Bolt on shocks or cushioned equalizers for travel trailer?

nwoodco1 wrote:
Which will be best long term? Curious what is best for the trailer and handling while towing.

Two simple questions, but need to understand the context of your need.

If you plan on keeping your camper a long time, meaning lots of years, 10 plus, then,

Shocks and the rubber equalizer both will help the camper last longer when towed a lot of miles.

The shocks act on different things then the rubber equalizer.

The shocks take out the excess flexing of the camper on every bump big or small you go over. The entire camper structure flexes, main steel frame, siding, the entire camper. If you want to know a data point on this, my 32 ft camper would flex and oscillate a full 6 up and down flex cycles for every medium sized bump on the original suspension. After adding the shocks, that flexing went from 6 full cycles to 1. Yes that drastic.

When mounting the shocks, they need to be mounted correctly in relation to the suspension movement. I have seen many OEM installed shocks where the shocks were more close to horizontal doing little to no dampening benefit. They need to be more vertical with some angle to react to the suspension. Just look at the back of your tow vehicle on how they are mounted.

This thread of how I mounted mine, may help. I went with Monroe shocks and made my own brackets. Back then, the mounting brackets were not available. Today, they are many shock brands selling mounting kits. Adding Shock Absorbers - Sunline SR model

The rubber equalizer, this also helps, but deals with the instantaneous hard shock of the bump into the camper frame, wheel bearings and tires. I have used the Dexter EZ Flex and the Trail-Aire equalizer. I also upgraded to bronze bushings with wet bolts and heavy duty shackles. A very well worth it upgrade.

The standard suspension with nylon bushings, rigid equalizer and 1/4" thin shackles only last between 8,000 to 10,000 miles if not changed or upgraded. The spring pins start grinding into the springs or equalizer starting to wallow out all the pivot points and the spring eyes. If the wear is let go long enough, the wear on the shackles will cause failure, and leave you on the side of the road.

As to handling, need more context on what you are trying to improve before we go off in a different direction with answers. Do you have a handling issue now? if so, what is the issue, explain the best you can, and tell us the camper model, year, brand and the truck you are towing it with.

Hope this helps

John