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I finally installed my new Monroe gas magnum shocks I ordered last year from shock warehouse. all I can say is WOW!! My fronts were evidently replaced before as they were rusted up Gabriel's. The rears were unidentifiable. Both front and rear were completely shot. I took her out for a road test and it was much better. When passed by big rigs I wasn't shaking side to side as before. Anyhow if you don't like the way your rig rides get those shocks replaced!!

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That's great! I'm adding a leaf to each side and putting new shocks on front and back. I'm glad to hear it stopped your side to side swaying because that's one of the issues with mine.

It didn't stop it completely but it is way better!!!

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JC Whitney. If I was more motivated I would have gone to a junkyard and pulled a couple leaves for probably a lot cheaper...

But these are nice, new, and have a lot of arch, so they'll probably even give me a slight lift. One of these weekends I'll get around do putting them in and I'll let you know how it goes. I've just been spraying PB Blaster on all the nuts for the last month.

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Zach,

Where did you get the extra leaves for your springs? I need to do the same thing.

John

I got extra leaves by going to a trucker's spring fabrication shop. They added the leaves, replaced center and U-bolts, and put in new bushings.

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aftermarket swaybar kit will effectively kill the side to side and make your rig super stable at all speeds. best $170 i spent; better impact to ride quality than even the new bilstein shocks i put in.

Got my swaybar kit from amazon; and had it installed in less than an our using nothing other than a socket set and torque wrench

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  • 1 month later...

I just drove my Chinook for the first time since a suspension upgrade...new front coils and front springs, and added a leaf to each side of the rear.

OMG. Is all I can say. I'll see how it settles in, but the thing is no longer a low rider, takes bumps, and half the rattles I had before are gone, because of how much less every little bump is shaking it. So far, the side to side sway is gone.

The real test of the sway will be when I get it out on the highway, but I can say that as far as around town driving, this is a completely different vehicle than it was a couple days ago.

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Would somone like to describe how a blown shock drives and takes bumps?

i'm not sure if my shocks are out but i feel as though the shocks should absorb more than now.

any sure way of knowing? sometimes when i go through a dip on the hwy, it feels like there nothing between the chassis and the wheels.

thanks

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is it swaying a lot hard to control on a winding road bouncing up and down my 78 was like it was doing pushups over bumps floped up and down all shocks were junk . from what i have seen shocks seem to be one of the most negletd safty things there is . i have driven old cars that were so bad you could hardly keep them on the road in a strait line. i keep good shocks on my stuff. look for oil leaking out a shure sighn they are junk

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I have only bought one brand new car in my life; all others were used with at least 70k on them. Now I will give my two cents worth on shocks:

EVERY car I have ever bought used had dead shocks...except one.

The first thing i do when i buy a vehicle is brakes and shocks; with careful attention to control arms and tie rod (ends). to hell with everything else that's what counts in a pinch.

Back to the one vehicle that I bought that didnt need shocks;a 1998 mercedes e300td; I bought Bilsteins for it thinking it would need them. low and behold the factory original (also made by bilstein) shocks had like 90% life in them if not perfect; there was almost no discernible compression difference from old to new.

Now I will say my original Toyota shocks in my celica and sunrader were so junk that they made a slurping noise and have virtually no resistance when compressed; the Bilsteins however not only compressed very firmly they pushed back and were VERY hard to compress. I slapped bilsteins in my older VW and they were the only thing still good when that thing was killed by a tree. tree pancaked the car totalled it; shocks still worked great and had perfect pressure.

On my godforesaken buick i used monroes and its eaten a set and needs a new set.. if i didnt hate that car so much i would try to find bilsteins for it too.

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My Sunrader came with KYB shocks on it over nine years ago and they are just starting to feel like they need to be replaced. They could be much older. I had Monroe's put on my Explorer 4 years ago and they are shot. Never will buy Monroe's again for anything. Junk

Linda S

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  • 7 months later...

Would somone like to describe how a blown shock drives and takes bumps?

i'm not sure if my shocks are out but i feel as though the shocks should absorb more than now.

any sure way of knowing? sometimes when i go through a dip on the hwy, it feels like there nothing between the chassis and the wheels.

thanks

The most common test on cars and light trucks is to jump on the bumper or push down on it really hard and see how much it bounces. If it takes more than about 1 second or 2 bounces to settle then your shocks are probably bad. As for a MH I would think something similar could be used. Try jumping on the bumpers and bounce them, then jump off and see how much bounce they have after that. The issue with highway bumps may be low psi in your airbags or your leaf springs. my 2cents

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The easist check is the bumper bounce test, next is just remove a rear shock and see how stiff it is.
Worn suspension bushings can make a toyota handle very bad too.

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It is very rare to buy a used vehicle th at doesnt have shocks that are worn.

Almost no one getting rid of a vehicle wants to invest like that.

The exception is a sports car they will actually have new shocks but nothing else sometimes.

Mine has bilstein hds that are not new but not oe so they probably have 30k miles on them.

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Darn, now I wish I had kept the sway bars that were on the donor Sunrader I sold.

Has anyone figured out a way to be automatically notified when a merchant is having a sale on Bilstein shocks? Or is there a merchant that sells them that typically has the best prices? I would install them myself.

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