Best Shock Absorbers to Use

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kmcroton

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Oct 11, 2005
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We have an '03 Winnebago Adventurer, 38 ft and we are experiencing quite a bit of bounce in the front end going down the road.  We have talked with Camping World on shocks and they suggested Monroe.  We are wondering if anyone out there has a feel for the ride with Monroes.  Also, my husband was thinking of putting Bilstein's on the coach but wondered if they might provide too stiff a ride.  Any information would be helpful.  Thank you. :)
 
You might try Koni Shocks.  They are adjustable, so you can either have a floating ride or a very stiff ride with anything in between.  All Wanderlodge products are so equipped on the front.  The rears don't seem to have a major effect in ride difference.

 
Bilsteins and Konis are the top of the line, but you have a dilemma:  you want stiffer shocks to stop the bounce, but don't want the harshness the stiffer shocks will cause. You have to decide which problem bothers you the most.  The Konis let you play with the adjustment, but it may not be easy to adjust them once they are installed.

Changing the loading of your coach can also alter the bounce factor. A coach with a very heavy rear and very light front [relative to the respective axle capacities] may bounce more. Or if the front is loaded to near max, you may be simply overloading both the springs and the shocks.
 
I put Koni's on my 03 35' Bounder and really like them. I had a Koni rep tell me how many turns to set the shocks for the weight I was carrying and it was different from the front to the rear. They cost a little more then Bilstiens but IMO are worth it.

Jerry
 
Any ideas or suggestions or thoughts of just using Koni's on the front since that's the most likely place to get the biggest bang for the buck rather than all around?
 
I see no problem with mixing brands front & rear (but never side-to-side).  The fronts and rears are normally different specs (different valve rates) anyway.  However, I would recommend new shocks of some brand on the rear so that you know you have effective shock absorbing at both ends.
 
There is a very good alignment shop in Oregon (Hendersons) that is now recommending a combo of Bilsteins in the rear and Koni's in the front, that might be another way for you to go.

Jerry

Charles said:
Any ideas or suggestions or thoughts of just using Koni's on the front since that's the most likely place to get the biggest bang for the buck rather than all around?
 
I put 4 Koni FSDs on the front of my 02 Dynasty to replace the OEM Bilstines and they made a HUGE difference!!!!!

After some 600 miles with them, they've made a believer out of me.  In fact, my wife and I could tell a difference the first few miles.

Our Dynasty rode somewhere between a dump truck and a Sherman tank.  We had weighed the coach (twice) and were careful to set the tire PSI per the tire load charts.  Then we had a tire road hazard and ended up changing the two front tires with Goodyear G670.  Those tires made a big difference also.

I am not particularly mechanical, but wound up changing them myself.  The air leveling system helped relieve any strain or compression on the shocks.  Took me 4 hours to get them off but less than 2 hours to install the new ones.

I visited Bilstiens web site and they had a page about "Shock Myths" and they said manufacturers spend millions of dollars to make their vehicles ride the way they do, so don't expect any different ride just by changing the shocks.  BS.  Big BS.  Triple BS.  Quadruple BS.  I've had both, and Koni FSDs walk all over the Bilstiens.  They are in no way even in the same league.

The Koni FSDs cost $150 each plus a couple bucks freight on each.  This seems like peanuts to get a multi-hundred thousand dollar coach to ride like a coach rather than a truck.

 

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