Community Forums

petrel · 03-29-2022, 09:05 AM

I consider myself fairly diligent about periodic and preventive maintenance. Oil, filters, lube, tires, mechanical inspections, roof inspection, etc. It never occurred to me to check the shock absorbers!

My TC is an '05 chassis with 122,000 miles. It was starting to feel as though the rig was a little top heavy on rough secondary roads. New shocks really made a difference. Back to feeling like we're going down the road, even back roads, on rails again.

I guess the original shocks deteriorated gradually, so I just became accustomed to the new driving characteristics. I won't make that mistake again.

Most of you are probably smarter about shocks than me. However, if anyone omitted this maintenance item too, you may wish to add it to your list.

Bob86ZZ4 · 03-29-2022, 12:53 PM

What shocks did you get? I replaced mine several years ago with Road King shocks. They were extremely expensive but all the truckers seemed to agree they are the best. And they are supposed to be rebuildable. Now I find out they have gone out of business. I wonder if a hydraulic jack repair place could rebuild them? I agree with you though. New shocks make a huge difference. And these big truck shocks seem to wear out rather quickly.

petrel · 03-30-2022, 07:30 AM

I wanted Bilstein shocks. Unfortunately, they do not make one for my truck. Ended up with Gabriel SLX adjustable shocks. They have three firmness settings. I had them set to the middle setting.

The Gabriels get spotty-bad reviews on Amazon, but they are held in pretty high regard over on the trucking forums. I guess we'll see how they hold up.

Also on the trucking forums I learned that many owner operators regard shocks as an annual maintenance item. Granted, seldom does an RV cover the miles that an OTR rig will, but I just thought heavy duty semi-truck shocks would be a little more durable.

I see a shop or two on the internet advertising that they rebuild racing shocks. Maybe one of them could rebuild your Road Kings.