Help! Truck bouncing like a pogo stick..

Hey all! Long time visitor to the site ever since being gifted my dad’s old Tacoma. I’ve been slowly restoring it back to its ‘95 glory but am having trouble getting any sort of “smoothness” even on the newly paved roads. I swear I feel I’m pogo sticking down the road and don’t let it be an uneven road with a single pothole—I’ve literally almost lost my phone out the window when it was jerked from its holder while going over a medium pothole.
I’ve tried a variety of things including new tire replacement, putting on Mono Max Kyb’s, replaced inner and outer tie rods, replaced lower ball joints.

I don’t know what to do to get some on road smoothness. I want to be able to drink hot coffee without burning myself as my drink jerks wildly out of my hand while driving on the street.

Also coilovers are original and from the front it looks sloped?

 

You are probably due for new suspension all around. Lots of aftermarket options geared towards adding lift. If you don't want lift, the generic replacement suspension is quite affordable and should still vastly improve the ride.

 

If you mean that the suspension continues to oscillate up and down after hitting a bump instead of immediately returning to neutral, you have bad shock absorbers.

 

This^^^^^. Bouncing is controlled or dampened by shocks. Even though you installed new shocks there’s something wrong with them or they are somehow installed wrong. Springs also affect bounce but what you describe sounds like shocks/struts. I’d replace the springs and check the shocks to be sure they are working properly.

 

I didn’t realize “Mono Max Kyb’s” were shock absorbers. Assuming they are working fine, I’m now thinking you are not accustomed to pickup suspension. It tends to be harsh because it is designed to carry heavy and varying payloads and generally be robust. The trade off is that it can deliver a harsh ride compared to cars.

Another thought… has the suspension been modified? What are your tire specs? Air pressure?

 

Thanks gudujarlson & sprig, i'm thinking the shocks might be blown since our roads are really bad or the monomax's are too stiff.. Should've added more money and went with the Bilsteins But honestly I think it's the coil overs from the previous strut assembly since they're the original coils that came with the truck when my dad got it and the truck is sagging on one side

 

You aren’t making any sense to me. You are either using different terminology or you have some misconceptions.

By my definition, a coil-over is an assembly of a coil spring and a shock absorber where the shock absorber that is not load bearing like a mcpherson(sp?) strut. You seem to be using the term coil-over to refer to only a coil spring.

Anyway, neither bad coil springs nor shocks that are too “stiff” result in the oscillating (aka pogo sticking) behavior I described above.

Also blown shocks do not result in a “stiff” suspension. Rather they result in a suspension that exhibits the oscillatory behavior I described above.

Shock absorbers convert kinetic energy (movement) to heat. Without them, the suspension continues to oscillate up and down longer than optimal.

 

Coilover/coil spring/front strut.. many sites interchange the terms.. The strut assembly was original until the shock absorbers were replaced with kyb monomax ones. I've been to about 4-5 different shops and all of them said those shocks shouldn't have been put on for regular driving and are heavy duty ones mainly for hauling.

It was my dad's mechanic who suggested them to "stiffen up the suspension" and surprisingly didn't suggest just swapping out new coil springs or a whole new strut assembly. I didn't look into it too much since I just wanted to get back on the road quickly and fix the problem but didn't realize until after the fact after taking it in for other repairs.

Definitely listening to my intuition now and after the confirmation from what you guys have said I think it's the springs. I'll get some new quick strut assemblies to see if that's the problem. Hopefully so cause this has been a really frustrating year with chasing this

 

Coil springs do not get stiffer with age. Unless the coil springs are broken or you have aftermarket springs that have a higher spring rate than stock, I think you could be wasting your time and money.

 

Quit throwing parts at a problem I'm not convinced you understand. You've already put tie rods and ball joints in a truck that doesn't sound like it needed.

People call 'pogo sticking' the condition where if you hit a bump, the vehicle keeps bouncing well after hitting a bump (ie blown/worn out shocks). When you talk about spilling coffee or almost losing your phone out the window when hitting a pothole. That to me is a jarring bump from a suspension that is too stiff. It could be from bottoming, but your saying you replaced the original shocks with KYBs makes me thing it's the former. Having used KYBs in the past (on my race car, they were very stiff) I'd believe they are too stiff. The mechanic saying he used those to 'stiffen up the suspension' gives me reason to think it's too stiff also. Reading KYB's description is strike 3.

 

It's a few miles away from 300k and basically a 30 year old truck though.. I took it over where it pretty much had no parts checked or replaced outside of tires, brake pads, and the ac lol.

I understand the problem but the mistake was second guessing what I thought it was originally—the coil springs. Especially since it has a noticeable sag on one side in the front. The LBJs were a must. I saw the aftermath of another first gen's lower ball joint snap on my drive back home one day and that was all I needed to see to get mine replaced.

 

Those have been replaced already a year ago so it's most likely the springs. The new strut assemblies should fix it, fingers crossed.