Time For New Shocks - HD Bilsteins Or Koni-FSD?

FWIW as far as shocks the truck shop I'm taking my rig to early next month (getting the E450 aligned) advised me to keep the Ford stock ones on as they are brand new (900 miles). The guy could've easily taken more of my money, but he said the shocks are good enough brand new and he wouldn't touch them yet.

I'm not sure when that changes, but I like it when a shop steers me away from NOT spending more money.

FunTwoDrv wrote:
Newbiecampers,
As IAMICHABOD noted, the fronts greatly reduced the porpoising without degrading the ride. The rears, along with airbags did increase the harshness somewhat. I can reduce the airbag pressures to get a little mores suspension "compliance" at the expense of a bit more sway...oh well.
The other change I made on the front was to install Sumo's. I've put about 2K miles on them and still haven't decided if they made a positive change or just simply stiffened the front suspension.
Gary

IAMICHABOD and Gary:

Thanks for the info. Glad to hear the Bilstein's will help the porpoising without degrading the ride on the front. Appreciate it.

OFDPOS wrote:

Desert Captain wrote:

ron.dittmer wrote:
What concerns me with our rig, the front end goes up and down a lot, for the slightest of reasons. I want to eliminate as much front end up/down motion as possible. It sounds like the HD Bilsteins will cancel that motion the fastest.

Ron, as I have posted before I too have an E-350 {that I love}. Trust me, just buy the HD Bilstein's and be done with this discussion. The performance improvement in ride and handling will blow your mind {and at a reasonable price though the fronts are a PITA to install}.

Most rigs should NOT need anything but the right shocks {that would be HD Bilstein's}, proper tire pressure and maybe an alignment with a tad mnore caster. The rest of the magical after market garbage is just that... expensive and unneeded.

As always... Opinions and YMMV.

:C

DC
Think you would be whistling another tune IF you had a 30 ft E450 with the weight right at or maxed out !
The E150 E250 E350 and E450 comes with the same puny undersized front Anti Sway Bar. Same IF it came with a rear Anti Sway Bar.
It may work for the E150 delivery van running around town.
Now stretch the frame put on a long hugh top heavy square box loaded with """"".
And now its a whole new animal... lol

Truth be told I honestly wish I could have found a 26Q No slides with the rear bead that sits across the rear and is open on one side.
With my lower back being fused, I cannot slide in and out of a corner bed.

We are not full timers nor camping every weekend in ours so I feel a 26ft or less is the perfect size.
When we were first started looking ,,, your model the 23P fit that bill perfect except for the bed.


So yes those added /upgraded aftermarket parts do help.

Brian, you may be right about the larger C's {since you have BTDT}. Never was my thing and my 24 has had good {and now great handling with the Bilstein's} and ride from day one. The larger the C the larger the engineering issues getting it right. I am sure the better mods do help but that help should never have been needed in the first place or it is the wrong coach. What never fails to amaze me are all of the folks who either do not do a thorough test drive or do one, ignore the results and buy a pig on skates anyway. :h

If someone is going to drop well north of $100K on a new vehicle I think they are entitled to have it drive well right off of the showroom floor without further modificiation {Oh well, silly me}.

:S

ron.dittmer wrote:

What concerns me with our rig, the front end goes up and down a lot, for the slightest of reasons. I want to eliminate as much front end up/down motion as possible. It sounds like the HD Bilsteins will cancel that motion the fastest.



I have the Koni's and they cancel that motion. Even with the original Ford Shocks the coach didn't go up and down more than once before stopping.
My reason for new shocks was the plate rattling stiff boom whenever crossing a RR track or similar road surface difference. I would be sure and check the springs as well. Possibly if pre owned a person could have changed the spring set up with the intention of improving the ride.
Personally I don't have an interest in difference in weight from side to side. If my tanks are full or empty I haven't noticed a difference in handling. I drive with the thought that if i turn too fast my cabinets will unload so i use caution.
Windy conditions are the same, I feel like a dingy in a freighter's wake.
great ideas though.

Newbiecampers,
As IAMICHABOD noted, the fronts greatly reduced the porpoising without degrading the ride. The rears, along with airbags did increase the harshness somewhat. I can reduce the airbag pressures to get a little mores suspension "compliance" at the expense of a bit more sway...oh well.
The other change I made on the front was to install Sumo's. I've put about 2K miles on them and still haven't decided if they made a positive change or just simply stiffened the front suspension.
Gary

OP here again,

I want to thank everyone here for sharing their thoughts and experiences. It has been a great response.

For you who know me well, you know I have commented many times to posts concerning handling. I had a lot of suspension upgrades done to our 2007/E350 Super Duty chassis and have been extremely pleased with the result, hence my endorsement to invest in them. I had the following additions and changes made to our rig in 2007 at a cost of $3900 from THIS truck suspension shop.

