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Same ole shock subject

Slojoe72
Explorer
Explorer
1999 holiday rambler 40' 350 cummins - used 100% to tow 32' race car trailer to and from race track and stay over night some.

Koni or Bilsten?
Looking to replace the factory shocks as a maintenance update, but trying to help a little sway ...... not really worried about ride comfort.

I've read Koni being best but at $60 ish each more X 8 = another $500 is cost.
11 REPLIES 11

Snomas
Explorer
Explorer
I replaced my shocks last year w/ original Bilsteins and it rides like when it was new. 93K on ODO
2006 WINNEBAGO ASPECT 29H Ford E450 Super Duty
2018 F150 Lariat Crew Cab, Coyote 5.0 L RWD

jplante4
Explorer II
Explorer II
Subject covered earlier this week with a link to a comparison test.

Click This
Jerry & Jeanne
1996 Safari Sahara 3530 - 'White Tiger'
CAT 3126/Allison 6 speed/Magnum Chassis
2014 Equinox AWD / Blue Ox

Dale_Traveling
Explorer II
Explorer II
Since your objective isn't ride comfort stay with Bilsten. Also shocks don't have to be leaking to have failed. When I replaced the shock on my coach I had one of the four that was very easy to compress or expand as compared to the rest. Hard to do a bumper bounce test on a coach.
2006 Hurricane 31D built on a 2006 Ford F53

et2
Explorer
Explorer
What I disliked about the Sachs was the ride was hard and they squatted a lot when stopping with a noticeable spring back after the stop. Not to mention the coach would rock side to side when turning out from a driveway.

After reading on the Koni I went for it. All of the driving and stopping issues went away and the rocking is much better. The Sach would jar my teeth the ride was so hard.

time_to_go_now
Explorer
Explorer
I had Sachs on my 2008 FRED chassis. Handling was fine. I had no need to upgrade. But they were old and I thought maybe they were not as good as they were when they were new. So, I bought Koni's. Big improvement. Only regret was not doing it sooner.

Bilstein's may have done the same thing. I will never know.

Good luck.
Jim and Deanna

2008 Tiffin Allegro 35QBA FRED
2007 Carson Trailer 22' Titan TH
Trailer Toad
Me, Wife, Boy/22, Boy/19, Girl/17
1985 Toyota 4Runner
TWO quads, THREE kids, TWO motorcycles, ONE wife, TWO dogs, ONE cat, TWO Polaris RZR's

FIRE_UP
Explorer
Explorer
Our coach is an '04 Itasca Horizon, 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT and Allison MH3000 trans. It's running down the road with right at 62K on the clock and, to the best of my knowledge, it's got the original shocks on it. Now, I have not scraped off the dust to see if they're Sachs or not but, based on what's been said here, I'm assuming they are.

Now, at close to 11.5 years old and, 62K on the clock, in my opinion, this coach does not handle bad at all. I don't expect it to be a race car. I get no wandering, no ill handling effects what so ever. It's not effected by trucks, ether passing me or, coming at me from the opposite direction.

So, I've been watching all the "shock" talks/threads and, I still am not convinced, I need to do anything about ours. I read the link on the "Shock Therapy" from Goldencrazy's original post and, what I'm just not sure of is, whether or not, there's any change warranted.

My tires are factory 255-80R 22.5s with adjusted air pressure based on actual weights of each axle. So, I'm still reading with interest.
Scott
Scott and Karla
SDFD RETIRED
2004 Itasca Horizon, 36GD Slate Blue 330 CAT
2011 GMC Sierra 1500 Ext Cab 4x4 Toad
2008 Caliente Red LVL II GL 1800 Goldwing
KI60ND

slickest1
Explorer
Explorer
I don't think shocks will do much to help with sway.May be with towing a trailer you may need more air in rear tires. Extra weight from tongue weight of trailer.
1998 Holiday Rambler Imperial 40 ft.
Dennis and Marcie and Pup the Jack Russell

Slojoe72
Explorer
Explorer
Looks like mine are original bilstens on it now. They look very old and crusty, but not leaking.

et2
Explorer
Explorer
Had original shocks Sachs. Ride was so bad after the first year I went to Koni's. Absolutely a way better ride. The $900.00 was worth every penny. No regrets.

Slojoe72
Explorer
Explorer
thats it?

Goldencrazy
Explorer
Explorer
I have posted on this subject and the consensus still is Koni is a very good shock for handling and ride but more expensive. Road Kings are probably over kill unless really large coach. Bilsteins are the standard and work OK. If I really didn't care about ride I would go with Monroe or Bilstein to hold down cost. My preference is ride comfort so a few more bucks for ride is Ok. You have a large coach so perhaps experience with the larger coaches will get posted.