Anyone have any experience with ride king shocks?

[allan5oh]

Anyone? Seem awful expensive but I'm prepared to pay it for a better riding truck.

[Maniac]

I've run them, along with Monroe and Gabriel, couldn't tell the difference.

"Ride" is anyone and everyone's interpretation, 10 different people can ride in a truck, and you will 10 different answers.

I wouldn't spend more than I have to, this way if you are disappointed at least you didn't spend a whole lot.

After 30 some years my rear end can't really tell anymore, kind of like asking if the clutch is hard to step on.

My KW rides real nice, however you may ride in it and think otherwise, by the way, every time I replace my drive tires I replace shocks, set on there now is Monroe.

And don't take this the wrong way, but its a truck, it ain't supposed to ride like a car, and it never will.

[allan5oh]

Yeah but these Volvo OEM shocks lasted a whole 7-8 months. They now have major oil seepage.

[Maniac]

Yeah but these Volvo OEM shocks lasted a whole 7-8 months. They now have major oil seepage.



I know the KW shocks are made by Gabriel, someone has to make the Volvo shock also, not many shock manufacturers left.

[solo379]

I've replaced my KW "Leveler" at 250,000 only cause i thought it is enough. They all were in a good working order. I put in a front something(don't remember the name) made by Gabriel, specifically for KW steer axle.
It has a 300,000 miles warranty, and comes with polyurethane bushings. I can't justify, spending $1800 for shocks....

[Maniac]

I can't justify, spending $1800 for shocks...



Me neither !, spent just a little over 50 bucks apiece for the Monroes's

[Bobby]

I've replaced my KW "Leveler" at 250,000 only cause i thought it is enough. They all were in a good working order. I put in a front something(don't remember the name) made by Gabriel, specifically for KW steer axle.
It has a 300,000 miles warranty, and comes with polyurethane bushings. I can't justify, spending $1800 for shocks....



I did about the same thing on my KW at about 220K and the old original shocks looked good still, no leaks and still hard to pull.

I put the Leveler ( black in color ) on the rear and I forget if the fronts were Leveler but their blue in color, and I think they were a gas shock in front ?

The ride was better after replacement, a bit firmer over high speed woop tee doo's. I carry my loads right on the truck being a dump truck.

Overall the ride is better than alot of new pick up trucks I've been in.

This is an 01 KW with 8 bag air ride and a 235 wheel base.

[Musicman]

Anyone? Seem awful expensive but I'm prepared to pay it for a better riding truck.

I had them on all three axles of my last truck (the one that was stolen). After it was recovered, I was able to pull the steer axle shocks off and put them on my new truck before I sold it. I would’ve swapped the drives but the trucks have different suspensions and therefore the shocks were incompatible with the new truck.

They are not just expensive shocks; they are really freaking expensive shocks. There is an ROI in that they last a minimum of 400k miles and then can be sent back to the factory for a rebuild for something like $75 each. They do reduce tire hop dramatically… with nearly 5000 lbs of damping force you would expect as much. I know my tires run a bit cooler than with stock shocks and I get great life out of all my tires, but some of that could be due to my driving habits, running Centramatics, and my fanaticism for proper axle alignment.

I will also say that if you know anything about machine work, when you see them you have to admit that their construction is a thing of beauty. They take a solid stainless steel rod and bore it out to make the cylinder. The things must weight 20 – 30 lbs each.

I really don’t know if I’d spend that much money on shocks again, to be honest with you – at least I haven’t purchased them for my drive axles yet and I’ve had my new truck for a year. I think they do improve the ride a bit, and it is nice to not have to worry about shocks for 400k miles at a time… but man it’s a pile of money to spend on shocks.

[Bandit102]

You mean that people actually replace shocks?

I did on the Classic I suppose at around 600,000. Maybe its time again, now at 1.3 million?

[Musicman]

You mean that people actually replace shocks?

I did on the Classic I suppose at around 600,000. Maybe its time again, now at 1.3 million?

Surely you're joking. The stock shocks on bigtrucks are essentially identical in construction (and damping power and durability) as shocks that would come standard on a pickup truck, which are designed to last for 50k to 100k miles. I've never replaced my truck shocks that often, but they just aren't designed to go for 100s of thousands of miles.

Let me guess, you also replace your fuel filter every 100k miles whether it needs it or not?

[Bandit102]

I'm dead serious. Shocks, unless they have oil all over them, are just not something I've really considered replacing. The truck rides just fine...I think. I may go ahead and replace them - I might be in for a big surprise!

I'm very particular about my maintenance...follow a strict schedule. But, shocks are something I just don't think about much!

[heavyhaulerss]

I know the KW shocks are made by Gabriel, someone has to make the Volvo shock also, not many shock manufacturers left.

o.e.m. parts are not always better. I know for a fact.

[no_worries]

A friend of mine is big into off-road racing and has spend a lot of time setting up shocks and suspension for their cars. We talked for quite awhile about the mechanics and physics of the issue and I decided to try them out on my steer axle. What I found was that they did reduce front end hopping noticeably and my steers do run cooler. However, overall ride is not drastically different and they didn't affect my tire life at all. I got 200,000 out of my steers before and after the switch and had almost identical tread depth left. The one unknown is impact on lifetime wear and tear of front end components. However, that's usually not a huge concern for most operations anyway.

My opinion, they're certainly a superior shock, but unless you're running in severe conditions I doubt you'll see a ROI and the improvement in comfort is too small to justify the cost.

[INKTOXICATED]

my company leases there trucks from penski our trucks have like 250-500 k miles on em. mine has about 310. 50k lb loads all day long over lovely nyc roads. these things get beat up good.steer like **** ride like **** shift like ****. There are some trucks in our fleet im scared to drive they veer so hard. replacing shocks is nowhere in the gameplan.i wrote up my truck for a rough ride around 240k miles. got it back from PM with the same old rusted up shocks. they did hook me up with a squirt of 5th wheel greese tho .sweet. its all about the mighty dollar, and they dont want to spend one cent more then they need to. i try to keep my truck clean and as in good shape as possbile. i write lots of stuff up, to bad im just wasting ink in my pen, cuz nothing gets fixed. ive adapted to driving the truck and dont expect any luxuries.