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Re: What shock absorbers tickle your fancy?
RamVan2500 #566301 June 03rd 2012 9:59 am
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Bilsteins, Dont cheap out


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Re: What shock absorbers tickle your fancy?
CaptFlaps #566330 June 03rd 2012 11:49 am
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Awesome, I bet she rids like a dream! I too am going to be replacing some suspension and steering components, more suspension then steering. I plan on replacing my leafs with some heavier ones because I tow a 32' travel trailer and the tongue is close to 800+ lbs. I currently have 1800lb leafs, the new ones are going to be 2300lb, I was thinking of 2500lb but that is too much and I like to drive walter (van) fast and corner fast and If I put those 2500lb springs then his rear end will slide more. I also was and probably am going to but a trac-lok LSD or maybe a Eaton locker. But one thing at a time right? My exhaust is falling apart, if you go to the post I made in the performance section about a dynotech shaft you can see photos of the exhaust.

Re: What shock absorbers tickle your fancy?
RamVan2500 #566685 June 05th 2012 3:53 am
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I went with the more economical Monroe shocks on my Son's advice. Several years ago he did some tests to failure of various shocks at his community College Automotive class, using an MTS industrial shock absorber testing device, and found that Monroe shocks survived much better than most other brands, which failed catastrophically in many cases. Timely advice - and it was good to finally get some benefit from all that tuition we'd been paying!

Still, I was cautious and tried researching the various models on several websites, as well as calling several of the local Monroe dealers for advice. This narrowed my range of choices down to 5 models.

Still, being suspicious of the seemingly conflicting results, I called Monroe Technical support directly several times, and they advised that since I had a heavy 6400 pound GVW maxi conversion van with a HD (heavy duty) rear suspension, that the advice of the Monroe dealers and the various websites, including Monroe's own website, wasn't all that good in my case!

They said that the shocks that were recommended to me by the dealers and web sites were either too light duty, which would have ridden spongy and would have blown out prematurely, or were too stiff and would have blown out my back! (I've had back surgeries.)

The Tech Support folks recommended the Reflex shock, Monroe model number 911091, as the best fit for my application, so here they are!

[Linked Image]

They are certainly a big shock too; slightly larger than the Sears Roadhandler Gas shocks that were on the van to start with.

The ride is quite tolerable to my touchy back, and the recovery response appears to be well damped to me, though I also have rebuilt the entire rear suspension, adding heavier leaf springs, (originally had 1980 lb 5-leaf, went to 2770 lb 6-leaf) added a front swaybar, and installed rear Timbren SES Aeon DVR150 Air Springs, which act much like helper springs and rear swaybars when they come in contact with the rear axles.

[Linked Image]

You can see one of the Monroe Shocks in front of the Timbren Air Spring in that picture...

I've put off replacing the front Sears Roadhandler shocks (which appear to still be OK) till I decide what if any work I want to do to the front suspension. The coil springs are sagging up front, though I like the look well enough to either leave it as is or replace the springs then convert to drop spindles. With the sagging coil springs, it *may* be necessary to specify a shock with a different stroke length.

The nice thing is that the Monroe factory is only about 20 miles from my house, so it's a local call for me to discuss any issues with them.


Last edited by Ram4ever; June 05th 2012 4:01 am. Reason: more specific data on springs

-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van


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Re: What shock absorbers tickle your fancy?
RamVan2500 #566712 June 05th 2012 9:04 am
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Put those Reflex shocks on my '90 g20 after I lowered the front end about 5 years ago and have been very happy with them. They cost a little more at about $45 per shock but well worth the price. smile


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Re: What shock absorbers tickle your fancy?
RamVan2500 #566720 June 05th 2012 9:53 am
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I have been using tokico shocks on my Astro for the past 10 years.. probably have close to 100K miles on them, they work great, half the price of bilstein and have a lifetime warranty.

http://www.tokicoperformanceshocks.com/


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Re: What shock absorbers tickle your fancy?
Ram4ever #566731 June 05th 2012 10:30 am
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Putting your money to good use having your son test shocks out, a ex-friend of mine is a mechanic for a race team up in NC and well he says Monroes usually don't last long, but I guess it depends what they are going to be installed onto. A race car doing 150MPH and up versus our vans...

Those shocks look nice!!!

Awesome you have Timbrens, back when I was looking for leaf springs to get a little info I found stangel bros and they have springs up to 2500Lbs each for my van and they recommended 2300Lb if I tow moderately and so I still retain some decent handling, they did suggest Timbrens, I am still hesitant because the ones they sell are a few hundred dollars, how do the Timbrens work out for you? Are they worth it?

I didn't replace leafs yet, sort of cash. But I too need to rebuild my front end suspension and part of the rear end suspension. I found a couple of companies who make rear anti-sway bars for our vans but man they want around 200-300 bucks, but it would be a lovely addition.

Hey how sensitive is your van to road imperfections and things like that? Mine has been very very very sensitive lately, that or I am sensitive to it.

Re: What shock absorbers tickle your fancy?
RamVan2500 #566756 June 05th 2012 12:46 pm
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Thanks for those pics of the Timbrens Ram4Ever. I've never seen them installed before. I was not aware they are always in contact frame to axle. Apparently they make helpers for the front suspension too.

I have a set of Firestone Ride rite Air bags on the Axle, and I put the Schrader Valves inside my Van. I built my Van with too much weight on the drivers side and usually keep 10 more PSI on the driver's side to level it out.
Sometimes, when I party over at a friend's house and sleep in my Van, I put 100 PSI in the curbside bag and 0 in the street side van to level out the van for sleeping. A nice feature.

