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Baraff - I only have 36k on my Phoenix Cruiser and the shocks were not worn out. My complaint was, when we did get the time to travel it felt like the tires were made of solid steel with no suspension (gross exaggeration I know. I was looking for description LOL!). I like to do the as much of my own work as I feel qualified to do so I changed the shocks and I am in the process of the UltraTrac bar replacement. Not sure I will tackle projects this big again as at 59 years of age, between the temperatures hovering at 104 every day, knees that sound like fireworks every time I stand up, and me, well, I just don't roll around on the concrete as easy as I thought I could. <sheepish smile> The big difference in original shocks and Koni's and seeing it with my own eyes, was how extremely hard the original shocks were to collapse versus the Koni. No wonder the ride was so harsh! I asked Jon about Bilstein (much cheaper) and what I came away with was Bilstein makes really great shocks but that Koni was the only one designed specifically for motor homes. I think I am going to love driving this thing when I get it done as I did get to take it for a drive after I got the shocks replaced. Nice! On the installation, well, I didn't quite learn my lesson on the shocks so I am now installing the trac bar. Well, lets just say I will have a mechanic do all this work next time.
One other thing I really wanted to get was the their Ultrapower upgrade. Jon told me the amount of HP, torque and fuel economy it added. The V-10 already has lots of power so that was not a concern but what did get my attention was the program holds the transmission in overdrive a little longer to avoid the never ending shift downs on small hills taking the engine from 2100 rpm up to a screaming 3500 to 4,000 rpm and continued screaming all the way up a small hill. I really dislike that. If I am driving in any hills I take it off cruise and feather the throttle with my foot to avoid the screaming downshift that send the rpm's into the stratosphere. I thought I had a problem with the transmission until I read where many other posters have that same problem with the stock tune on Ford's.
@Wa8yxm - I sure hope it makes a difference. This trac bar looks so simple and is turning out to be such a puzzle to me on how it is installed. I finally called Alan Sanders from Brazel and he sent me a picture of one installed on an E350. I now see where I went wrong. It also doesn't help the instructions are for the professional and vague at best for the novice which is another reason to leave this kind of work to the man that does this for a living. I will simply give the keys to the professional, pay the price and pick it back up later with a lot less body aches and no barked up knuckles or ears bleeding from dropping tools I drop in my face while looking up. Nope, not again.
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Counting down the days until our next great adventure!
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Much better ride. I called and talked to him about the harsh ride and the problem with Semi's blowing me around and cross winds. Needless to say I also have coming from Jon an UltraTrac rear stabilizer. I hope it works as well as the shocks did. Thanks Jon!!
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