Road King Shocks a rip off!!

With the bad reviews and good, I'm glad to hear because I've always wondered about them. I dont think ill ever bother with them. Our roads take a such a beating in winter and are generally in garbage shape most of the time; I can hardly feel the difference with a set of blown shocks vs new.

Not happy with Monroe junk, on latest set only 4 or 5 months in and all dust shields were hanging because the welds were cracked and rotted, 2 were shot, a couple bushings near missing, and they screamed "pull me in." Well see if they warranty them.

Just went with a set of Hendrickson hi torque a month or so ago (made by Sachs or ??) and am happy this far, the ride seems a bit better than with the previous ones. I dont know much about them, other than that they require something like 2000 lbs of force to extend past a certain point which to me makes sense for my truck. Call me crazy, but I don't think shocks on a big truck do all that much anyways..... either way, Im satisfied with my tire and other wear back there. If these last a year I'll be happy, at about 30$ more a shock over the yellow ones its not a big deal.

 

Have to agree with sirjeff. Ran two sets of Monroe and a set of Gabriel at the cab. I wasn't impressed by either one and went back to OEM.

If the Hendricksons are made by Sachs, you can't go wrong. I might give them a try next time but they are not so easy to get.

 

Where is a good place to buy Sachs shocks? Found the part numbers I need on there web sight but couldn't find them anywhere

 

Even after all the negative responses about Road King shocks I'm actually still on the fence about trying them.
Most of the negativity has been about the longevity of the shocks (2 years or 3 years etc) my main concern is the IMPROVEMENT of the RIDE these shocks are supposed to give. I do OVERSIZE and Heavy Haul loads and I'm considering purchasing these shocks for a (4) Heavy Haul truck I'm currently building. I've tried yellow Monroe's and Blue and black Gabriel's and in my opinion they are ALL garbage and realistically perform at their best only about 6 months (which their OWN literature says their shocks should be replaced at 50,000 miles) but most drivers replace them at 100,000 miles and even more only replace them only after their shocks start leaking or their tire wear becomes HORRIBLE.

Again ....I want to know about the improved RIDE that these shocks are supposed to give you??
If the #### things only last a freaking year and had to be rebuilt at $200 a shock ....I figured it would cost me $4.50 per day for those shocks (rebuild cost) and I would GLADLY pay $4.50 a freaking day for shocks IF and only IF they rode ALOT better then Monroe's or Gabriel's.
Also I believe that the driver who gave a positive review on his Road King shock experience was referring to hi CAB shocks when he was talking about stability in the wind etc.

So the bottom line is do you, me or anyone else want to spend the money to take a chance to learn what your PERSONAL experience will be?? Like I said I'm still on the fence .....but I can say EACH individuals experience will vary from the kind of truck, to the kind of trailer you pull, to the weight you haul and even the amount of off road to pavement to amount of city driving compared to interstate driving.
Look at how many of you gave Monroe and Gabriel shocks GREAT reviews and recommend them and I personally think their #### and wouldn't recommend putting them on ANYTHING so personal preference varies.

 

Sorry to be a downer but it is my belief that shock absorbers are possibly the most overated aspect of ride quality. The purpose of shock absobers is simply to keep the vehicle from continuing to bounce up and down AFTER the vehicle goes over bumps or into pot holes. This is just is not a very big crutial element of heavy duty commercial trucks , moving slowly and being weighed down by LARGE HEAVY freight. What Porsche , Ferrari , corvette does is NOT what we do. I think a lot of people that think "this technology is used in racing !!" Is really bad logic ,, bad logic just as "if only truck drivers would stick together".

Improved ride ?

I could not tell any difference from regular worn out shocks and these super duper amazing really heavy really cool hip in style shocks. I could not tell any difference in the ride at all. But ... i did think they looked very very sharp and beautiful.

 

I priced those RK shocks and about fell over. I'll stick with changing out the Monroes every 18 months.

 

If shocks do not increase ride quality, what does? It seems to me if you have cheap shocks that suck, you hit a bump and since itsi cheap and stiff the wheel bounces and the shock doesn't compress as smooth or as much as you'd like then the truck is going to bounce harder yes it's not going to continue to bounce with new shocks but the initial bounce will be much more rough. So if you get high quality well designed shocks, when it takes a bounce it won't be such a jolt. That's just how i always thought of shocks but I'm no expert. If shocks don't help there must be something else we can focus on to improve the ride.

 

If you want a better ride, buy 11R tires and adjust the air bag suspension. Shocks help with rebound, not whether you have a stiff ride or not. With that being by said, I noticed a difference between worn out Gabriel's and new ones. The new ones had a stiffer feel when hitting potholes.

 

What do you adjust on the airbags?

 

It'll give a harder or softer ride. Just keep in mind you need to keep them within spec otherwise if the change is to drastic you run the risk of having your driveshaft out of angle. Then things start breaking, but an inch or so adjustment on the leveling arm shouldn't do much harm.