They really help reduce lean in turns, especially at higher PSI. At 100 PSI, it raises the rear over 4 inches, and rides harsh. Cool looking stance, but then the tires look tiny in the wells.

When I first installed them I had some cheap Gabriels on the rear. They were not up to the task of dampening the bouncy airbag factor. The KYB Gas A Justs reduced this significantly.

Before I learned how to work on my Van, I had a shop install front shocks on my Van. Unfortunately they were the wrong shocks. They were too long and would bottom out before the suspension would. I was not aware of this until the lower tang on one shock sheared off, in Tijuana, at night, in a rainstorm, while lost looking for the other border crossing.
[Linked Image]

Anyway the next morning, back in the US, I bought some monroe sensa tracs, and then realized I had been using the wrong shock for 3+ years.

[Linked Image]

I installed the sensa tracs, and drove another hour northward to get my receipt of the installation of the incorrect shocks. I hated the way the Van rode with the sensa tracs. It felt soft and squishy and bouncy on the highway and I was all irritated.

Long story slightly shorter, I got the correct KYB gas a Justs installed for free and was super happy with the ride. Even better than the too long previous KYB's. I returned the Sensa a tracs and was happy to have my money back.

Shortly afterward I got KYB's for the rear, another huge difference, then a few years later, I rebuilt my entire front suspension and was happier than a pig in shit with the ride.

https://www.vanning.com/threads/ubbthreads.php/topics/403204/1.html


Re: What shock absorbers tickle your fancy?
RamVan2500 #571512 June 29th 2012 2:25 am
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Guys, I'm sorry, but I forgot to check back on this thread since I don't moderate it, so I missed answering your questions about my Timbren air springs in a timely fashion. Here's my experience so far:

Ordinarily, with a baseline setup at rest they don't actually touch the axle, but they can be set up that way.

They can actually be set up for several situations, based on need or preference. You could install them with air space between them and the axle so they would only begin to act as a helper when you add a heavy load, like when towing with a high tongue weight. This would give you the softest ride possible when unloaded; it would be your stock suspension until the Timbrens make contact.

You could also set them up for more immediate effect, like I did, where they are almost engaged at rest with little load. I **really** disliked the pronounced and alarming feel of the sway in my maxi van with it's original worn out stock suspension, so I set my Timbrens up this way from the very beginning.

There are optional spacers available in 0.5" and 1" thickness to allow you to set them to whatever type of use and ride quality you'd like. More contact with the axle = more damping. The spacers are big round rubber disks with a metal bushing in the middle that the mounting bolt goes through. The spacer mounts between the bellows looking part of the air spring and the wide metal pad of the frame bracket. I went off and bought both size spacers thinking I'd need them due to the altered ride height from all my new suspension parts, but I actually haven't felt a need to use them so far.

The spacers were unfortunately rather pricey, and weren't all that easy to get; they had to be special ordered. I wouldn't advise getting them until after you've tried the ride to see whether the Timbrens suit you right out of the box. If you wanted a significantly firmer ride you could use the spacers by jacking up the van to get some additional space between the axles and the Timbrens, and then install the spacers on the Timbrens so when you set the van back down you'd have them compressed at all times.

I set mine up to just kiss the rear axles with a light load. When I get in a turn they immediately act as sway bars, and they do act as additional shock absorber type damping on big bumps. I try to avoid big bumps, but well, it's Michigan after all! ;0)

I'm thinking that they may actually increase the life of my shock absorbers, since they share the impacts and energy.

Road imperfections aren't so noticeable to me that a ride could be considered harsh or unenjoyable. I think that having all new bushings in the new leaf springs and shackles helps there. I do like a bit of road feel, but I really don't like a lot of pumping on my spine, and so far I'm very pleased with the ride quality.

I would say that in general the ride is far more controlled feeling, and the sharper turns are far less alarming; sway is significantly reduced, and level ride is restored far more crisply, with little tendency to oscillate. I think the steering is quite a bit less vague.

When I was testing my carburetor modifications, I'd go out on on the interstate or on the back roads and floor the accelerator from a stop, and I felt much more certain of the steering even at the highest speeds I went to, up around 85 MPH. Before I installed the Timbrens and the front sway bar it was sort of like each end of the van (which is 20 feet long!) wanted to do something rather different. On certain roads which aggravated it the most, my "seat of the pants" accelerometer found that roll & yaw motion to be *quite* objectionable!

Since I installed my front sway bar at about the same time that I installed the Timbrens, I can't really say precisely how much of a contribution to the ride quality comes from each, but all told it is a vast improvement over the original stock suspension's ride.

Another interesting thing; Timbren actually offers a lifetime warranty on their air springs, including against loss! So if one falls off and you've still got your receipt, you'll get a replacement.

I would actually like an even slightly firmer feel in my steering and cornering, so I may yet install the .5" spacers, or even a beefier sway bar in front, and/or a blueprinted steering gear box, but I'll wait till I get more of the van's interior in place to see what sort of load all that will add. It may be that the additional weight will compress the leaf springs sufficiently to load the Timbrens more even without the spacers. I got way beefier leaf springs than stock though, so only time will tell.

BTW, I didn't have to drill any holes on my frame to mount the Timbrens; they came with the correct shape bracket to fit the existing holes. I like that a lot; making holes in a unibody frame is one of my personal taboos.


-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van


[Linked Image]

It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts...

Are you living to work, or working to live?

[Linked Image]

Learning from my own mistakes is good, learning from yours would be much better! [Linked Image]
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