Which Bilstein shock is best for my RV?
I have a '94 28ft Minnie Winnie. I think it's more like 30ft bumper to bumper. I see Bilstein offers two shocks - the HD and the Comfort. They say the comfort is recommended for RV's under 30ft and...
Forum Discussion
My understanding of shocks is that they offer resistance to any up & down motion .... thus they dampen (shorten the duration of) bouncing you get from bare springs alone .... and they also resist the compression/extension you get in the opposing-side springs on road curves, when going over curbs, and from side-air-pressure pushes.
Given this, the last thing I want when going over highway cracks and pothole edges is any more opposition than absolutely necessary to the springs rapidly compressing and decompressing on each small vertical edge that the tire comes in contact with. Hence IMHO, one wants a soft (or no) shock action on highway cracks and pothole edges to eliminate the resulting jolts - so much as they come from the resistance of shocks. Of course the siffness of the springs is also felt as "jolts", too, on highway cracks and pothole edges - but lets not add to it with any resistance from the shocks. As I understand it, the Koni FSD shocks act as a very soft/weak shock during very rapid up & down motions ... which means little shock resistance (damping) is what you get with highway cracks and pothole edges.
Also IMHO, one of the best ways to add chassis stiffness on road curves, when going over curbs, and from side-air-pressure pushes is through use of sway bars, as now come stock on both the front and back of the Ford E350/E450 van chassis. I'm sure many other chassis under modern motorhomes now have both sway bars, too. Note, sway bars resist (but do not completely eliminate) the unequal compression/extension you get in the opposing-side springs on road curves, when going over curbs, and from side-air-pressure pushes. Sway bars do nothing to affect the straight up and down motion of the suspension when both sides of the vehicle move up and down the same amount at the same time - as in a bump or dip going all the way across the road surface. One can see this is how sway bars work by laying underneath your rig, studying the situation, and then putting two and two together.
I carry a full 80 lbs. of pressure in the rear LR E dually tires on our ~11,800 lb. E450 Class C. This is more pressure than is needed and doesn't NOT HELP with the jolting coming from the rear, but this maximum tire pressure offers other advantages ... so I'm relying on our Michelin 215/85R16 tires and our upcoming Koni FSD shocks in their rapid frequency mode ... to take some of the bite out of the jolts arising from highway cracks and pothole edges.
As an aside, at tire replacement time a few years ago I chose the 215/85 tire size specifically to put a taller and narrrower air chamber in between the steel rim and rough road surfaces. IMHO, today's wide low profile tires ride stiffer, and are best suited for high speed, high performance vehicles - not heavily loaded vehicles requiring high tire pressures but which one wants to still ride as soft as possible on the highway cracks and pothole edges all over the U.S..
Given this, the last thing I want when going over highway cracks and pothole edges is any more opposition than absolutely necessary to the springs rapidly compressing and decompressing on each small vertical edge that the tire comes in contact with. Hence IMHO, one wants a soft (or no) shock action on highway cracks and pothole edges to eliminate the resulting jolts - so much as they come from the resistance of shocks. Of course the siffness of the springs is also felt as "jolts", too, on highway cracks and pothole edges - but lets not add to it with any resistance from the shocks. As I understand it, the Koni FSD shocks act as a very soft/weak shock during very rapid up & down motions ... which means little shock resistance (damping) is what you get with highway cracks and pothole edges.
Also IMHO, one of the best ways to add chassis stiffness on road curves, when going over curbs, and from side-air-pressure pushes is through use of sway bars, as now come stock on both the front and back of the Ford E350/E450 van chassis. I'm sure many other chassis under modern motorhomes now have both sway bars, too. Note, sway bars resist (but do not completely eliminate) the unequal compression/extension you get in the opposing-side springs on road curves, when going over curbs, and from side-air-pressure pushes. Sway bars do nothing to affect the straight up and down motion of the suspension when both sides of the vehicle move up and down the same amount at the same time - as in a bump or dip going all the way across the road surface. One can see this is how sway bars work by laying underneath your rig, studying the situation, and then putting two and two together.
I carry a full 80 lbs. of pressure in the rear LR E dually tires on our ~11,800 lb. E450 Class C. This is more pressure than is needed and doesn't NOT HELP with the jolting coming from the rear, but this maximum tire pressure offers other advantages ... so I'm relying on our Michelin 215/85R16 tires and our upcoming Koni FSD shocks in their rapid frequency mode ... to take some of the bite out of the jolts arising from highway cracks and pothole edges.
As an aside, at tire replacement time a few years ago I chose the 215/85 tire size specifically to put a taller and narrrower air chamber in between the steel rim and rough road surfaces. IMHO, today's wide low profile tires ride stiffer, and are best suited for high speed, high performance vehicles - not heavily loaded vehicles requiring high tire pressures but which one wants to still ride as soft as possible on the highway cracks and pothole edges all over the U.S..
