my brothers jimmy is a 98 4wd 4door with about 150K miles on it. when he bought it at 98K it still had the original shocks on it and they were SHOT! the truck was all over the show. i switched all 4 out to some new ones from autozone which helped it alot, but the front of this truck just kind of cruises along. its incredibly soft and mushy, nothing like the rear at all. the bars have been turned up a bit to give it more clearance and NORMALLY that would firm the ride up some, but didnt change anything. are these trucks really particular about what shocks are on it? should we see about some bilsteins instead? hes very interested in the rough country 2in lift kit for it, are those shocks any good? i know that that kit is hard on ball joints and steering parts, but his truck needs new everything anyway, the steering is pretty loose. are the torsion bars worn out?

thanks for any help that yall can provide

 

Shocks do play a decent role in how stiff/cushy the ride is up front. What brand shocks did you install?

 

sorry for the delay. i want to say they are gabriels. the fronts have the higher end super high pressure ones, the rear ended up with the bottom line set. we had the high end on back there, but they were so stiff that the suspension would harldy move so we exchanged them for the bottom line ones. much better but the front end just floats along almost disconnected from the road.....

 

What do you mean "the bars have been turned up a bit to give it more clearance"

Please excuse my noobness.

 

I would think that your gabriel high pressure fronts should be keeping it stiff, I just changed my fronts to like $35 monroe sensatrak shocks and they are stiff but provide a good ride. It does sound like the torsion bars may be weak, or raising it actually softened the torsion bar rather than stiffening it. It possiblethat having those stock shockson for 150k may have worn out the torsionbar or just that fact that its at 150k might be it for them. I'm not familiar with a way of testing the torsion bars though.