rough as guts

Hi All

A bit of advice needed. Had the first big trip with the new navara on the weekend - 1200 klms towing a camper trailer. Me the boss and three kids.

Now i know that a ute is not a sedan - but the ride was fu#$ing terrible. The wife was winging (nothin unusual) about it - i was less than happy with it. We felt every bump on the highway between maroochydore and rockhampton.

We had maybe about 200 kgs in the tub. Trailer packed evenly with a low tow ball weight - i could lift the draw bar.

My question - has any one else had this problem? - or am i just expecting too much.
Does a suspension upgrade/lift make a difference to ride quality?

Please help...

Yes, No, yep, and maybe.
Standard suspension and the ride quality is absolute crap.
Throw it in the bin and fit up a set of wooden wheels coupled to some hand beaten leaf springs by your local smithy and you will achieve better.
Yes I have had this problem. If I bought a Massey Fergusson that I used on weekends on my hobby farm then I wouldn't have a problem. Afterall I dont have to live with it every day and I dont expect too much from it.
No you are not expecting too much that a vehicle costing upwards of $35k should have a decent ride quality given how far we have come in terms of suspension and vehicle design - refer to horse and cart analogy above.
Maybe comes in the form of what sort of intended purpose you have for the vehicle and suspension available. New shock absorbers of any kind ( except original ) will make a difference but you need to match them to springs that will suit your purpose and therein lies the head scratching. Do you want to go offroad ( it is advertised as such on the rear flanks afterall ) ? Are you sticking to sealed surfaces with some towing but mostly everyday use unladen? Will the vehicle be loaded with family and camping gear often? Who drives the bastard vehicle everyday and on average how much does the bone jarring give them the shits? Its all a compromise but you can go some way towards rectifying it.

Signed
Internal Bruising

Oh I should have paid more attention.
Your driving a D40?
Harden The F#$% Up and sit your arse in a D22!

Are you from England or what?

Aido said:

Oh I should have paid more attention.
Your driving a D40?
Harden The F#$% Up and sit your arse in a D22!

Are you from England or what?

Click to expand...

Hahaha

Ha Ha Aido - I tried a tea spoon of cement (to harden the fuck up) - did not work - the ride was still shit.
I even tried to build a bridge and GET OVER IT - no joy.
Got a deck of cards to DEAL WITH IT - no good.

I am not a pom either - i employ a pom and he whingers less than the aussies i employ.

A mate has an d22 and the ride is better than my new d40 (dare i say that)

tagMan said:

A mate has an d22 and the ride is better than my new d40 (dare i say that)

Click to expand...

On with the show

The boss's bog stock '09 D40 2 of us drove Melb to Myrtleford and back and up forest tracks for a job,
i found to be quite comfy on the harddeck and tracks,
no complaints,
comparing my '08 D22 which is quite stiff and hard on the rutts and bumps though can't complain too much on the harddeck though its certainly no sedan, but i have no regrets bout its ride as I bought basically an agricultural beast and knew it.

Remember these trucks are'nt marketed as family sedans.

Happy trails

Mate have you checked your tyre pressure? I hear they ship them with high pressures. Worth a try. Currently have mine at 30 - yeah heaps low - but it makes all the dif to ride

Found the problem. With a car load of kids and gear, with a lightly loaded camper trailer on the back, the leaf springs dropped to the stops. pretty poor for a standard ute.

UPGRADE TIME

However the hole suspension question is becoming a fukin nightmare.

tagMan said:

Hi All

A bit of advice needed. Had the first big trip with the new navara on the weekend - 1200 klms towing a camper trailer. Me the boss and three kids.

Now i know that a ute is not a sedan - but the ride was fu#$ing terrible. The wife was winging (nothin unusual) about it - i was less than happy with it. We felt every bump on the highway between maroochydore and rockhampton.

Click to expand...

Never fear,its probably not so much your vehicle,more like the road. Truth is, the Bruce hwy between Childers and Gladstone is probably one of the worse stretches of major road in Australia.

Back in early Febuary heavy rain caused considerable damage to the road. I drove from Gold Coast to Emerald via Rocky on Sunday Feb 7th and the road for several hundred kilometres north of about Gympie was an absolute mess. Literally thousand of potholes littered the road,and not a council or main roads crew to be seen.

After so much damage the road needs to be resurfaced. IMHO I've driven Gold Coast to Emerald eight times this year,first six times in my D22 and the last two in my D40 KingCab,and if the road is bad (which the Bruce Hwy is) your going to get an uncomfortable ride.

I often return home via Rolleston-Injune-Roma. The road between Rolleston and Roma is great,your D40 will feel like a limo driving along there compared to the Bruce Hwy.

yes yes and yes

i have had the same problem i replaced it with a old man emu 2 inch lift looks good and drives great its just the rest of the car that is crap now d402.5 td manual 6/2009 with a crap clutch and crap responding engine and oh every crap thing beware beware beware

tagMan said:

Hi All

A bit of advice needed. Had the first big trip with the new navara on the weekend - 1200 klms towing a camper trailer. Me the boss and three kids.

Now i know that a ute is not a sedan - but the ride was fu#$ing terrible. The wife was winging (nothin unusual) about it - i was less than happy with it. We felt every bump on the highway between maroochydore and rockhampton.

We had maybe about 200 kgs in the tub. Trailer packed evenly with a low tow ball weight - i could lift the draw bar.

My question - has any one else had this problem? - or am i just expecting too much.
Does a suspension upgrade/lift make a difference to ride quality?

Please help...

Click to expand...

The ride in my D40 was crap when I got it and worse when I started adding toys but since the suspension upgrade its great. I picked The Ultimate Suspension to do the job, every 4WD I've owned has gone there when it needed work (and they still let me back in the place)
Give Ken or Brendan a call and make sure you mention you know the guy that had his L300 4WD with the long range fuel tank modified here some 25 years ago....don't worry about the thud that will just be Ken falling on the floor, it will take a few minutes before he starts screaming.....