Washboard Roads

[zrodwyo]

Anyone ever attempt to optimize suspension for washboard? I travel on dirt roads almost exclusively and I’m sick of getting beat up.

Is it even possible to build a suspension system on a truck with rear leafs that can eat up washboard?

Billy 5100s ain’t it and running around aired down isn’t really reasonable.

 

[justinspicher]

The only thing that seems to remotely work for me is 4H and even that is suspect.

 

[nobody]

Air down your tires. Squishy tires eat up small bumps and washboards better than any suspension upgrades

 

[WRO]

Great shocks eat washboards


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[cmahoney]

I think airing down is the only way


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[Steve300xcw]

Hit em hard enough and you'll only feel every 4th one........

 

[wyosteve]

I have Fox shocks and different coil springs on my Ram and they improve the ride a lot. I have to drive 2 miles of washboard each way when leaving the house, not to mention county/Forest Service roads.

 

[Skerhunter]

I drive them every day! We went over 2 years without having a grader operator for our area, so the country roads were worse than FS roads!

Won’t own another solid axle truck unless I move, they beat the crap out of you no matter what. Billstein 5100s helped a lot and keep the truck from floating around, still chatter some. 1 ton with air bags and 5100s does a lot better than my half ton. Wife’s GX will need new shocks soon, will probably put a better shock than 5100s on that just to see the difference!

Rode in a nice raptor once down our road. Huge difference there but that thing was decked out!

 

[RockAndSage]

Yes, it can be done, but it's more than just swapping out shocks. There is a whole ecosystem of suspension geekery on youtube, where guys tune their trucks for anything. Most off-road shops will know how to tune your suspension for heavily washboarded roads, too.

 

[Hunt_Jefferson]

F150 here, crew cab 6.5" bed - I put Bilstein 6112's on the front and 5160 reservoir shocks on the rear. Combined with airing down a bit and finding the right speed it's fairly pleasant on washboard.

 

[Poser]

Airing down modestly, you don't have to go to full off road PSI, will make a HUGE difference.
On my wheel size, 265/70/R17, I run 35 psi on the highway (32 adjusted for altitude), 20 PSI, sometimes 15, for chunky, technical offroad. 25 PSI will smooth out washboards to the point I barely feel them, no loss of traction or losing the rear end on turns and I can absolutely haul ass without compromising sidewall stability of a lower PSI. I'll pass every other vehicle on the road, sometimes even SxSs.
Note that I'm using 10 ply tires.

 

[gbflyer]

Air down is good. I maintain 20 some odd miles of poorly constructed road with too much traffic, way too much rain, and sorry material. I bought an old gen 1 Raptor. Best thing ever.

 

[Weldor]

Like Wyosteve said, I drive 1-1/2 each way and it tears up my 2018 2500 Megacab. put a loaded trailer behind it and it's worse. I think a buckboard would be a better ride. Slow as you is the only way I found to save components.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

Drive over them at Mach 7.

 

[Weldor]

Hovercraft.

 

[coues32]

Anyone ever attempt to optimize suspension for washboard? I travel on dirt roads almost exclusively and I’m sick of getting beat up.

Is it even possible to build a suspension system on a truck with rear leafs that can eat up washboard?

Billy 5100s ain’t it and running around aired down isn’t really reasonable.

What truck are you driving?

 

[dtrkyman]

Get a decent compressor and air down, drastic improvement. I hunt an area a lot that is close to a gas station with free air and a legit compressor, imagine that!

Otherwise a viair 12v type compressor.

 

[Matt W.]

Jeep Gladiator Mojave….

 

[KurtR]

Lucky peak road in Idaho should be the testing grounds. I thought i drove alot of shitty gravel roads in south dakota but they are super hiways compared to that thing. We had people with horse trailers passing us the horses had to have cte by the time that ride was over.