How many times have you been heading to the lake, going down the road towing your boat, enjoying the smell of the early morning air and sipping on coffee when all of the sudden your forced to take evasive action to avoid hitting something?
Like the times when you round a turn only to find a herd of cows taking their dear sweet time crossing the road. If your like me, as well as many other fisherman I know, in your stock configuration truck making these evasive actions leaves something to be desired.
But don’t fret, there are things we can do without voiding the factory warranty to increase your odds of being able to safely make these evasive actions and at the same time avoid having to explain to your insurance adjuster what happened if you end up going into a ditch or even worse, if you hit the cow. Did you know that if you hit a cow, not only do you have to pay the rancher for the cow, you also have to pay to have your truck fixed as well as any medical expenses you might incur. In my opinion, one of the worst part’s is that you don’t get to keep the cow and have a BBQ
Simple suspension modifications are actually very easy to do yourself and probably for less for money than you might think.
Let’s say for example that you cant brake in time, I’ll talk about that upgrade in the future, however you have room in the other lane so you could swerve into it and avoid hitting something. Here are some tips to make evasive actions a little easier. I personally have done the following suspension modifications to reduce “Body Roll” thereby making my full sized Chevy Truck handle more like my Chevy Monte Carlo SS.
QUICK DISCLAIMER, YOUR DRIVING A TRUCK NOT A SPORTS CAR! While the following tips will help the performance handling capabilities of your truck the bottom line here is ITS STILL A TRUCK so please be careful while driving.
First off I added traction bars. Not just any traction, bars but the Calvert Racing Cal Tracs. Yes, I originally put them on for performance reasons but I gained more than just traction. The design of these are very much like a 4 link setup so not only does it eliminate wheel hop they also assist in reducing the dreaded body roll very well.
Next I added the Hellwig Sport Sway bar’s both front and rear. While my truck came with a front sway bar but did not come with a rear one. Replacing the factory front sway bay and adding the rear one made a huge difference in the way my truck handled.
Next I changed out my stock shocks with Edelbrock IAS shocks and finally I swapped out the stock sway bar bushings and end link bushings with Energy System’s Poly bushings. Not only do they help but they are red so they look cool as well. I still to this day cannot believe the performance difference these few little bolt on upgrades made in the way my truck handles. While it still cannot corner like my Monte Carlo SS it handles MUCH BETTER than it did with its stock configuration.
In my next vehicle upgrade post I’ll go into improving the stock brakes for more stopping power.
Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
