Rough ride SR5

Rough ride SR5

Postby Gavarni on Sat, 08 Oct 2016 4:04 +0000

Hey guys, got my self new 2016 dual cab SR5, very happy with the features, well apart from the navigation but that's another story, my biggest gripe is the harsh ride, now I know it's a ute and is meant to be firm, so it can handle the 900kg payload but man my thing is beyond rough, it has no give on any bumps, now I live west of Gympie on country roads and even with kart trailer being towed, est 150kg on ball the vehical is even worse. Every bump you feel, serious there is very little give in the suspension, even jumping on the back or side it barely moves, just tyre roll is more the give in the car. It handles great around corners but I don't drive that fast to warrant cornering stability. It had its first service were I mention a vibration above 105km on very smooth city roads but tech came back could not find any issues and all appeared as it should suspension wise. So my question is how do I soften the suspension? I have look and all I can find is lift kits which the guys say will firm the ride, do I need to change the rear leafs or shocks to soften the ride? Any ideas greatly appreciated. Spoken with couple leaf guys and nothing out there that is softer and no one will make a set to soften the ride. So trying to avoid putting 500kg in back permantly, which even that am concern won't fix issue, so open to ideas.

Thanks
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby taresk on Sat, 08 Oct 2016 4:33 +0000

Is there any chance your Lux was specced with heavy duty springs? I have test driven the new ones, and they are firm, but not as harsh as you're experiencing.

Only fixes I can think of is having a leaf or two pulled from the pack, or switching to parabolics (which might not be available yet for the longer leaves of gen 8's )

Swapping shocks won't help if your springs are too firm.
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Gavarni on Sat, 08 Oct 2016 5:23 +0000

Cheers taresk, so you can remove a spring from the leaf pack on the 2016 models?
Well I only ordered a SR5 didn't ask for anything extra, how do you tell if it's not standard?
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby taresk on Sat, 08 Oct 2016 6:07 +0000

I'm no expert with leaves (the lux is my first fourby that didn't have coils on the rear), being a new vehicle you should still be able to read the part numbers printed on the leaf pack, otherwise find another lux to compare them to.

I do know most good suspension shops can pluck out a leaf or two to adjust the pack, but I don't personally know which leaves to pull. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will see this and respond.
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby nickoslux on Sun, 09 Oct 2016 6:15 +0000

Have you changed from standard tyres? Some of the ATs and MTs have very tough side walls, eg light truck rating and can make the ride much worse. Having said that they are designed to carry a decent load, so they will be rough unloaded. The Fords ride better but tend to sag badly with a big load
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby DeadlyBeast on Sun, 09 Oct 2016 9:05 +0000

How many km's have you done?
If you have done less than 10,000km load it up and give it a good flexing offroad

New suspension is always firm and takes time to loosen up. Plenty of threads on that but I hope this helps.

If you are mostly running without any load in the tray, give 30psi a try for the rear tyres. Makes a difference
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Earlyninja on Sun, 09 Oct 2016 6:07 +0000

Not sure if pulling a leaf out will be a good idea as most leaves work within each others' spring range.
This is best left to the professionals but from what I have read best option would be to swap the top two leaves with something thinner to soften the initial bump absorption.
Ensuring all pivot points are thoroughly greased might help the suspension move more smoothly.
You, Hilux owner driving the other way, I salute you!
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby TOYZX on Sun, 09 Oct 2016 6:56 +0000

I've driven a coule of new ones and I can't say they were that rough! I doubt you'd be able to pull a leaf anyway as all I've seen so far have a 5 leaf pack which doesn't give ya much to play with.

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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Ray230 on Tue, 11 Oct 2016 7:20 +0000

I'd have to agree with the OP. The ride on these things is pretty average, even for a ute. And I have had Utes my whole life. I tow a 2T trailer daily and it doesn't improve much with that sort of weight. I am hoping I can change this somewhat with a different suspension kit at some stage.
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Sparksy on Tue, 11 Oct 2016 7:52 +0000

I remember when I got my dual cab (n70 though) from Toyota specced with a steel tray, it was quite firm. After inspection, I'd found they'd pumped up the stock rubber to 45/46 PSI, basically what you'd have with 500kg in the rear. Letting them down a bit helped smooth it out for me.

But your issue seems to be a lot worse than what mine was.
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Ray230 on Wed, 12 Oct 2016 3:35 +0000

Well I usually run 42 psi to account for extra weight of materials or rubbish plus the trailer. Maybe I'll try to drop them back a few.
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Hilux Max on Wed, 12 Oct 2016 11:21 +0000

Interesting. Im still running the stock suspension on my SR and am surprised how soft and comfortable the suspension is....compared to a stock N70....the N80 is much more comfortable. I dont find it harsh at all.
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby creaky on Wed, 12 Oct 2016 12:52 +0000

My new SR5 N80 has a stiffer rear end than my work 2013 SR with 70,000 kms on it. But .... pretty sure the 2013 started out stiffer than the N80 has though !
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby MarkTGood on Wed, 12 Oct 2016 4:59 +0000

Hey mate.

When I got my new hilux in December I towed my camper trailer out to Murgon and the ride was so harsh I almost cried at the thought of having to drive back home to the Gold Coast.

It has settled down a lot and now isn't a chore to drive.

Hope this is some consolation

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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby nickoslux on Wed, 12 Oct 2016 5:39 +0000

I live a kingaroy which is where im ģuessing you are talking about and the roads are just diabolicaly rough in this area. You want a rough trip go for a drive to boondooma dam just west of here. It wouldnt matter what you are driving, it would rattle the fillings from your teeth
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Vigorevo on Mon, 17 Oct 2016 10:28 +0000

has anyone tried installing add-a-leaf kit especially the ironman ones? lux is also having a a harsh ride after 17k km and want to lift it round 50mm.
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby creaky on Mon, 17 Oct 2016 12:00 +0000

Somewhat relevant to this topic but from the leaf spring experts / experienced people - what is generally the best way to add a bit of height (say 30 to 40 mm), minimise the sag when loaded with camping gear and family (say 300-400kg) but not compromise the stock comfort unweighted too much ?

I'm thinking add an extra load leaf (not sure which one) and add a 20mm spacer block to the leaf pack. Does this sound like it would work OK or do you really have to fork out $600 for a whole new leaf pack ?
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Gipsy on Mon, 17 Oct 2016 12:25 +0000

Airbags maybe?
Cheers Gipsy :D although I'm sure somebody will challenge that :lol: even Einstein wasn't certain of his theories.
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby creaky on Mon, 17 Oct 2016 12:54 +0000

Gipsy wrote:Airbags maybe?


I had them on my last car (FJ) and to be honest they worked well on the coil spring application. I was thinking that with the potential for 'tailored progression' in a leaf pack there may be simpler options ??
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Re: Rough ride SR5

Postby Gipsy on Mon, 17 Oct 2016 1:11 +0000

Leaf spring will probably stiffen the ride somewhat but bags will not... they can be adjusted as required
Cheers Gipsy :D although I'm sure somebody will challenge that :lol: even Einstein wasn't certain of his theories.
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