Washboarded Roads

[navsnipe]

Can you just put some Krylon Clear Coat on them prior to install and then touch up as needed?

I probably could have but had no idea they were going to look like this. The rears would be easy enough to cleanup and paint, but I'm not taking the front's apart again.

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[Glocker]

All of this was probably hit on here, but to improve the ride of your truck on washboards:

1. Ditch the FX4 suspension. Or at the very least, the rear shocks. They are absolutely terrible over terrain at speed.
2. Air down to absorb some of the impacts.
3. find the proper speed so that the road feels smooth. On many washboard roads, you can find that perfect speed that you can keep control of the truck and smooth out the ride.

 

[jtzako]

Reduce tire pressure (useful if offroading anyway). Or upgrade to a Tremor style suspension (softer). My Tremor handles the washboards on the way to my house quite well, but my brothers tacoma goes nuts on it due to its stiffer suspension.

 

[RangerPNW]

Lower tire pressures and I'd throw a vote in for some Fox suspension. Mostly tire pressures tho, you'd be amazed at the difference that alone can make.

 

[mtbikernate]

yeah, washboards suck.

in my area, the gravel roads aren't straight for very long at all. lots of twisties, so people's speed changes often and the washboards that develop change frequency a lot. there's not a lot I can really do about it. I don't even air down because I'm usually not on them long enough for that to be worth it.

I also have the 4x4, so my suspension behaves a little better, it seems, than the FX4 in those conditions.

the one area where the washboards get to me is the gravel road from Max Patch down to interstate 40. they get especially bad there, and that's the one spot where I put it in 4wd on these otherwise easy gravel roads, as that does make a difference. and I also slow down quite a bit in the curves, as that's where the washboards are worst.

 

[9zero1790]

On top of lowered air pressure, increasing speed can sync the rebound rate to the frequency of the corrugations so you skim along the tops smoothly.

Jack were you ever a truck driver? Only other place I have heard that about rough road corrugations was from a trucker. Makes sense. I tried it once and it did feel better.

 

[9zero1790]

when I had the stock fx4 suspension on my 5g the wash boards could get a bit hairy as the rear sorta likes to bounce and "step out" so I had to counter steer etc. with new suspension i have not had it happen yet. To be fair, I have more weight in the bed now which also helps out with the rear staying planted so its not just suspension.

 

[Danager]

Climb into a Tremor and press the skinny pedal a little harder…. I guess it’s a good combination of a decent shock and those different rear springs.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

There's a washboard road nearby that I used to "test" my truck when I installed the Bilsteins in the rear.

I wasn't really experiencing a lot of the FX4 issues others had mentioned, aside from the bobbing, but the truck did hop along that washboard road pretty bad.

The Bilsteins made a HUGE improvement on that road and did a terrific job of taming the "skittering" of the rear end over the washboard.

Now I have the Tremor springs in the rear coupled with the Bilsteins and it is very manageable over the washboard.

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

Jack were you ever a truck driver? Only other place I have heard that about rough road corrugations was from a trucker. Makes sense. I tried it once and it did feel better.

Yes I am. I started driving semi ~30 years ago. I then bounced around Public Works for a while, and semi-retired in 2020. Now I only work winters driving truck/plough.

 

[GhostStrykre]

Lower tire pressures and I'd throw a vote in for some Fox suspension. Mostly tire pressures tho, you'd be amazed at the difference that alone can make.

i've been saving my coins to update my 2019 FX4 suspension to the Fox suspension and have noticed it doesn't come up as much in threads. It's all Bilstein and Eibach. Is something wrong with the Fox setup, or is the higher price tag the thing that pushes people into Eibach/Bilstein?

 

[Dr. Zaius]

i've been saving my coins to update my 2019 FX4 suspension to the Fox suspension and have noticed it doesn't come up as much in threads. It's all Bilstein and Eibach. Is something wrong with the Fox setup, or is the higher price tag the thing that pushes people into Eibach/Bilstein?

This is just me, but I skipped the Fox due to them needing to be occasionally rebuilt, supposedly at around 30-50k miles. Rebuild cost is around $80 per shock.

The Bilsteins and the Eibachs have a lifetime warranty.

The Fox shocks may indeed have higher performance and maybe the rebuild is only necessary to maintain that level of performance.

For what I use my truck for I don't need that level of performance.

I'm perfectly happy with my Bilsteins.

 

[GhostStrykre]

This is just me, but I skipped the Fox due to them needing to be occasionally rebuilt, supposedly at around 30-50k miles. Rebuild cost is around $80 per shock.

The Bilsteins and the Eibachs have a lifetime warranty.

The Fox shocks may indeed have higher performance and maybe the rebuild is only necessary to maintain that level of performance.

For what I use my truck for I don't need that level of performance.

I'm perfectly happy with my Bilsteins.

That is AWESOME information that I didn't know. Thanks so much!

 

[TxOTRRanger]

The gravel road that I live by is washboarded, the road that I take to get to the Red River is washboarded and has 30 mph speed limit on it, which makes sense with the sand haulers, sod haulers, farm equipment and us 4wheelers(truck drivers term) that travel on it. A set of Bilstein 5100 shocks are not to distant in my trucks future, that way I could have the front end raised up just a touch and smooth out the ride.

 

[Cmar]

Washboard, or corrugated as we call em here, are unfortunately a way of life in Australia once you stray off the main highways, or travel anywhere remote. Some good advice here air down, try to find a speed that synchronises with the wavelength of the bumps, have good quality gas shocks, and hang on!
I find actually that the Ranger is pretty good on corrugations as a rule, although I think we have a different spring set up to you guys, much better than the Bronco I used to own, which used to want to dance all over the place, but not as good as the old Ranger Rover I owned long ago. That vehicle was simply superb, but had it's own issues (English electrics).

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