Shocks

Rickyrocket wrote:
I don't know why travel trailer and 5th wheels don't have shocks.Ive searched and found a couple of kits, has anyone installed one of these? They're pretty pricy and I really want to know if it was worth it.

Hi,

If you are on leaf spring suspension and plan on keeping your camper for a long time, shocks are worth it in my opinion when installed correctly.

My camper is 32 ft. long and is now 20 years old since it was made. We bought it used in 2007, and it did not come with shocks. I added them, and back then, there were very few to no kits available, so I made my own. See here for how I mounted my Monro Magnum gas shocks. https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24776971.cfm

This is what shocks did for my camper. Before shocks, any size bump I went over at most any speed above 20 mph, I would get six oscillation cycles up and down of the camper. Just looking in the rearview mirror, you can see the entire length of the camper doing a wave up-and-down cycle effect from the start of the bump. The bigger the bump, the higher the camper flexing, which would last six cycles to tame it back down.

After the shocks were installed, the six cycles went down to one cycle of up and down, and that was it. Yes, that dramatic. The steel frame and camper body flexing were reduced from six to one.

I also went with the rubber equalizer, now using the Trail Aire, but I had the Dexter before that. Both rubber equalizers tame the sudden jolt and bang of force into the suspension when you hit the bump. However, the rubber equalizer will not change the number of camper frame flex cycles. Shocks and the rubber equalizer do different things; both are good things to do to help lower the stress on the camper's body and trailer frame.

Both shocks and the rubber equalizer help the camper last longer by lowering the flexing stress into the trailer frame and the camper's body. If you trade the camper every 3 to 5 years for a new one, you may see less benefit.

Heads up, many shocks are mounted wrong by the RV manufacturer. A shock closer to horizontal will have little effect as opposed to one mounted more vertically like they are intended to be. If you are mounting your shocks, read up on the mounting angle from the shock manufacturers, not the RV manufacturers.

Hope this helps

John

For what it's worth, I had the dealer add shocks to my leaf spring suspension. My trailer is 12 feet long and weighs 2500 pounds wet. It tows nicely.

Not sure the shocks are really necessary, but they give me extra peace of mind. We got the trailer new in 2012 and have towed it about ten thousand miles a year since then, over all sorts of roads.

JBarca lot of good info there, I'm leaning towards making my own brackets also,thanks.

Our 1st 5th wheel rv trailer was a new 1984 29' Aljo (no shocks) 4400 lb tandem axles rear bath pulled with a 2500 chevy 5.7 engine 4L-60 tranny.

This trailer pulled easy with no bucking. A empty flat bed GN/pintle/bumper ball trailer can kick occupants in the cab even with my one ton drw trucks.
However every trip all the contents cabinets/drawers in the rear bath were scattered every where.

In 1990 I added shocks (Kit from Monroe) on each axle.
Ride in the cab had no change but no more contents scattered in the rear bath.

Our last two 5th wheel rear kitchen rv trailer came with shocks. No issues with ride or shook up contents in the rear kitchen.

Small Light weight trailers (rv or non rv) with lighter axle capacities probably don't need shocks.

The MORRyde SRE4000 is the best rubberized equalizer out there. It allows more axle movement (watch their video.) It eliminated virtually all chucking on our fifth wheel. Their SRE3000 is similar to all the others. You have to have enough clearance above the tire and it raises the trailer 1.25". I'd do it before shocks because so simple.