Someone told me that most trucks are very bumpy and not smooth at all. I was told that you feel every bump even on a brand new truck. Is that true? I would think that a new truck would be a smooth ride.

 

It depends on the truck, but for the most part yes you will feel bumps a lot more then with a car. Suspensions are kept fairly stiff, because of the immense weight they must support, so if you are bobtailing (without a trailer) you feel it the most. The heavier you get, the smoother it becomes.

Some trucks are smoother then others, I.E. a truck with complete air bag suspension is going to be much smoother then a truck that doesn't.

 

I drove from Arlington, Texas to Oklahoma City last night with a styrofoam cup full of water in my cup holder and didnt spill a drop.

 

A lot of it is the quality of the truck itself, even if it's brand new. A cheaper truck, with less insulation will transmit a lot more of the road noise into the cab, so even if the ride is exactly the same, it'll seem worse.

 

Past the suspension, a lot of rough rides can be smoothed out by balancing loads out better...ie don't just scale the load to insure it's legal on all axles...but, to balance the weight between drives and trailer axles...makes a big difference in how you feel at the end of the day, even on smoother roads an unbalanced load can beat ya to death.

 

Sometimes it depends on the driver and/or the road, there are some roads that will shake you out of your seat, and there are some drivers that will shake you up more than the road. I ran teams and I can say in the truck we had (Freightliner Century Class '06) was not real smooth. But once you sleep for 6 weeks in the sleeper while the truck is moving, everything else will feel like riding in a Cadillac. I found that it was hard for me to sleep at my TAH after being on the road, its like being on a boat, once you get used to it, it's weird when you get out. I can't speak for any other truck, I only had a Freightliner, and I do miss it at times, no feeling like being king of the road.

 

It also depends on the load. The way the load is loaded. I've seen guys load bricks on a flatbed so that half the load was in front and the other half was over the trailer tandems. They claimed a smoother ride. I do know that with a single steel coil weighing about 35000, there seems to be no way to make it comfortable in the driver's seat.

 

I never recall feeling any bump in the road smaller than a Corolla. :rofl::rofl:

 

Air ride seats reduce a lot of the rough ride from the road itself. Little harder to get away with it today but drivers used to take and stretch everything out behind them to get a smoother ride. They would slide the 5th as far back as possible and then slide the trailer tandems all the way back. Drivers who did it claimed it worked great.

 

Yup with my aluminum trailer if everything goes in the middle the trailer frame flexes and bounces. Nothing you can do other then load it differently.