Jouncing on I-10 Concrete?

[astrungis]

Can anyone tell me what causes my truck and Montana to "jounce"? We were traveling eastbound on I-10 in LA. The highway is concrete with expansion joints every 10 feet. The joints are slightly depressed so that as all four axles go over the joint, it causes both vehicles to gallop up and down or "jounce". I have air bags on the truck set at 55 lbs. In addition, I have Torklift "Stable Loads" that are rubber blocks that employ the upper leaf springs under heavy loads. My wife is on me about the ride. What do you guys do? Is this what I can expect on this type of road? My Chevy truck rear-end seems to be higher than the front of the bed with no load on it. Is it causing the Montana to be towed at a slight upward angle and causing the jounce? Thanks for your replies in advance.

[bw2]

In reading other posts y our MOC friends, it is the road. It appears no matter the springs, bags, etc... on the truck or the pin box type this section of I10 is a mess.

[PatnRich]

A few years we traveled that section of 10. Being from New England we had never experienced poured concrete roads, thought I would lose the fillings in my teeth! I actually stopped thinking I had a flat tire. Square wheels may have been smoother riding

[Rainer]

It's what called a matter of harmonics. The expansion joints are in perfect sync with your axles and then mix in the speed at which you're traveling. Not much you can do other than slow down considerably, which really isn't an option on any freeway in the Los Angeles area, or find an alternative route.

Although I have both a MorRyde suspension and a MorRyde pin box, I understand that these items will dampen this experience, but I have yet to experience such a harmonic road. In a week I'll be heading out for a 20 state 7500 mile trip, so I'll probably find a similar road.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Believe our poster may be referring to I 10 in Louisiana?? LA??

Yep, horrible patches of road out there, 20 is not a whole lot better around Louisiana.

That said, from Lafayette west is MUCHO better than it was.

It is our opinion (worth about 1 cent due to inflation), it is these types of roads that having an air pin or air hitch a necessity. NOT something nice to have, but, necessity.

Slowing down a bit does help, remember if you are doing less than 45 MPH, it might be wise to put your flashers on if you are on a interstate highway. That is what we did last time we were driving south through Birmingham AL (Alabama) on I 65. I think we were down to 35 and still beating the heckie doo out of everything. GROAN!

[bncinwv]

quote:Originally posted by Mrs. CountryGuy

beating the heckie doo out of everything. GROAN!

It is never wise to beat the heckie doo out of anything, whatever heckie doo is??? Sorry Carol, couldn't resist, but even here in the hillbilly lands, I have never heard of that description, is that Michiganese? Sorry to the OP for the off-topic interruption, and now, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast!!

Bingo

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Heckie doo,

On Facebook, they claim I have my own language. LOL Many of the terms come from my Virginia born and bred parents.

And, NOW back to jouncing.

[sola123]

3 years ago we traveled 10 from Texas to Fla and do not remember any such problems....but I will go with the explanation Rainer gave you....sounds logical to me...

[Art-n-Marge]

I didn't tow through LA (Louisiana), but I remember I-10 in my truck and it was quite the ride the several times I've been on it. It turns out it was just as horrible as I-10 in L.A. (Lost Angeles) and I wasn't towing there either.

The Interstate and highway infrastructure is not what they used to be (as best as I remember). The roads are older, we drive faster and carry heavier loads and this hasn't helped. Then if, heaven forbid, a state tries to repave or redo a road and us commuters get ballistic they are creating traffic messes in doing so. I only wonder why they don't get all the highway workers to work in one area and get the stretch done much faster than trying to do several at the same time and therefore at a MUCH slower rate if at all.

Keep in mind, air bags, air hitches, rubber components, etc. are trying to soften YOUR ride, but they cannot fix roads. Our capitalistic society decided that it's better that we come up with expensive suspension gadgets to fix our ride versus spending all those same dollars and fix the roads. Hmmmm, higher taxes or hmmm more expensive products, what to choose? Most of us prefer the capitalistic solution so that we spend on what we desire for ourselves versus higher taxes that might go to something else. I better stop now, I'm risking getting political.

Then you can also slow down...NOT!

[Flymutt]

It seems to me that traveling with a fifth wheel over asphalt roads is a better ride than over concrete. We recently drove around Oklahoma City on concrete roads and it brought a new meaning to the term "I hardly knew it was back there" because it "jounced" over EVERY expansion joint!

[RRman]

Just south of the new I-10 bridge over Lake Ponchatrain the old beaten wavy concrete road remains, I hit it around 60 MPH 2 years ago and it must have bent my Pinbox bottom/Kingpin plate a little. Had to slow down to about 40 (or less?) to make the "porpoising" reasonable. Didn't discover the slight damage until my next campout.

[jswharton]

I live in Houston and all the highways are concrete and its bad, always think something is going to break or fall off. Sometimes adjusting your speed helps but most of the time I just count the miles until it ends and when possible take an alternate road out of town. There is a section on the beltway 8 where they are testing an asphalt type overpayment primarily to help with water runoff. It is so smooth, even with the expansion joints.

[RJI47]

The beltway around Richmond VA is the exact same thing. Really scary at times. We bounced so high once heading south that I thought the rear wheels actually came off the ground. Have since installed the Timbrens on the rear, and they seem to have made a difference.

[DQDick]

Since we put the IS on it's helped. Not solved the problem, but helped. We also have the Mor/Ryde pin box and I keep my air bag pressure to 40# since that is what keeps us perfectly level.

[washley1]

Yep, been on that road both towing and in our car, and all you can do is slow down. And the Richmond by pass dang near killed us too!