Can my truck ride like a car?

Question:

I have a 1995 Ford Ranger pickup truck with a 4-liter V-6, automatic transmission and two-wheel drive and would like to get a better ride from it.

Specifically, I would like a softer, more car-like ride like today’s pickup trucks and SUVs give.

I want to take out the smallest leaf of the rear leaf spring and I want to add air-adjustable helper springs for when I need to carry that extra weight.

Also, do you know of anyone who makes coil springs for the front end so I can get more of a car-like ride?

Answer:

I don’t think you’re going to be able to get your ’95 Ranger to ride and feel like a cushy car without a significant amount of engineering and fabrication work.

The problem is two-fold; your truck is inherently far away from a soft, car-like ride, and there are very few off-the-shelf parts to get it closer.

Just about everyone who modifies trucks like yours does so to change the look and/or enhance the performance, not to soften the ride.

So you can easily buy modified front beams and rear suspension links to lower the truck but that is only going to make the ride stiffer.

If you really want to end up with a truck that rides just like a car then your best course of action is to sell your Ranger and buy a newer truck.

If that’s out of the question then you can do a few things to soften up your truck, such as installing air suspension, and get new tires if yours are particularly old and hard.

Keep the airbags adjusted to the “softest” setting and also keep the tires toward the low side of their inflation range.