Let's Talk Shocks.

[Sportin' Wood]

Ready for a shock upgrade on #ThisDamnRv. I am hearing great things about HDShocks from King. I've used King for race shocks in the past with great results, curious if any other RV money pit owners have thoughts about shocks?

King RV Shocks

Hope to make this pig feel less like a boat going down the road.

 

[RCDave]

Hmmm.... Never used the King shocks. I went with Koni's for my Allegro Bus

 

[chvynhra]

Does Bilstien make some for it? They have digressive valving which usually gives a stiffer more controlled ride.

 

[Riverfamlee]

I used Koni's as well. I have heard the Bilstein's ride better and are probably cheaper than the Koni golds-for sure less than Kings.

Maybe @2FORCEFULL will chime in

 

[mjc]

I have Koni's also but the Kings looked real nice at the RV show. Kings are the only ones that can be rebuilt and damping changed.

 

[rivermobster]

I've used both Koni's and Bilstein's. I like the Bilstein's better.

Anything but Monroe, and that includes their POS Rancho shocks!!!

 

[Sportin' Wood]

Does Bilstien make some for it? They have digressive valving which usually gives a stiffer more controlled ride.

Has Bilstein on it now. Maybe just smoked?

When you travel over a bridge on the highway it's a pretty frightening experience. The approach usually has a bump and gets the front end bouncing for about 4-6 cycles before it settles down. Looking over the side of the bridge down to the water 150 feet below is hair raising. Hope to find a dampener that reduces the cycle to 1-2 on the rebound. Likely swapping a few airbags that are showing age as well.

I've not traditionally had a hard time spending money on high-end shocks because the performance gains were noticeable. I had triple bypasses on a Jeep JK and that thing was on a rail on mountain roads. The clicking was annoying but damn that thing handled great.

I hear people say great things about a Spartin Chassis, I just have one that has been ridden hard and needs some love perhaps.

 

[Uncle Dave]

Kings are great.

Road Kings are also great - (big rig brand) heard they were gone.

Koni FSD are really good.

Bilsteins are really good - yours are smoked. A replacement set will be night and day.

 

[rivermobster]

Has Bilstein on it now. Maybe just smoked?

When you travel over a bridge on the highway it's a pretty frightening experience. The approach usually has a bump and gets the front end bouncing for about 4-6 cycles before it settles down. Looking over the side of the bridge down to the water 150 feet below is hair raising. Hope to find a dampener that reduces the cycle to 1-2 on the rebound. Likely swapping a few airbags that are showing age as well.

I've not traditionally had a hard time spending money on high-end shocks because the performance gains were noticeable. I had triple bypasses on a Jeep JK and that thing was on a rail on mountain roads. The clicking was annoying but damn that thing handled great.

I hear people say great things about a Spartin Chassis, I just have one that has been ridden hard and needs some love perhaps.

How old are they? Any oil coming out of the at all?

 

[Sportin' Wood]

How old are they? Any oil coming out of the at all?

No idea of age, no visible signs of failure. The previous owner was an offroad guy, lots of dirt road driving I can assume. I know it spent time on Boone Road which can be a bit much.

 

[OCMerrill]

I have KYB Mono Max on my 3/4 ton Ram. What a difference especially when loaded with a 12k dump trailer in tow. Don't know if they would have your application though. They are a bit stiff also.

 

[Ol Man]

I had Bilstein on my Alpine Coach and changed to Koni. So much better. When Koni came out with the FSD, I put those on the front instead of the Koni's purchased some years before. The Alpine suffered pretty good porpoising with the Bilsteins, that the Koni's really did a nice job of damping. For reference, I owned the Alpine for 15 years and don't remember the timeline. I have have my Phaeton for a few years and at 60K miles, will probably put Koni's on this year. It now has Sachs.

 

[LazyLavey]

^^^^^^^^X2^^^^^^^

Konis worked for me, much nicer ride over the OEM Bilstein... However, A buddy has a DP and he prefers Bilstein

 

[SW_GLASS]

I put Koni's on my DP as well. From all the research i did when looking at shocks it seems that shocks on DP's are only good for 25k-30k miles before needing to be replaced. Mine looked just fine but had the same porpoising issue you describe.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

Konis, upgraded from Bilsteins on our 42 tag, night and day, Porsche like handling comes to mind. While your at it add the safety plus steering stabilizer on it, awesome in the wind and it can save your life in a blow out. I know people buying brand new coaches that come with Bilsteins and they upgrade to konis immediately.

