Looking to replace shocks

[bigred90gt]

Yeah, I think I paid $170 for all 4 of the KYBs.

 

[Yarek]

I paid $310 for a set of 4 Billstein shocks for my 2500. The ride is very smooth and the truck behaves almost like a small car on windy mountain roads, despite its weight, length and heigh

 

[bigred90gt]

I paid $310 for a set of 4 Billstein shocks for my 2500. The ride is very smooth and the truck behaves almost like a small car on windy mountain roads, despite its weight, length and heigh

I think if I lived somewhere where I had windy roads or had a 4x4 and did any kind of off-roading, I’d be looking much harder at the Bilsteins. As it is, I live in the Houston area where our roads are basically straight and flat, and it’s 2wd pavement truck.

 

[JS4024]

With the high mileage and age on your truck buy the cheapest shocks you can get. Why throw money away? Shocks and the “differences” in brands are totally over blown. A shock is a shock unless you are hammering your truck off road and if so the shocks are the least of your worrys. I laugh at folks on here selling snake oil and tuners and suspension upgrades for a truck that is half dead.... you will get 0 more on your trade by wasting money on expensive “shocks”....

 

[bigred90gt]

With the high mileage and age on your truck buy the cheapest shocks you can get. Why throw money away? Shocks and the “differences” in brands are totally over blown. A shock is a shock unless you are hammering your truck off road and if so the shocks are the least of your worrys. I laugh at folks on here selling snake oil and tuners and suspension upgrades for a truck that is half dead.... you will get 0 more on your trade by wasting money on expensive “shocks”....

It’s only 3 years old, and while the mileage may be high for its age, it’s not really that high. I do plan to keep it for a while, so I don’t consider it throwing money away. I’d guess I’ll get another 3 years out of it, though I doubt I’ll double the mileage since I’m not traveling for work anymore.

that being said, I did get some pretty inexpensive shocks, so I’m good with my decision.

 

[kurek]

I'm sitting at 72,000 miles in my 2017

With the high mileage and age on your truck .............. a truck that is half dead....

That's certainly an interesting way to look at it?

 

[bigred90gt]

Verdict is in: well worth the cost and effort. Feels like a new truck. I didn’t realize just how had the OEM shocks had gotten, but it is night and day different. Reminds me again why I bought this truck in the first place. I haven’t done a ton of stuff to this particular truck, but that was by far the best $170 I’ve spent on it and it’s not even close.

took around 1.5 hours for all 4, and that included removing all 4 tires and the wheel well liners completely on the back. I will say, I would like to find the engineer that designed the top rear shock mount and beat his teeth down his neck. I had to cut a perfectly good 13/16” wrench (thankfully I’ve accumulated several of them over the years). And trying to squeeze my big hands back there on the drivers side was like playing Tetris and trying your best not to drop the pieces.

 

[kurek]

took around 1.5 hours for all 4, and that included removing all 4 tires and the wheel well liners completely on the back. I will say, I would like to find the engineer that designed the top rear shock mount and beat his teeth down his neck. I had to cut a perfectly good 13/16” wrench (thankfully I’ve accumulated several of them over the years). And trying to squeeze my big hands back there on the drivers side was like playing Tetris and trying your best not to drop the pieces.

Deed's done of course so it's too late but.. Thuren sells a solution to this exact problem and while it's not free exactly it is priced in the realm of being reasonable, considering what a pain in the dingus those nuts are. https://www.thurenfabrication.com/09-18-1500-shock-nut-set.html

 

[bigred90gt]

I know, I read about it and considered buying a set, but they have a “Covid shipping delay” notification and I didn’t want to have to sit around waiting for it. I had a sacrificial wrench, so it worked out. Thanks though, it may help someone else looking for info.

I even emailed them to check and make sure they had the kit in stock. They do, but they completely glossed over the question of how long it will take to ship. Since they have that disclaimer on their site, and wouldn’t answer, I decided against it.

