Shocks on a 5th wheel

[WOT]

I need some advice on installing some shocks on my 5th wheel. First off, I am looking at the kit from Monroe:

HERE



I have an I-beam frame and where the springs mount there is an additional 2x2 below the frame that the shackles actually mount to. See VERY Crude sketch attached!



Anyway, it looks like Monrow has the top mount of the shocks on the rear axle towards the back and the top mount of the shocks on the front axle towards the front of the trailer. My old trailer was opposite (top mounts were between the wheels).



Does it make a difference?



I am thinking that I would prefer to mount into the 2x2 and NOT into the I-beam. I guess I am afraid of fatiquing the center of the ibeam since it isn't very thick. Monroe says the have a kit for Ibeam frames, but it isn't listed on their website yet. Any thoughts on that?



Finally, most all shocks I have seen on trailers have a pretty good angle to them. Can anyone tell me what the "ideal" angle is (if there is one)?



Thanks!

 

[cwienenga]

shock mounts

I recently purchased a 30' hitchhiker with shocks. I had to flip the axles which meant I had to relocate the shocks to the other side of the axles. the top mount was a piece of angle iron with a hole for the shock pin. they were also mounted on the sub frame. I checked around a lot and finally remounted the upper mounts with the same angle but move them so they hit the new mounts on the other side of the axle and rewelded them to the upper trailer frame as there is only one shock offered for trailers (monroe), so they had to be higher ,(they can give you the number). I found a new hitchhiker with the axles flipped from the factory and they were mounted the same way as I did it. Go to a rv lot and see them. the monroe retro kit I believe has the eye style shock with the mounting studs going through the frame.

Dexter axle co. can help also,give them a call.

 

[WOT]

cwienenga,



What was the part # of the shocks on the trailer? Did it have 5200 lb axles? From what I can see, the smallest shock that monroe sells (which looks like the one in the dexter shock kit (pic attached) only has 4" of travel & static height of 9. 875". The plate shown in the kit is already on my trailer, so all I would really need is the shock and I can fab the upper mount easily enough. I guess I just am not sure 4" is enough travel.

 

[TowPro]

If it helps, I spend an hour in the parts books looking for a shock with threaded ends on both sides.



5?-74 Checker Rear Shocks

50's-? vintage Ford 150's.



If memory serves me right, that was about it, and both are so old nobody stocks them so you can look at them.

 

[Ron Bissett]

When I raised my trailer ,I used the old plates ,as the kit from Dexter came with new U bolts plates ,nuts , I put the Old plates on top of the new Plates turned around and had to modify cut some off the plate left a hole facing the way shock was to go they are bent on the end . When put on top they face the wrong way thats why you have to cut and turn them around . as to use of a shock that has 4 in travel thats more than enough The bump stop has to be adjusted to limit travel of axle I added one inch to the legs by welding one inch angle to each side of leg about 1x1 will work fine . The upper shock had to be welded to the flange of the frame as there was no way to know what was on other side of the frame ,I used a 3x3 cut from a U channel steel and welded the bracket in middle and welded the flat side of the U facing out with the bracket ,by welding the edge of flange no heat was transmitted in to the inside of frame ,I welded some rod stock to help hold the U channel in place as help keep things in place . The shock mounts works fine with four in travel before hitting the stops ,this has worked now for two years. As to the angle the plate you have will be a guide they look to be about 45 angle or so. Mount one on plate measure. Hope this helps . Ron Bissett in Metro Louisville KY Shock angle is 30 deg . measured with a inclinometer on my rig

 

[JThiessen]

Let me know how it ends up

WOT, I'm curious about how the shocks are going to affect your trailers stability while camping. I sat for many hours this weekend looking at different ways to better stabilize my 5'er, and one of them is adding shocks, or maybe even air bags (inflate them when I park, deflate for driving).

 

[WOT]

Not sure that they will do much at all while camping. I have the sizzor jacks that go between the wheels to keep it from rolling. They also seem to help the rock while walking around inside.

 

[JThiessen]

I've also got a single scissor type for between the wheels, in addition to the two screw jacks at the rear. I was going to get two of the between the tire things, but i figure that with wheel chocks on the opposite side, I'm not going to get any tire movement. I guess maybe investing in a king pin stabilizer might be worth the money.

