Shocks for better towing

[mstaglia]

I towed my new Cougar TT from FL to NH. I felt we got a lot of bounce on the terrible road RT 95. I tow with a new 2015 Silverado crew cab 1500.
Has anyone used after market shocks to reduce the bounce on lousey roads? I have an equalizer weight distributing hitch that works well.
On Rt 81 we had good road surfaces and no bounce.
Any suggestions?

[SmokeyWren]

I don't know about GM, but Ford OEM stock shocks are not bad. But they're not as good as they make. Back when I had an F-250 towing a small 5er I replaced the stock shocks with Bistein for OEM stock suspension at about 25,000 miles. Recently I replaced the OEM shocks on my F-150 that tows a smaller TT with Bistein for OEM stock suspension, which are now B6-4600. The stock shocks on the F-150 had over 50,000 miles on them, and still worked almost as good as new.

BILSTEIN B6 4600

I don't notice a lot of difference towing with either the F-250 diesel or the F-150 EcoBoost, but the better shocks take the flutter out of the suspension on less-than-perfect highways. I doubt different shocks would help much with trailer hitch bounce. With a properly-loaded trailer, either TT or 5er, I don't get trailer bounce that the shocks on the tow vehicle could help with.

If you have lifted suspension, then the correct Bilstein is probably the 5100 series that are adjustable for height.

I ordered my shocks from Shockwarehouse.com and they gave me a good price.

[coldfusion]

Air bags make a huge difference for the bounce on my Ram

[MagnaPilot]

How close are your rear springs to sitting on the overload (flat) spring of the spring pack?

My Silverado had a similar issue, even with new shocks. Even though my tongue weight was within tolerance, it was on the high end (850-900 lbs). The truck really isn't built to ride long term at that weight. I ended up adding a leaf spring to the spring pack, air bags work quite well too. Just make sure you're no over your payload and tongue weight maximum.

[MtnTrek]

Granted there are terrible roads everywhere. Are you hitting the jounce bumpers frequently?
I'd be inclined to wonder what your actual loaded for travel weights are. $10 at a CAT scale will let you know where you're at. Shocks, bags, there really isn't a cure to improve being overloaded.


Best of luck.

[lynnmor]

Put shocks on the trailer.

I replaced my F250 shocks with Bilstein 4600's and sharp bumps actually got worse. For me, some conditions showed improvement and others got worse.

[Bamaman]

I put Bilsteins on my F250 after 40K on the OEM shocks @ $75ish each.

At 115K miles, they were worn out but I didn't want to put out the big bucks again.

I ordered the best and most HD Monroe shocks from RockAuto.com for something like $25 each. I honestly don't know how they can sell some parts so cheap--like shocks. And they had a couple of dozen brand/models of shocks in stock.

The performance of my new Monroe's feel about the same as the Bilsteins to me.

[Cumminsfan]

I had 5100s on my 12 Ram 2500 for 35,000. The rears were starting to fade a little. I switched to KYB Mono shocks. IMO much better than the 5100s.

[dexters]

Originally Posted by mstaglia

I towed my new Cougar TT from FL to NH. I felt we got a lot of bounce on the terrible road RT 95. I tow with a new 2015 Silverado crew cab 1500.
Has anyone used after market shocks to reduce the bounce on lousey roads? I have an equalizer weight distributing hitch that works well.
On Rt 81 we had good road surfaces and no bounce.
Any suggestions?

I think people here need more info before you go to shocks:
What is your travel trailer?
How much weight was in the TT?
What was the cold inflation PSI on your Silverado tires?

[drewtk]

Unless your shocks are blown, which they shouldn't be on a new truck, I don't think replacing them will help at all. Sometimes a crappy road is just a crappy road, and trucks are simply not going to boulevard cruising smooth.