seastrike

2000 Suburban LT without electronic suspension and with 4WD.

Truck has 217,000. I am the original owner. Mostly a city truck but I do a good amount of forest road driving. I used to tow a 20 ft boat on the weekends but not too far and I don't do that anymore.

When going down hill (mountain dirt road in bad condition)or other hard brake the rear end will get very loose and slide around. I believe it always slides left.

When hitting a pothole on the right side the truck seems to get a rolling feeling from rear to front and the back feels like it almost loses contact with the road (depending on speed).

I have Rancho 5000's shocks that I installed probably 15,000 miles ago. I have newer Toyo Open Country tires. I've run these same brands for many sets.
New rear diff at around 100,000. Now posi.

I changed out the rear coil springs with MOOG constant rate original ride this past week. The new springs seem to make cornering tighter and raised the rear end and inch or little more. I like them but they did not solve my problem.

Visual inspection (not removal) on rear suspension arms and stabilizer bar bushings doesn't show anything obvious. I'm thinking it's one of these and I should remove and replace the bushings?

The rolling feeling almost feels like a cracked frame or the body coming loose from the frame but I can't find any indication of that when inspecting from underneath.

Sorry for the wall of text. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Dave

Scotiapilot

Your shocks are not working properly, I have replaced rancho 5000 for that exact reason on my Cherokee chief wide track.


Compression and rebound is not how it should be.


I never believed it because I thought rancho was good stuff. Until one of my jeep friends came over and we removed the shocks and went for a short ride. VIOLA, smooth ride no shutter or jounce. After buying a basic pair of cheap shocks my ride was back. You can buy better and adjustable shocks but unless you are really using this off-road and they are seeing high heat and use,,,,you are better off with just a standard pair of shocks.


Quality control for the rancho 5000 shocks is kinda cruddy

seastrike

Thank you Scotiapilot.

I wouldn't have believed it either. Changing out the backs cured most of the problem. I just finished changing out the fronts and that cured the rest.

Most appreciated.

I put on cheap mono tube Monroe. They feel good. Hope they last a while.