 

[D. Showan]

30 degrees is usually the most common angle on shocks. The more the angle the more suspension travel you get for a given ammount of shock travel. At 45 degrees you almost double the 4" shock travel to 7" plus of suspension travel. The bigger angle also makes the shock essentially weaker and straight up will make it stiffer and give the most control. I made the bottom mounts I used on my Jayco and looked through the shock spec book at Advance auto to find a Truck/RV shock (about $14) that was the correct lenght and had the right ends. The whole setup cost me about $80. Made a big difference on the road I highly recommend it. Parked it wont' make any difference though.

 

[WOT]

D. Showan,



Did the camper have a factory upper mount? What style shock did you end up with? (rod on both ends, loops, etc. ) You mentioned 30*, is that what you mounted yours at?



Thanks,

WOT

 

[sfritts]

RV shocks

WOT, I put shocks on my Starcraft 25 ft. fifth wheel. Both shocks face each other between the axles . the brackets were already there. I used the Monroe shock # 555025 which has 4 7/8" of travel they seem to work OK for me they help with trailer sway when passing or being passed and on roads with high crown in the middle. As for anything else I don't see any difference



PS. the NAPA # is the same as Monroe's

 

[D. Showan]

WOT,

Mine didn't have a factory uppper mount. I used shocks with eyelets on both ends. For the top mount I just added large nuts as spacers to keep the shock away from the frame and a large bolt that went through the following: a washer, shock, washer, nuts as spacers, then the frame another washer then a nut to tighten it all together. For the bottom I saw how the Monroe kit was made and made my own. I welded pipe that was the right diameter and length to the plate that holds the axle u bolts on (just the the Monroe kit). It took some time but it did make a significant difference. I mounted them at about 30 degrees



Good luck

 

[cwienenga]

wot

I will see what my shock numbers were but you can call monroe or dexter and they will give you the number,there is only one! I repeat my advice to go to an rv sales,find a factory shock installation and go by that. when I asked around,everyone knew how to flip the axles but when I tried to find out about the shocks they passed the buck and recommended a frame shop. these shocks are HD truck shocks and they are shorter than any I saw on automotive lists.



cliff

 

[WOT]

cwienenga,



if you look at monroe's site there are a bunch of RV shocks available (See PDF HERE ).



I was originally looking at 555001, but then started looking at 555025 since it has an extra 7/8 of travel. After measuring the camper as it sits on a level surface, it looks like the static length will be just about right to mount the upper to the subframe.



I did go to the RV lot and looked at several Terrys equiped with the mounts for shocks (but no shocks). They all had the upper mounts between the two tires and had about the same distance between the lower plate and the upper mount.



I will probably order some 555025's from NAPA (they want $33 each). I'm gonna shop around a little first since that seems kinda high to me!

 

[cwienenga]

wot

if I remember right, I was going by the number on my shocks but the rv shocks listed were for non trailer use. when I talked to monroe they gave a crossover number from dexter but there was only one actual shock for trailers so I had to move my mounts to the upper frame to utilize them with the flip. My trailer is a hitchhiker, if you can find a dealer I know I found them both std and flipped and they are first class so ok to go by. my angles are the same,the shocks go from center out as original, I just had to move to the other side of the axle on top.



hope this helps

 

[WOT]

Just thought I would post a follow-up.



I got the shocks from Napa for $28 each, made the upper brackes & welded them onto the subframe so the shock was at the middle of the travel as the camper sat on level ground. (I also had to flip the axle plates as the mfg put them on so that the shocks couldn't be mounted without doing so. . In doing so I replaced all the U-bolts) I mounted them with the shock tops between the two axles and at 30 degrees.



After a couple of trips I found the ride to be much better on the stretches that used to cause the camper to bounce around a lot. JThiessen wanted to know if it changed how the camper moved around when walking around in it - no change.



Would I do it again? Yes. It took 3 evenings (maybe 8 hours & I had about $140 into it. ). I would probably consider the Monroe Kit a little more if I were to do it again. It would probably go much faster if you just needed to drill for the upper mount. The thing that annoyed me about the Monroe kit is they didn't have any dimensions on the lower stud mounting kit. That would make it hard to figure out the static length without getting the mounting kit and then measuring and getting the shocks. I also had problems locating someone who knew how to order the monroe kit (I did find a couple of places online).