 

[fijicorey]

Verdict is in: well worth the cost and effort. Feels like a new truck. I didn’t realize just how had the OEM shocks had gotten, but it is night and day different. Reminds me again why I bought this truck in the first place. I haven’t done a ton of stuff to this particular truck, but that was by far the best $170 I’ve spent on it and it’s not even close.

took around 1.5 hours for all 4, and that included removing all 4 tires and the wheel well liners completely on the back. I will say, I would like to find the engineer that designed the top rear shock mount and beat his teeth down his neck. I had to cut a perfectly good 13/16” wrench (thankfully I’ve accumulated several of them over the years). And trying to squeeze my big hands back there on the drivers side was like playing Tetris and trying your best not to drop the pieces.

Thanks for the update and sticking with an OEM replacement rather than going HD or high performance on the shocks. I'll be doing the same thing shortly.

 

[bigred90gt]

Now I just need to wear my e rated ridge grapplers out so I can go back to regular tires. I’ve got almost 50k miles on them and still have 1/4” of tread left.

 

[fijicorey]

Now I just need to wear my e rated ridge grapplers out so I can go back to regular tires. I’ve got almost 50k miles on them and still have 1/4” of tread left.

I just replaced all four shocks with the KYB excel shocks and man what a difference. Gone is my choppy and unsettled ride. I only have 66k on my truck. I thought my A/T tires were causing the rough ride but they're P rated so I figured something else was wrong.

I did buy the thuren fabrication nut set, it definitely helped. I would say it's a worthy buy.

I do want to point out that the bushings on the stock shocks are beefier than the KYBs. Not sure if that matters, just something I noticed.

 

[bigred90gt]

I just replaced all four shocks with the KYB excel shocks and man what a difference. Gone is my choppy and unsettled ride. I only have 66k on my truck. I thought my A/T tires were causing the rough ride but they're P rated so I figured something else was wrong.

I did buy the thuren fabrication nut set, it definitely helped. I would say it's a worthy buy.

I do want to point out that the bushings on the stock shocks are beefier than the KYBs. Not sure if that matters, just something I noticed.

I assumed it was my tires as well, especially since they’re e rated. And while I can still feel the stiffness of the tire, it is a night and day difference.

 

[2010 Infantry Vet]

Depends on your price range. I will be using Icon adj compression remote reservoir shocks. $490 each, but the best there is.
That way you can adjust the compression for a softer/harder ride.

 

[Chowzer]

I'm sitting at 72,000 miles in my 2017 1500 2wd and thinking I probably need to replace my OEM shocks. It's riding pretty rough, and I have attributed it to the E rated Nitto Ridge Grapplers, but I think it is more related to the shocks as I dont recall it being this bad when I had the tires installed at 25000 miles. It has been such a gradual change, I haven't really thought about it until recently.

I am looking at Bilstein 4600 or KYB Gas-A-Just. I know Bilstein is popular among the offroad crowd, but this is a 2wd and 99% of it's life is on the pavement. In the 3.5 years I've had this truck, I've had a trailer hitched to it twice, so towing isn't really a factor either. I'm looking for the best ride I can get out of it for not a lot of money. The OEM ride is what sold me on the truck over the competition, and I'd like it to be similar. I prefer smooth, but not necessarily spongy if that makes sense. I dont really want it any firmer than the OEM ride. Does anyone have experience with both of the above mentioned shocks? The KYB shocks are around $100 cheaper to do all 4 corners. While it's not a huge difference, it is 150% more for the bilsteins. I'm just wondering if it is worth the extra money for a truck that lives on the pavement. The roads around where I work, and generally speaking where I live (Houston area) arent the best. Aside from those two options, is there another manufacturer that would be worth a look? I know Monroe makes decent shocks for cars, just haven't heard anything really good about them on trucks. I'm not interested in anything like the Bil 5100 or similar, not looking to lift/level or have a really firm suspension.

Don’t get the Monroe reflex shocks. I bought them for my 1500 and their junk the first set lasted two weeks. I returned them for warranty and the second set I got after a month they’re junk and I only drive on pavement. The dampening is already gone and the truck bounces all over the road now. I read about them and they seem like they were good from their factory description , but they do not do anything that the description says about sensing braking and acceleration. I did not notice anything like that in fact on the first day you didn’t feel much better than the 130 thousand mile on the stock shocks . They were a better ride for only two days!! Then progressively worse every day afterwards.