How to make a 3 4 ton truck ride smoother

PLEASE HELP!!

I recently bought a 2013 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD. It only had 60K miles on it and is in near perfect condition. It handles great but has on small issue. Any bump, big or small feels like I just hit a crater. I expected a little rougher ride with a 3/4 ton but not the extent I am experiencing. It rides great on smooth roads but as soon as it gets a bit rough the truck feels like it has no shock absorption what so ever.

I am really just wondering if this is normal in a 3/4 ton? I previously owned a half ton and have no experience with the larger trucks. I know absolutely nothing about fixing vehicles or identifying issues so forgive the dumbness of the question as it is probably obvious.

I do not want it to ride like a cadi or I would have bought one. It just seems like something might need to be replaced or upgraded. Any help or pointers is much appreciated. THANKS!

If there isn't anything that physically needs to be replaced, a simple place to start is just playing with the air pressure in your tires. The 3/4 and 1 ton trucks run at higher tire psi to support the extra weight they are intended to haul. If your rear tires are aired up for towing, it's going to make the truck ride more like a brick when riding around empty.

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Is your truck leveled? Could be the previous owner cranked on the torsion bar keys to level it, and that will make the ride suck, and if they went all the way, it will suck really bad and expedite the replacement of other front end parts.

On a 2500, there should be some noticeable rake from front to back...if not, the keys being cranked is likely the culprit..

Easy fix though, just takes getting under it a few times and checking the front height in each corner to make sure it is even from side to side.

As mentioned air pressure is the easiest thing to adjust. If you have 20" wheels you can swap them out for 18s, they ride much smoother.

Great! Thank you for the tips. I'll definitely check these out and see if it makes a difference.

My 2500 has around 41K on it and I am looking at some new shocks. Everything I have read points me to either Bilstein or Rancho shocks. Not allot of feedback on Amazon or Ebay but the feedback points to a smoother comfortable ride over factory shocks.
I also run a lower air pressure for daily driving. tires are rated at 80psi but that makes the ride very harsh. Non towing I run 50 in the rears and 45 up front.
helps some but it is a 2500 and you definitely feel the road!

jake2250 said:

My 2500 has around 41K on it and I am looking at some new shocks. Everything I have read points me to either Bilstein or Rancho shocks. Not allot of feedback on Amazon or Ebay but the feedback points to a smoother comfortable ride over factory shocks.
I also run a lower air pressure for daily driving. tires are rated at 80psi but that makes the ride very harsh. Non towing I run 50 in the rears and 45 up front.
helps some but it is a 2500 and you definitely feel the road!

you run a higher psi in the back when you are empty???

TPMS is set higher for the rear for tow/haul purposes. Because of this if you want to run the lowest possible pressure without getting the light the rears will be higher.

Probably your tire pressure. Also larger than stock or aggressive mud terrain type of tires can ride worse. I just adjusted my tires down from 45ish psi to 40 front 35 rear, seems to be better. I just switched from my winter tires back to my meaty "summer" tires, basically 33" mud terrains and they ride a lot worse than my slightly smaller All Terrains.

If it is still bad, you may look at shock replacement. Bilstein 5100 worked excellent on my truck and I had a bone jarring ride before I swapped to them since my shocks were toast.

my 08 w/ 50k miles rides alright. When I tow, I air them up to 80. When not, I drop them down to 50. I can tell a big difference.
To do that is free...if no good, new shocks...?

2500, 3500's are designed to be work trucks (loaded down) and if you run empty then there is not much you can do to improve ride. I know some who put a 1/4-inch + steel plate in the box to put some down-pressure on the springs. It helps but you are carrying around 500 lbs extra weight and that's going to hurt mileage. With the steel plate on the floor is takes up little space.

Went 4wheelong last week and had to "air Down" the tires in sand. When I aired them back up I went with 40 front and 40 rear. Made a nice difference. I am happy with this ride. I will keep an eye on tire wear.

jake2250 said:

Went 4wheelong last week and had to "air Down" the tires in sand. When I aired them back up I went with 40 front and 40 rear. Made a nice difference. I am happy with this ride. I will keep an eye on tire wear.

That 40 makes a huge difference. I ran that in my 2500 Suburban with no problems.
Even pulling my boat.
You have to have a big time load in the bed of the truck to air up.

My 2015 2500, when empty I typically run 50 PSI all the way around. Only airing up more if I will be loading it up. I really could give a rip about what the TPMS thinks about it. I got the load / pressure chart off of BFG for my tires and I could run about 45 PSI all the way around when empty. I have gotten pretty adept at ignoring the TPMS. The message comes up when I start the pickup, I look at the air pressures then, dismiss the msg and don't pay attention to any light on the dash. Doesn't even catch my eye. I can't remember the last time I even noticed it.

but... the ride is much better. Handling is much better. Tire wear is better. And I think it helped with mpg. I think with the stock pressures, the rear wheels would "hop" more frequently on rough roads and the constant micro managing of wheel spin caused more fuel consumption.