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I hit a bump pretty hard

M

Martin Blanchard

Junior Member
So I was heading across my highway today, and on my side of the road, there is a raised railroad track and bed. The light was just green, so I was speeding from my driveway to make it across the road before it turned red. Of course, I didn't brake before the raised section, so I hit it at something under 30 MPH. As a result, I'm pretty sure I got at least an inch off the ground, if not much more, hit the road, and bounced at least one time in the middle of the highway before I continued on my way. I could have sworn I heard something like glass breaking or something, but it could have just been anything that wasn't tied down inside my truck. I drove to work and then inspected my vehicle but it felt basically the same as it did before I hit some air. I already needed a tire alignment, and it doesn't seem to be any worse, but what damages could have possibly occurred, and is there anything I should look out for?

I drive a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7 liter hemi, about everything stock.
 
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If your steering is behaving normally and your on-road performance feels normal, I wouldn't worry about it. Those trucks should have pretty beefy components, and something like 30mph over a railroad track is pretty tame honestly. But given your vehicle info lemme give this a shot:
-I drive a 2004 hemi and I was trying to jump railroad tracks and hit it at like 60mph and it made me soil myself

If that's REALLY what happened *winkwink*, I still wouldn't worry about it and change your pants. Dont' make it a habit because you will be replacing components faster then you should, or you will wreck your truck. Get underneath there, look for anything damaged or leaking.

From having completely replaced a truck front suspension...if you hit a bump so hard you mess up your alignment...you got problems wayyy worse then just getting it re-aligned! 😉
 
mizzou said:
If your steering is behaving normally and your on-road performance feels normal, I wouldn't worry about it. Those trucks should have pretty beefy components, and something like 30mph over a railroad track is pretty tame honestly. But given your vehicle info lemme give this a shot:
-I drive a 2004 hemi and I was trying to jump railroad tracks and hit it at like 60mph and it made me soil myself

If that's REALLY what happened *winkwink*, I still wouldn't worry about it and change your pants. Dont' make it a habit because you will be replacing components faster then you should, or you will wreck your truck. Get underneath there, look for anything damaged or leaking.

From having completely replaced a truck front suspension...if you hit a bump so hard you mess up your alignment...you got problems wayyy worse then just getting it re-aligned! 😉
Click to expand...

You aren't far off from the soiling myself part, being a new driver I'm still getting adjusted to all things driving related, whether they be legal and safe, or illegal and not.

Now, I never hit that raised bump before at any speed, I normally slow down and all before I get to it, but I really didn't feel like being late today, and it felt like a good idea at the time. Little did I know, work was delayed anyways, so I possibly jeopardized my truck's integrity. I've been worried about the suspension from the day I bought it, solely for some creaking noise somewhere in the back which might not even be from the leaflets or whatever they're called.

Anyways, the steering is basically exactly the same as it was before I hit it - slightly off and veers to the left if I'm not steering slightly right. But I already needed my tires aligned, and it's not gotten any better or worse since I bought it. I looked it over briefly when I got to work and didn't see anything off, but that may be because I had no clue what I was looking for. At the very least I saw no visual leakage of any substance, and I did a (probably lousy) suspension test by pushing down with my weight in each corner and it seemed normal, so I kind of just let it go.

Not to drag on, but is there any signs you guys could think of other than leakage that would be a tell-tale? I'd really appreciate it 🙂
 
Definitely get an alignment, it costs a lot less than new tires, which you'll need very soon if you don't.
 
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