Shock Life

[Mike Wenrich]

Curious if there is a rule of thumb on when it's time to replace shocks. I replaced mine on the 04.5 years ago and maybe have 70K miles on them. But also 10 years ago. The replacements are Bilsteins and on a 2500 4-whl drive. Since you cannot do a "bounce" test on these, should they be replaced every X amount of miles or years? No noise coming from mine but the rubber grommets are showing their age. Appreciate your thoughts. I really don't want to crawl under the truck and disconnect each one to see if it's still good unless I'm changing them out. And with 4 whl drive and Ca. roads it's hard to tell if they are doing their job. My back would say no but it was like that 10 years ago when they were new.

 

[seafish]

The thing about shocks is that their failure tends to be progressive and thus is extremely hard to feel any difference UNTIL you actually replace them with new shocks.

IMO 60k is about all you can get from stock sized shocks on these heavy duty trucks unless your truck is a "highway queen."

 

[Mike Wenrich]

Sure isn't a "queen" in these parts. I live in Ca. where the roads are similar to the ones the chariots rolled on in Roman times. Given the bad roads I imagine they are about done. No handling problems other than the potholes causing instability. Tires look to be wearing well too. Just curious if maybe the replacement shocks might be made to go 100K or so. If an off road vehicle I would guess much less mileage. Come to think of it...that would be like what I drive on. Paved off road.

 

[DavidC]

I have driven Ca. roads. Warranty would probably be close to 20 miles or one week, which ever comes first.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Bilsteins make a nice improvment over even good stockers. They soak up things like expansion joints much better. They're also good for towing because they have a lot more rebound dampening and will control bounce associated heavy tongue weight.
I've also tried Rancho's but they didn't make the same difference. They may be better for off-roading IDK.

 

[seafish]

I ALSO live in N.Cal where the roads are beyond crop. In fact, I have an ongoing feud with my rep on the Board of Supervisors and there is nothing they will do about it!!!

The Bilstein 5100 are a substantial improvement in both ride and handling, but still won't last much past the 60k mark pn these roads.

That said if you can afford to upgrade to a larger diameter shock and better springs etc., say kits offered by Carli or Thuren, then you will be good to go for longer. The King shocks are also rebuildable rather then replaceable, but be sure you ARE sitting down when you start to price them out...you can easily buy almost 10 sets of Bilsteins for the price of a suspension upgrade form once of those companies. That said, your WILL drive and handle like a different truck...MUCH better for the wife approval factor if that is needed!!! LOL

 

[Mike Wenrich]

My small county road department does not own a road paving machine. Only shovels to throw road patch on the holes. Any paving is sent out to private contractors. And that is rare. Even Cal Trans doesn't spend much time here keeping up Hwy 140 from Catheys Valley to Yosemite. Gotta build that train to nowhere though.