Spring Clamps Reduce Rear Vibration

hotrodz37 · February 18, 2016

Let me restate; does the process impact the 2500s the same way with some of that road hop? Has anyone done this on a 2500 and experienced positive results?

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All of the trucks on this thread are 1500's and we are trying to solve a 70+ mph highway vibration - not necessarily a hop.

markrauenzahn · February 18, 2016

All of the trucks on this thread are 1500's and we are trying to solve a 70+ mph highway vibration - not necessarily a hop.

Sorry...2500s have same vibration. I assumed it was the hop you're talking about.

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jagabom (Esquire) · February 18, 2016

Was wondering if anyone has put clamps in front and also behind the axle? 4 clamps.

Jim

ic3man5 · February 19, 2016

All of the trucks on this thread are 1500's and we are trying to solve a 70+ mph highway vibration - not necessarily a hop.

Mine didn't have a vibration at really any speeds but the handling over bumps was awful.

zmnypit · February 19, 2016

I know if I had one of these trucks that was having an issue I'd figure out a way to mount a camera in different areas of the truck to see what was going on while driving.

I've actually already thought about this using my GoPro. I will attempt it this weekend once I fab up a mount.

Edited February 19, 2016 by zmnypit

zmnypit · February 20, 2016

I've actually already thought about this using my GoPro. I will attempt it this weekend once I fab up a mount.

Torqued the ubolts as suggested here and same vibration. Nothing changed. I have the clamps and will try those tomorrow along with a gopro video. The baffling part is how it goes and comes. My daughters car seat was in the back and she had a rabbit with Bell inside strapped to the carseat. It will be perfectly quiet for a few seconds then the bell will start dinging from the vibration then back quiet. My buddies 2016 has this same issue we are also working on.

edit 2/22: I never got a chance to use the GoPro as its been raining all weekend. I did however install the clamps 5in in front of the axle and it could be a placebo but it appears to have cured some of the vibration at 75mph. You can tell its still there but not as bad as it was. Once the weather clears I'll get a video.

Edited February 22, 2016 by zmnypit

Ron.s · February 24, 2016

I added clamps to my trucks rear leaf springs and completed a 600 mile trip. Clamps about 9" in front of axel, but I doubt that matters since the clamp pulls the spring leaves together. Bought the $15 clamp from Auto Zone. Cheap junk but OK for this test. Lock washers spread so they will need replaced with better quality. On this trip I retraced a route from 3 weeks earlier.

First I noticed that my ride was softer. At first that surprised me but thinking about it I know why. By pulling the front half of the springs together then the real leaf takes all the bump force rather than spreading it front and back. That is until the spring travels the 3/4" where it engages the overload leaf.

Second I noticed that the vibration was gone on 2 of 3 road sections that previously had vibrations. On the third section there was improvement. This section is about 25 miles of concrete freeway that is very rough.

My vibes are definitely caused by road sections that have imperfections at raised joints. The seams are equally spaced and the suspension-shocks and/or spring can't keep up at higher speeds turning bumps into significant vibrations.

But.... Now The shocks don't seem to control movement on roadway where there are long swells and dips that result in a slow sway up and down. Hard to describe! My first set of Mag shocks so I really don't know what good vs bad feel like. My expectation is that there should be more control by the rear shocks.

Before adding the clamps I noticed inconsistencies in the leaf springs. The clamps fit loose on both rear sections and passenger front but tight on driver front and didn't observe misalignment. Didn't install behind axel but used the clamp to check uniformity. Also the space between overload leaf and upper leaf tips were 1 1/2", 3/4", 1/2" 1/2". Can't believe that's in tolerance. Fairly level garage floor truck empty. Away from home so no precise tools to get exact measurements-tape measure and eyeball only.

GM customer service has contacted me and is making an appointment with my dealer so may have more to report next week.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Ron.s

ic3man5 · February 25, 2016

I added clamps to my trucks rear leaf springs and completed a 600 mile trip. Clamps about 9" in front of axel, but I doubt that matters since the clamp pulls the spring leaves together. Bought the $15 clamp from Auto Zone. Cheap junk but OK for this test. Lock washers spread so they will need replaced with better quality. On this trip I retraced a route from 3 weeks earlier.

First I noticed that my ride was softer. At first that surprised me but thinking about it I know why. By pulling the front half of the springs together then the real leaf takes all the bump force rather than spreading it front and back. That is until the spring travels the 3/4" where it engages the overload leaf.

Second I noticed that the vibration was gone on 2 of 3 road sections that previously had vibrations. On the third section there was improvement. This section is about 25 miles of concrete freeway that is very rough.

My vibes are definitely caused by road sections that have imperfections at raised joints. The seams are equally spaced and the suspension-shocks and/or spring can't keep up at higher speeds turning bumps into significant vibrations.

But.... Now The shocks don't seem to control movement on roadway where there are long swells and dips that result in a slow sway up and down. Hard to describe! My first set of Mag shocks so I really don't know what good vs bad feel like. My expectation is that there should be more control by the rear shocks.

Before adding the clamps I noticed inconsistencies in the leaf springs. The clamps fit loose on both rear sections and passenger front but tight on driver front and didn't observe misalignment. Didn't install behind axel but used the clamp to check uniformity. Also the space between overload leaf and upper leaf tips were 1 1/2", 3/4", 1/2" 1/2". Can't believe that's in tolerance. Fairly level garage floor truck empty. Away from home so no precise tools to get exact measurements-tape measure and eyeball only.

GM customer service has contacted me and is making an appointment with my dealer so may have more to report next week.

