[markeb01]

A lot of diagnosing depends on your interpretation of bouncing around. A common trait on these trucks is very stiff rear springs to accommodate heavy loads, which causes the truck to ride very rough when empty. If your rear air shocks are aired up, that’s going to intensify the problem, and cause the rear end to bounce off the ground when hitting bumps in the road. The front end is usually pretty smooth by comparison due to the weight of the engine. I solved the problem by having custom wound springs made for the back which lowered the load capacity to 400 pounds. It now rides like a Buick, and the shocks have a chance to work.

If you can easily bounce the truck up and down by pushing on the bumper with your foot, the springs may be too weak. If it keeps bouncing after you’re done, the shocks aren’t doing their job even if they are new. If you can’t bounce it up and down, the suspension is probably too stiff (either springs or shocks) and it’s just riding too rough to handle well.

I added a stock 1975 sway bar to the front of mine when I swapped to the later front suspension. Nothing more than drilling a couple of holes and well worth the effort.