? Shocks

The last 2 MH's I had even tho on Chevy 3500 the rear still slammed over cracks/pot holes.
Once I installed the Bilstein's both front AND rear,
I didn't have the slam in the rear like I did before installing them and the front didn't dive any more like it did.

I know I have talked with a few and even at least one on here who put the Bilstein's on his Ford E350 chassis MH and loved the ride, no more slam over cracks/pot holes, no more dive in the front end.

To me these Koni's feel like plain old style shocks, then kicks in on the cracks/potholes , at least on the rear!
Yes I noticed a difference in the rear , NO I didn't notice one bit of difference in the front cracks/potholes and especially dips.

So my advise would be to replace both front and rear with Bilstein's .. If you want to spend the extra put the Koni's $$$$ on the rear and Bilstein's $$ on the front.

For me lesson learned , should have went with my gut instinct/feeling and stayed with Bilstein's ..

The Koni FSD shocks "decide" which stiffness mode "to be in" based on how fast (the frequency) the dip or bump hits.

A rolling dip hits at a slow rate (low frequency) as compared to a crack or pothole, so the Koni FSD shock goes into it's soft mode ... which sounds like what you're experiencing.

You may be exactly right in soft not being the proper shock damping rate along with front end coil springs on rolling dips. I wonder what Koni designers would say about this?

For my stiff rear leaf springs, I DO NOT want permanently stiff shocks back there adding to the short throw leaf springs' stiffness on potholes and cracks - which are fast, high frequency bumps. For this I momentarily want no - or at least soft - shocks. The Koni FSD shocks are the only ones I can afford in which you get two rates of stiffness.

When I pulled the stock shocks off I was surprised they were gas charged !

According to Koni the FSD's are suppose to absorb the harsh hits with a softer feel whereas be stiff or NOT dive in the rolling dips in the road.
They maybe right on the first absorb/soft on the harsh hits, but definitely NOT on the other with rolling dips in the road .

Heck I'll throw it out to anybody reading this thread, order up the Bilsteins Part # 33-187570 and have them ship to me , (you can PM me) I'll remove these Konis FSD's (barely have 750 miles on them) and I'll ship them to you.

As for your stock shocks having 70K miles, I bet you would be quite surprised and happy with a set of the Bilsteins on the front.

See my 2nd post back .... after you mentioning your problems on gently rolling dips in the road and then thinking about what's probably going on ....the soft mode of the Koni FSD shocks may not play well with the "long throw" of coil springs when going over (the low frequency of) gently rolling dips in the road.

My stock Ford front shocks are working well with the front coils, almost complimenting the rear Koni FSDs as they interact with the short throw rear leaf springs. What amazes me - and the reason I asked about a possible lifetime warranty on stock Ford E450 shocks - is that the stock front shocks are still damping well after nearly 70K miles. So ... assuming that the stock E450 front shocks are fairly stiff as compared to the stock shocks on lighter vehicles ... I may replace them with Biltstein HDs to go along with the dual-mode Koni FSDs in the rear.

pnichols wrote:

OFDPOS wrote:
I kept going back and forth with which ones too, and I should have listen to my gut instinct , I liked the Bilstein's , I've had the Bilstein's , I should have stayed with the Bilstein's..

And saved myself about $250

Sell your set of front FSDs on eBay or Craigslist, and use the money to help put Bilstein HDs on the front. Then report back on how you like the FSDs on the rear mixed with Bilstein HDs on the front ... or report back that I'm full of baloney! ;)

P.S. I'll wait for you ... as my stock shocks on the front are still in good shape. BTW, do my stock Ford E450 front shocks happen to carry a lifetime warranty - like the Ranchos on my 4X4 PU?

How about you buy a set of the Biltsteins front shocks Part # 33-187570 , have them shipped to me. I'll pull off the Koni's and ship them to you ;)

P.S. As for the stock shocks having a lifetime warranty like the Rancho's uh no... Not sure why you would even ask that ?

OFDPOS wrote:
I kept going back and forth with which ones too, and I should have listen to my gut instinct , I liked the Bilstein's , I've had the Bilstein's , I should have stayed with the Bilstein's..

And saved myself about $250

Sell your set of front FSDs on eBay or Craigslist, and use the money to help put Bilstein HDs on the front. Then report back on how you like the FSDs on the rear mixed with Bilstein HDs on the front ... or report back that I'm full of baloney! ;)

P.S. I'll wait for you ... as my stock shocks on the front are still in good shape. BTW, do my stock Ford E450 front shocks happen to carry a lifetime warranty - like the Ranchos on my 4X4 PU?

pnichols wrote:
Koni FSD shocks work best to take the sting out of leaf springs ... and a lot of (all?) Class C motorhomes have coil springs in the front, which do not transmit the strong vertical pounding force from roadway cracks and potholes like leaf springs do.

I left my stock Ford shocks in the front and went with the FSDs only in the rear.

Probably an ideal Class C shock setup would be Koni FSDs in the rear and Bilstein HDs in the front.

Yep !

Koni FSD shocks work best to take the sting out of leaf springs ... and a lot of (all?) Class C motorhomes have coil springs in the front, which do not transmit the strong vertical pounding force from roadway cracks and potholes like leaf springs do.

I left my stock Ford shocks in the front and went with the FSDs only in the rear.

Probably an ideal Class C shock setup would be Koni FSDs in the rear and Bilstein HDs in the front.

Hope I didn't sound sarcastic with my "to each their own" I sure didn't mean to !

On my other two MH both on chevy chassis 3500 I went with Bilstein's HD .
1st one was 23 ft long , second one was 25.5 ft long.
Now our new to us E-450 Winni Aspect 28B is 29.7 ft long .
I wished I would have stayed with the Bilstein's HD on this one as well. ;)

These Koni's FSD's in the front I still get that I'm in a boat feeling going through dips in the road ! Dives right in whereas the Bilstein's kept me pretty dang level with no harsh ride at all..

Saying all that I know I've posted elsewhere on here and another forum, people talked up the Koni's like they were the next best thing to slice bread. Couldn't believe the ride difference from their stock shocks, a few even commented that was one the first things they did on their Brand New MH was get rid of the stock shocks and get the Koni FSD's .

I kept going back and forth with which ones too, and I should have listen to my gut instinct , I liked the Bilstein's , I've had the Bilstein's , I should have stayed with the Bilstein's..

And saved myself about $250 :o

BigAWB, since you like to do your own work, me too, I'd pull one of the shocks off. Clean the housing real good and you will probably find a manufacture name and or shock number. NAPA, O'Reillys, and AutoZone can cross reference the number. So can the on line shock outfits.