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Posts: 791
Location: North Central IL USA | I'll post this here because it involves the tow vehicle...
Lately I'm hearing you should change your shocks every 50K. Anyone do this or is this BS? I got 160K on my origionals. Wondering if I should put on new ones???? |
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Posts: 2361
| LOL, I had 189.000 on my pickup, no new shocks.
I think it is something to consider if you are loading them heavily, but most pickups are NOT loaded heavily, for many miles.
I don't know anybody farm, work, or street, that actually does this. Maybe give your truck a birthday present at 200K? |
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Posts: 1462
Location: Davenport, IA | I replaced one on my last truck because the bushing was bad and therefore making a lot of noise. I tried to undo the bolts which were a little rusty and broke them off. I had to cut a hole through the floor to heat up the studs and pull them out. I wouldn't suggest changing shocks. |
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Posts: 393
Location: Hopefully on the water | Easy way to tell if you need new shocks is by driving down the road. If you hit a bump and the thruck feels like it keeps bouncing or hopping then it is time for new shocks. I have never had to replace the shocks yet on any of my vehicles. I did change the leaf springs on the last truck to 3/4 ton leaf springs but didn't see any major difference with handling or performance. |
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Posts: 133
Location: BLOOMINGTON,IL | Funny you ask - I just did my yesterday. Just felt like I wasnt getting that smooth of a ride anymore. My truck has 127,000 and those were the orginals.
Also, Sears has free install and Monroe has a buy 3 get one free special. Saved quite a bit of money. |
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Posts: 717
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | "They" say you have to do it every 50k. "They" also say you have to change your oil every 3k. But look in your manual for oil changes. It probably says 5-8k per oil change for the man. specs. There really isn't a set amount of miles when you should change your shocks. Like twells said, it's all in how the vehicle bounces. If you push down on the bumper, it should rebound up, maybe go down 1/4 of the way, come back up, and stop. And you should have to put some real force into pushing it down if it's a truck. |
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Posts: 107
Location: milwaukee | Wow, in contrast, I've never had a vehicle that didn't have handling going away with 30k on shocks. Usually they are totally useless at 50k. I say change them on the recommended schedule or earlier...
...unless you buy Bilsteins. You will never have to change them again. Warrantied for life and built that way. 120k on mine.
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | One way I could tell on my '96 Chevy is when I'd go around a corner and the truck would start to dip on the outside and sway back and dip again instead of just staying level. If I got 30K on the shocks it was a lot. You could tell by trailering the boat too. It would start to wander back and forth more when the shocks were going. Once they were changed the boat stayed in line again. You would never say the shocks on my truck were bad from pushing down and letting the vehicle bounce back up, but the trailering was a dead giveaway. |
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Posts: 8818
| Worked on cars for many years. Jump down on the bumper. Your truck should spring back up and stop. If it keeps on bouncing, they're bad. Also look at the bushings, like someone else mentioned, or for any sign of leaks. If none of the above are present, drive it. It's a pretty simple job, provided that you don't have to deal with breaking bolts, heads rusted off, etc. If you enjoy changing them, buy cheap shocks. If you do NOT enjoy changiong them, buy the best shocks you can fine, and they'll probably outlast your truck. |
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Posts: 148
Location: Northwest Wi. | I think that if you want to change shocks, The biggest thing to do USE some kind of brake-free type of spray before you remove anything..at least the night before. |
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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | Just changed mine on my truck and it made a huge difference. 100,000 miles on a Ford f350. Put Bilstein 5100's on it and haven't looked back. Like the post above stated, buy a set of Bilsteins and foget about them. I knew mine were bad as they were leaking a little and you needed to schedule a chiro visit after towing anything. They were not the factory shocks either, so this is the third set that has been on the truck. Maybe some vehicles are just naturally rougher on the shocks than others? I say if you worry about them, just change em. |
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