metal

 

[t4thfavor]

because skid plates are heavy pieces of metal

Read that again Mike, both are FX4 with skids, Lariat has +7LBS payload. Other than that, I have no guess why.

 

[VAMike]

Read that again Mike, both are FX4 with skids, Lariat has +7LBS payload. Other than that, I have no guess why.

I know they're both fx4. I thought the original question I replied to was why the two fx4 trucks had almost 200 pounds less payload than the non fx4. The minor variations between trim levels come down to things like different wheels and tires.

 

[Doc]

My XL doesn’t bounce but it feels a little ”tippy” when a tractor trailer or a motor home passes in the opposite direction.
Regards

 

[Kawffin]

I know for sure the new FOX 2.5's will fix that bounce! personally ran around 1000 off road miles with them down in BAJA chasing down fully built jeeps and Raptors in all type of terrains

Got a video?

 

[treimche]

The Fox 2.0's greatly reduced the bounce. Front is perfect, but rear is still a little bouncy due to the factory springs. I'm very happy with it now.

 

[SVC Offroad]

Got a video?

only still shots currently. typically trying to cover too much ground in a day to stop and film a section

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/fox-2-5-series-shock-prototype-svcoffroad.4489/

 

[Kawffin]

only still shots currently. typically trying to cover too much ground in a day to stop and film a section

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/fox-2-5-series-shock-prototype-svcoffroad.4489/

Great photos I'm sure those shocks kick ass. I'm still dreaming about the 2.0 set up though. Itll take me a year of saving for those 2.5's.

 

[Fritz]

I’ve got a non FX4 and I think the suspension is bouncy but I’m coming from a 2500.

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