looking for shock recommendations would love Koni but are a bit pricey haven't read much good about Bilstien What about Monroe or KYB ? Any Thought!!! Thanks Richard

Do a search on this site for Bilstein shocks. There's a lot of posts, most of which are favorable

There was a shock test done recently in either MotorHome, or FMCA magazine recently & I will try to find it & copy it too you. Do you get either of these?
Tere

Richard, Upgrading to Bilsteins from worn-out Monroes was my first project....Six years and 25k miles later, I'm still very pleased...One of my better investments. Older P-32's need to have top-rear shock mounts reinforced (basically a weld bead around stud). Printed instructions for this mod came in the box, plus my installer had a been-there-done-that familiarity with the issue. I've read some Bil-Bashing on other RV sites over the years, but have never personally experienced those issues (harsh ride, rebound, etc).
Then again, I installed Firestone load-leveler airbags on the rear at the same time as the shock-swap, so
maybe they mask or correct some of the perceived problems by others. At one time, an RV assembler used to advertise Bilsteins on Ebay with less than 100 miles on them. Apparantly, chassis came from Workhorse that way and were swapped-out for Konis at the coach plant. Ya lose the lifetime warranty 'cause they're "used" shocks, but the price was unbeatable. That's the route I took.....worked out fine for me.

I found the article & will email it to you. If anyone wants a copy I will PM it to you but due to copyright issues I won't post here.

MotorHome May 2009 issue "TESTING AFTERMARKET SHOCK ABSORBERS"

Bilstein fan here.

The MH before this one was a typical P30, with the lighter chassis with 16 inch wheels. It handled horribly. Bilsteins all the way around and a Bilstein steering damper made it much more stable. I did not notice any difference in ride.

Present Barth got Bilsteins as soon as I got it home. Not as big an improvement, as it was a heavier chassis and had a tag axle, but they still helped.

Our pickup is a Chevy 2500HD, the high GVW version, with really stiff suspension. Changing to Bilsteins improved the ride tremendously, especially when empty. They took most of the jar out of bad road driving. Actually, almost any road that was not newly surfaced felt bad before.

I put Bilsteins on a heavy tow car. The suspension was beefed up pretty well. A few years later, being a fiddler, I went to Konis because they are adjustable. I saw little, if any improvement. Even the adjustability seemed to be of little benefit, unlike my positive experiences with Koni on lighter cars. In fairness to Koni, one does not drive a big sedan with a heavy boat behind at shock-testing speeds.

The lifetime warranty is pretty neat, too.

BTW we just put bilsteins on ours & are very satisfied.
Tere

I went with Bilsteins and a Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer up front.

On the back, I went with the Firestone air-bags, primarily because my rear was sagging. ;-)

For rear shocks, I went with Gabriel gas shocks, for reasons of economy, and then not having to worry about the welding needed to be done to work with the Bilsteins.

All of the above items were found on Ebay, and at times I'd wait to find the price I'd wanted.

Happy Motoring!
Matt

my ride is grate 90 lbs in tires and air bags over front springs for me are the
'bees knees" if you saw a certain commercial ,I like what I have Bilstine shocks and Stear stabilizer.they are 8 years old and have 40,000 miles on them
lenny