Road King Shocks

I paid $1800.00 for 6 Road King Shocks in May of 2011. First off they didn't send the shocks until a week after I ordered them because they kept claiming they were backed up in the warehouse. Then they claimed that UPS lost the shocks. This is an excuse that I have heard from unscrupulous vendors who try to cover up issues with the manufacturer. After finally receiving them I paid $200.00 to have them installed. Now I am up to $2000.00 for my new shocks.

After about a month and 15,000 miles of regular OTR use the plastic "wipers" that seal the shock shaft from debris came loose and worked its way up the shaft on all 6 of the shocks. Not knowing that these plastic wipers were pressed in at the factory and not supposed to come out (because I have never had these types of shocks on anything I have owned) I pushed them back into the shocks with my hands.

The "wipers" repeatedly came out several more times in the following months and by 100,000 miles all 6 shocks were leaking. I had to remove the shocks and send them back in. I was told that I would be waiting 2 weeks to get the shocks back from the time I shipped them. Going off of how long it took to get them originally, their credibility with me is nil. I will most likely have to install stock shocks in order to get the truck back on the road.

Road King makes a shock that absorbs a lot of shock, but the process they have for shipping orders is bad and the quality of the manufacturing process is also bad. I will report back on here when I know how their inspection and repair process is.

 

Shocks always are more difficult than they appear. Usually the bolts are rusted on and have to be torched off. The thing about the King Shocks is that they can't be compressed by hand like every single other brand of shock out there. At least they provide some really good dampening like they advertise. These shocks absolutely reduce shock to the truck resulting in less damages from constant pounding from the road. Unfortunately, the manufacturing and customer service is lacking.

The front shocks required that the frame be jacked up to get the shocks into place and the rear shocks were easiest because the air ride was easily adjusted by using the leveling valve. Otherwise King didn't ship the proper bushings so I had to get the right ones from a hardware supply.

If you were to order these, expect to receive them late, without all the parts needed, and then be hassled on the phone when you complain. Also expect to remove them 300,000 miles ahead of the scheduled removal date for rebuild. For what you pay for these, they should be kissing your #####. Not hassling you from the get go.

As usual with some vendors like this, they are very good at taking your money, but after that, forget it. I am fair though, they have an opportunity to make it up, but I doubt they really care to do that.