xavman Posted December 29, 2013 Anyone got a decent idea of how to improve the ride (make softer) on this beast? My 3 month old cries everytime she is in this car and my wife is lookin into driving the car off a cliff to get the insurance money to buy a minivan! If anyone has done a suspension upgrade and can provide me a before/after impression, much thankful.QuoteMultiQuoteEdit 1 Ben Murphy reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tatunka Posted December 31, 2013 From my experience you can do two things, one is to put A LOT of weight in the rear or two bring down the air pressure in the front and rear tires a little bit. Now if you are regularly hauling a lot of stuff it can be dangerous to lower tire pressures but if you are empty it won't hurt, just be careful when experimenting. The stiff ride is a trade off for the load carrying ability of these beasts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
axulsuv Posted December 31, 2013 (edited) You could possibly remove a leaf from each of the rear spring packs , on the front your pretty much stuck with it the way it is , without spending alot of cash ...Happy New Year to All !!!GlennOn a 3500 , check with your Nissan parts man and see if the front springs are the same part # on the 1500 , mine really doesn't ride that bad . And the 3500 may have a much heavier spring in front ?!? Edited December 31, 2013 by axulsuv Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vanguy Posted January 1, 2014 It appears that you have the 3500 1 ton model. These are designed to haul very heavy loads. If you don't haul very heavy loads the stiff suspension will be much firmer than a passenger van / minivan. Do you have the passenger version or the cargo version? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xavman Posted January 2, 2014 Thanks for the inputs, sorry, I should have offered more information. I have the 3500 SV, passenger. Being used as a family car, for me the wife, and 6 kids. As I never really ever intend on loading it down with cargo, and minimal (if any) towing, so I really want to make the ride more comfortable. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vanguy Posted January 2, 2014 I know a few on here have converted the cargo vans to passenger type vehicles. Seems like the suspension on the passenger version should be a lot softer. Unfortunately, Nissan probably put the passenger van on the same frame & suspension as the cargo vans. Like axulsuv said, taking a leaf spring out will help a little. You might could try a different shock but since you don't have much of a load, I don't think that will do much. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tatunka Posted January 7, 2014 Springs might do the trick, especially if you don't haul stuff. I agree with using 1500 springs to replace your 3500 springs. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dented Posted March 14, 2014 I agree with using softer springs. Temprorarily, you can run lower pressures in your tires. I had mine aired up yesterday at Discount, and at max pressure it's a vastly different ride. Tires say max eighty in the back, but I think sixty was a much better pressure. Front was similar, I think ten PSI less than max was better. This is a completely empty 2500 cargo, fwiw. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kenmnv Posted March 17, 2014 I suspect the 12 passenger springs are sized to carry 12 adults, which could be 2000 lbs or more. For example a hotel-airport shuttle.6 kids probably would likely be 500 lbs or much less.So the harsh ride is likely an engineering requirement.The Ford Econoline and GM 8 passenger vans come with the 1500 half ton suspension for the same reason.In any case it would be nice to have a solution for a softer ride. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maxEX84 Posted August 28, 2015 I know I'm bringing up an old post, but I do remember talking to a company that makes an airbag suspension system that is primarily for the Nissan Titan, but since the NV and Titan share a lot of the same suspension components, it can be used for the NV as well. Just my input since I'm new here. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pttdds Posted September 7, 2015 In a search for a softer ride on our passenger NV I tried lowering the tire pressure to 65 rear and 45 front. It makes a huge difference, but so far have not been able to retrain the pressure monitoring system to accept the new setting. It keeps reminding me what the pressures are. Two questions: since we don't carry heavy loads, what are the prices of lower pressure e.g. shorter tire life? And is there a way to teach the NV computer that the new pressure setting is OK? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vanguy Posted September 11, 2015 Lower pressure should not affect tire life. The 45 PSi in the front is getting a bit low & could possibly cause a little quicker wear on the outside edges. Just keep an eye on it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites