Busted shock absorber mount, Safe to Drive home

[mexicanpiloto13]

Hi,
We have a 1998 Monaco Dynasty rig 40 ft. long, and a few years ago, I upgraded the shock absorbers from the Bilsteins to adjustible KONI shocks. Seems I read somewhere the the Monaco shock mounts weren't very strong and boy, that was the truth. As we would adjust our rig at campgrounds, using the auto airbag leveling, we started having the mounts break off when the rig was lowered. One by one, we must have had most of them re-welded and beefed up, curing the problem. We are now two thousand miles from home, and one of the two mounts for the rear dual tires just broke off. Looks like no damage was caused but the upper mount is just hanging there. My question, is "is it safe for us to drive home with just one shock absorber working on that tire? the upper mount is hard to reach and would require a welder to have a pit to get in there an access it correctly. Also, do these big truck stops like Pilot and Flying J have a welding shop that could do it. We are near Charleston, W. Virginia and will be traveling back to Phoenix, on I-40. Thanks

[slickest1]

When driving down the road the airbags support the load not the shocks. shocks just dampen the ride. Like said you will be fine to drive it that way.
I had air leveling on my Imperial and Billsten shocks and never had a problem no matter how low I let it go. There must be a difference in the Koni shocks.

[wolfe10]

Yup, no shock or shock mount is designed to hold the whole weight of a corner (or even half a corner for an 8 bag/8 shock chassis) of a coach.

[mexicanpiloto13]

The Monaco coach we have came with bilstein shocks. We replaced them with adjustible Koni shocks to get a better ride. I had read that the Monaco shock mounts weren't as strong as they should be to handle the Koni shock absorbers and other coach owners were having themounts break off. I think the real problem is the air bag leveling system, which sometimes takes the coach very low and puts a lot more pressure on the Monaco shock mounts. That's when we have experienced a shock breaking off the mount is when we drop the coach too low to level it out. We have since had the last one re-welded and beefed up by Spectrac suspension in Mesa, AZ. I did remove the broken shock in West virginia and drove all the way back to Arizona without it. It was dangling around and I thought it might 'Pop" the airbag so removed it for safety. All is attached and rewelded now. Thanks for all the super comments. By the way, speaking of airbags, I was in Freightliner this week and they recommend air bag replacement every 15 years. for a class A, it's a huge job, can take 2 days and cost $2500. They also have to order the bags in advance. Not the kind of procedure you want to have done while out on vacation.

[RLS7201]

You suggest that you have broken more than one shock mount when lowering your coach. That would indicate the shocks are too long. Maybe you were sold the wrong shocks.

Richard

[KD4UPL]

I have driven without shocks thanks. It really wasn't much different driving around. Like I said, panic stops and what not there's a difference.

[rhagfo]

KD4UPL wrote:
I'd remove the shock and drive it. You probably won't even notice. Shocks help the vehicle ride nicely but have little to do with actually moving down the road, stopping, and turning. If your in really extreme situations on crazy twisty roads, high speed maneuvers, panic stops, etc. you might notice. It still shouldn't be an issue.

Well why don't you take your shocks off and see how you truck drives?

While one isn't all it will affect handling.

[KD4UPL]

I'd remove the shock and drive it. You probably won't even notice. Shocks help the vehicle ride nicely but have little to do with actually moving down the road, stopping, and turning. If your in really extreme situations on crazy twisty roads, high speed maneuvers, panic stops, etc. you might notice. It still shouldn't be an issue.

[Dutch_12078]

rhagfo wrote:

doc brown wrote:
I would get it welded asap. It's quick, cheap considering possibilities and there are plenty of places to get a weld job. Any truck repair facility including Loves and Flying J. Just call around first.

X2
With the other doing twice the work likely to break that mount also!

The remaining shock will likely travel a bit further on bumps with the reduced dampening, but there's no additional load on it otherwise.

[rhagfo]

doc brown wrote:
I would get it welded asap. It's quick, cheap considering possibilities and there are plenty of places to get a weld job. Any truck repair facility including Loves and Flying J. Just call around first.

X2
With the other doing twice the work likely to break that mount also!

[olfarmer]

I doubt that a missing rear shock will cause much problem but I would carefully take it for a test drive and see if it bothers. JMOP
Ed

[wolfe10]

Your call, but I see nothing wrong with driving home with that shock in the basement (removed from it mount). Might have a little more motion, but don't see that as an issue unless you are on one of those roads where you will already experience a lot of motion.

Said another way, avoid any terrible roads, and doubt you will even notice it.

But, also have no problem, IF you have the time, to get it repaired before the drive.

[Ivylog]

I would probably remove the shock or fasten it out of the way so it does not hit the floor above. Three/axle is fine. Guess I'll leave the shocks alone on my 04 Dynasty.

[doc_brown]

I would get it welded asap. It's quick, cheap considering possibilities and there are plenty of places to get a weld job. Any truck repair facility including Loves and Flying J. Just call around first.