- Added a heavy duty Roadmaster rear stabilizer bar (the chassis had no rear bar at all)
- Replaced the stock front stabilizer bar with a heavy duty Roadmaster one.
- replaced the 4 stock shocks with Koni-RV adjustable (set to the strongest of 3 settings)
- added a rear trac bar
- replaced the stock steering stabilizer with a heavy duty Safe-T-Plus model.
- Had a front wheel alignment done which required offset bushings to get it right.
- had the rig weighed and tire pressure determined

Fast forward to today, everything continues to do their job well except for the front shocks. With only 36,000 of use, I am surprised they need replacing. This past extended multi-week road trip, the up/down of the front had gotten worse. Unfortunately for me, they do not have a lifetime replacement warranty, so I need to replace them. I really want to try a different shock anyway, the Koni-FSD and heavy duty Bilstein being my final two contenders.

I made my decision. After hitting "Post Message" here, I am going to order 4 new heavy duty Bilstein shocks from Tire Rack at a cost of $83 each, no sales tax and free shipping. I am a little concerned the ride will be a bit rougher, but I agree with the comment from one of you, the priority is "handling" of which the Bilstein shock addresses it well as supported by the overwhelming majority of you, and can be done so affordably. I will install them myself and thanks to this board, I know how to do the left/front smartly.

Thanks again everyone for helping me with my decision. Later in the season, I will report back how it all went and my evaluation of them.

Desert Captain wrote:

ron.dittmer wrote:
What concerns me with our rig, the front end goes up and down a lot, for the slightest of reasons. I want to eliminate as much front end up/down motion as possible. It sounds like the HD Bilsteins will cancel that motion the fastest.

Ron, as I have posted before I too have an E-350 {that I love}. Trust me, just buy the HD Bilstein's and be done with this discussion. The performance improvement in ride and handling will blow your mind {and at a reasonable price though the fronts are a PITA to install}.

Most rigs should NOT need anything but the right shocks {that would be HD Bilstein's}, proper tire pressure and maybe an alignment with a tad mnore caster. The rest of the magical after market garbage is just that... expensive and unneeded.

As always... Opinions and YMMV.

:C

DC
Think you would be whistling another tune IF you had a 30 ft E450 with the weight right at or maxed out !
The E150 E250 E350 and E450 comes with the same puny undersized front Anti Sway Bar. Same IF it came with a rear Anti Sway Bar.
It may work for the E150 delivery van running around town.
Now stretch the frame put on a long hugh top heavy square box loaded with """"".
And now its a whole new animal... lol

Truth be told I honestly wish I could have found a 26Q No slides with the rear bead that sits across the rear and is open on one side.
With my lower back being fused, I cannot slide in and out of a corner bed.

We are not full timers nor camping every weekend in ours so I feel a 26ft or less is the perfect size.
When we were first started looking ,,, your model the 23P fit that bill perfect except for the bed.


So yes those added /upgraded aftermarket parts do help.

I have a Chevy Based Class C, the Bilsteins did not make the ride any harsher and stopped the porpoising and the ride is smoother and cornering has lot less body roll,I replaced all 4,did it myself in about
1 hour.


It already rode good but the porpoising was a real problem,with the Bilstein's you hit the dip in the road you get just a bit of dive but a nice firm feeling, the suspension is working as it should,not any harsher and a lot better control.

I am very happy with the results,

FunTwoDrv wrote:
Ron,
I put Bilsteins on our Chevy based Freelander. They really firmed up the ride. I believe the Koni FSD's may give a slightly more forgiving ride.
If you've been happy with the ones you have, those old red Koni shocks are probably rebuildable.

Gary

Gary,

We have a Chevy based Freelander as well (24 foot model 21qb on 4500 chassis).

I have been thinking of putting Bilstein HD's on the front due to the crazy up and down porposing it will do when going over dips and bumps in the road (not all of them). It is a new RV (6000 miles now), so the factory shocks shouldn't be toast yet. Just not adequate I am guessing.

My only concern was the potential for stiffening up the ride too much and going in the opposite direction from the bouncing up and down to no give at all, and your post lends to that concern.

Did the ride get too firm on the front with the Bilstein's compared to what it was with the stock shocks?

Anybody else with a Chevy 4500 RV put Bilstein's on the front?

Ron & Pnichlos
I'd highly recommend the Bilstein's HD on the front.

Ron and Pnichols ... Have you weighed the MH ready for travel ?
We don't have a toad...
Ours is 29.7 feet long with a 200 inch WB.

While up in Or. we pulled into a closed weigh station. Did the front 4160 lbs and rear 9300 lbs.
With both of us sitting up front , Fuel tank 3/4 plus full. FW tank 3/4 full, propane tank full, a few gal in the BT , GT empty. Fridge stocked and along with clothes etc.

Then pulled just the right front on... 2200 lbs then right rear 4850 lbs. centered on the scale pad best I could.
As I was turning around to weigh the Left side a logging truck came in so we waited for him to leave. He sat there for quite awhile. So we drove off I didn't get a chance to weigh the other two corners !
But by those #'s I got , the right side is heavier that the left !

But again without getting to weigh ALL 4 corners not really sure how the #s would add up.
With just the right side corners weighed it would appear there's a difference of 250 lbs right front vs left front and 700 lbs right rear vs left rear. I have my wife beat by at least 60 lbs plus had 5 1 gallon jugs of water sitting just behind pass seat.

Both slides are on the Left side...

I need to get all 4 corners weighed to verify true weight between the R&L...