 

[pwerwagn]

I had the factory bilsteins on a moho and upgraded them to the RV bilsteins. They were a different part number than the ones that were already on it.

The newer style has “comfi trac” valving which is supposedly RV specific. They made a HUGE difference over the oem bilsteins.

I have road kings on my current super c. I don’t really have anything to compare them to, but it rides nice. Road king is out of biz and now HDshocks. Mine have road king etched in the caps but otherwise look just like the kings on my race truck. The only real feedback I can give is a lot of people complain about the ride quality of my chassis unless they upgrade to air rear, and mine rides good as-is so maybe they work great?

 

[EmpirE231]

Has Bilstein on it now. Maybe just smoked?

When you travel over a bridge on the highway it's a pretty frightening experience. The approach usually has a bump and gets the front end bouncing for about 4-6 cycles before it settles down. Looking over the side of the bridge down to the water 150 feet below is hair raising. Hope to find a dampener that reduces the cycle to 1-2 on the rebound. Likely swapping a few airbags that are showing age as well.

I've not traditionally had a hard time spending money on high-end shocks because the performance gains were noticeable. I had triple bypasses on a Jeep JK and that thing was on a rail on mountain roads. The clicking was annoying but damn that thing handled great.

I hear people say great things about a Spartin Chassis, I just have one that has been ridden hard and needs some love perhaps.

how many miles on the rig?

pretty sure we have a very similar chassis... I'm on the spartan w/ a 2011 American coach tag axle, and this is by far the best driving motorhome I have owned. Very smooth. haven't got under it yet, but pretty sure they came oem W/ bilstein ... maybe yours just aged out?

 

[Sportin' Wood]

how many miles on the rig?

pretty sure we have a very similar chassis... I'm on the spartan w/ a 2011 American coach tag axle, and this is by far the best driving motorhome I have owned. Very smooth. haven't got under it yet, but pretty sure they came oem W/ bilstein ... maybe yours just aged out?

80K ish. Pretty much decided to go with King. I just need to get them on order.

 

[01erionracing]

I have factory Bilstein on my H/R Navigator with Roadmaster chassis non tag, I upgraded to Koni and very happy with it.

 

[2FORCEFULL]

I had the factory bilsteins on a moho and upgraded them to the RV bilsteins. They were a different part number than the ones that were already on it.

The newer style has “comfi trac” valving which is supposedly RV specific. They made a HUGE difference over the oem bilsteins.

I have road kings on my current super c. I don’t really have anything to compare them to, but it rides nice. Road king is out of biz and now HDshocks. Mine have road king etched in the caps but otherwise look just like the kings on my race truck. The only real feedback I can give is a lot of people complain about the ride quality of my chassis unless they upgrade to air rear, and mine rides good as-is so maybe they work great?

factory bilstiens are valved to man. specs, and are no way even close to the real bilstiens that come from bilstien... ford valved theirs to be too stiff and you feel every tar strip... night and day differance

 

[Ricks raft]

how many miles on the rig?

pretty sure we have a very similar chassis... I'm on the spartan w/ a 2011 American coach tag axle, and this is by far the best driving motorhome I have owned. Very smooth. haven't got under it yet, but pretty sure they came oem W/ bilstein ... maybe yours just aged out?

General consensus is factory yellow bilstiens are cheap for the manufactures. Replacement blue/silver are better, much cheaper and less jarring than koni. I put them on my gas rig, they are better than stock. Sumo springs made a much bigger improvement In harshness and sway.

 

[hman442]

Does anyone recommend airbags in the front, or do these coaches even have coil springs in the front? I had a big class C, and there was one real shitty section of highway between me and the coast/dunes. The front end would bounce and I could feel the front bottoming out, when it I'd hit that bad section at 30 mph faster than I should have. Before the next trip I installed the air bags inside of the front coils, and it made the coach a whole different rig.