This got me thinking, I wonder if these leaf springs are just too weak causing axle wrap and at the same time making the rear end bounce (kind of what a bad shock / no shock would do).

I know that my 2004 RAM drives smoother than this Silverado BUT when the RAM's rear end hit a bump you could tell as the wheels jumped off the ground causing the rear end to skid sideways when cornering at the same time. Putting the clamps on my Silverado brought me closer to this behavior but still closer to the stock where it tends to hug the ground. I have a feeling they compromised comfort for safety and to get that comfort back you need to move to the magnetic ride setup; I'm curious if anyone with the magnetic ride has these vibrations.

I have this idea in my head the leaf springs are "vibrating" due to being weak and with the front coil springs being extremely stiff its causing a very bad combination. My RAM has soft/weak coil springs up front and a stiff rear end.

I really wish I owned a Go Pro so I could see what the rear end is actually doing.

Ron.s · February 25, 2016

This got me thinking, I wonder if these leaf springs are just too weak causing axle wrap and at the same time making the rear end bounce (kind of what a bad shock / no shock would do).

I know that my 2004 RAM drives smoother than this Silverado BUT when the RAM's rear end hit a bump you could tell as the wheels jumped off the ground causing the rear end to skid sideways when cornering at the same time. Putting the clamps on my Silverado brought me closer to this behavior but still closer to the stock where it tends to hug the ground. I have a feeling they compromised comfort for safety and to get that comfort back you need to move to the magnetic ride setup; I'm curious if anyone with the magnetic ride has these vibrations.

I have this idea in my head the leaf springs are "vibrating" due to being weak and with the front coil springs being extremely stiff its causing a very bad combination. My RAM has soft/weak coil springs up front and a stiff rear end.

I really wish I owned a Go Pro so I could see what the rear end is actually doing.

You just quotrd my post...I have Magnetic ride shocks although I'm not sure they aren't defective. I believe the rear springs are very stiff. Now that I'm only using half the spring- mine rides like the half tons before GM had to bump GVW to keep in the "truck" weight capacity for EPA exemption from auto emissions standards.

ic3man5 · February 25, 2016

You just quotrd my post...I have Magnetic ride shocks although I'm not sure they aren't defective. I believe the rear springs are very stiff. Now that I'm only using half the spring- mine rides like the half tons before GM had to bump GVW to keep in the "truck" weight capacity for EPA exemption from auto emissions standards.

I just compared my two trucks, my RAM has three leafs where the Silverado has two leafs (Not including the overload leaf). The overload leaf spring has a bigger gap on the RAM and doesn't have that "bump stop" (Is that the correct term?) in the rear. The ram's overload leaf spring is also shorter up front and has a clamp in the front about 6-8" in front of the axle (measurement is a guesstimate). The leaf springs are also a bit thicker on the Silverado but the amount of metal between the two the RAM has more so, if I understand correctly the RAM is a stiffer suspension.

I was going to move the clamp closer to the axle but I'm thinking now it might be beneficial to move it farther forward and possibly trying to remove that bump stop.

edit: I just realized mag shocks = magnetic shocks - probably shouldn't be posting when I'm tired!

Edited February 25, 2016 by ic3man5

thearizonacowboy · February 25, 2016

As I was driving home from work last night I stopped by AutoZone to check and see if they had the clamps and they did. I've never really had any vibration issues as I've assumed the slight vibration was my BFG KO2s as my last truck with them was a little rough. However, I installed the clamps for kicks and boom, it feels considerably smoother at speeds of 50 and higher. At about 75 it starts to vibrate a little however.

Definitely worth the $16!

As a side note, I clamped them down to put the springs under load and used some locktite.

Does anyone know of a source for the same dimension clamps but higher quality? Maybe 316 SS?

Edited February 25, 2016 by TheArizonaPatriot

ic3man5 · February 26, 2016

I decided to buy another set of the clamps and did two things:

1.) Left the front clamps about 5" in front of the axle and installed another set on the rear right behind the overload leaf clamping only the two top leafs together. This seemed to help the ride but still had the "rougher ride" like before adding the rears.

2.) Moved the front clamps in front of the overload leaf so both sets are clamping the two top leafs and leaving the overload leaf alone. I'm undecided with this yet as it got rid of the roughness but I believe its closer to the stock ride now with little improvement. I'll be able to give a better review of it tomorrow when I go over a lot more roads I'm more familiar with. I did this to mimic the leaf setup on my RAM which has all the leafs touching minus the overload leaf.

I'm somewhat convinced the two top springs aren't enough resistance to provide a "smooth" ride causing a bounce the shocks can't make up which would explain why clamping to the overload leaf improves the situation. Also explains why clamping to the rear portion of the overload leaf makes the ride extremely harsh because that gap is greater in the rear.

If I decide to stay with my current setup (#2) I'm going to look for some better clamps as the autozone ones are cheap and the ubolts are too long for only two leafs.

Edited February 26, 2016 by ic3man5

Daryl Z71 · February 26, 2016

I wonder if replacing the leaf spring pack with a bigger one would do anything for this vibration issue? Say 3 regular leafs and one overload vs 2 regular and 1 overload.

LongrangeLauber · February 26, 2016

I wonder if replacing the leaf spring pack with a bigger one would do anything for this vibration issue? Say 3 regular leafs and one overload vs 2 regular and 1 overload.

Or do an AAL

Daryl Z71 · February 26, 2016

Or do an AAL

That crossed my mind too. I thought about your helper that you added too, but I remember reading that since you got new tires your vibration had gone away anyhow. Edited February 26, 2016 by Daryl Z71