Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Info & Discussion Forum

I have a 1999 rear kitchen (23') with a 450 chassis. The unit has 45,000 miles.

The unit has a fairly high payload (about 2,000 pounds) so it hasn't been overloaded.

When do I need to replace the shocks or how can I tell if it is time? If it is time, any suggestions for the replacement type or brand?

Thanks

If you're planning on replacing shocks, I'd also take a look for comparison at Koni's. They're comparably priced to Bilstien (I think) if you shop around, and they ride just a titch smoother (softer) than the bilstien.

They're every bit as good. Each has it's own things to recommend them.

On the other hand, if the shocks that came off the 2005 E450 from ford (and they're gas shocks) work for you, I have a set with 15,000 miles on them that I'm bringing to Iowa. I'll list them for sale in the other section.

Patricia

I'm not sure what brand to get, right now the ride is firm enough and control has always been excellent. The 23 foot unit on the E 450 is not the least bit overloaded.

I tried calling BF today but they really had no suggetions.

As I understand it the Bilstiens are a firmer ride? I don't need that.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also if any of you in the lighter units on a 450 have changed shocks, I'd be curious as to your experience.

Maybe I should just do factory again.

Yes, as you can see I'm a 26'. It's really not hard to achieve max load on the rear axle. That's why my spare isn't on the back. That makes the front wheels lighter than the rear, and I wonder if that makes it a little less well behaved in steering and handling. The 26', mine, is about 13,000 lbs before a trip, with me in it.

I really don't want to know what it weighs when I've been in the thing for 4 months. It seems that I am unloading and unloading and unloading forever. I need to take her over the scales again after being gone a while and having new books (always always always buying books), magazines, mail, movies, food, you name it.

4 months is a long time...

Brent wrote:I have a 1999 rear kitchen (23') with a 450 chassis. The unit has 45,000 miles. The unit has a fairly high payload (about 2,000 pounds) so it hasn't been overloaded. When do I need to replace the shocks or how can I tell if it is time? If it is time, any suggestions for the replacement type or brand?

My experience: I had a 1998 model year 23 foot Rear Kitchen Born Free built on the E-450 chassis. A friend gave me his Ford factory shocks when he put Bilsteins on his 26 foot Rear Bath model at 30,000 miles. I installed these shocks on my 23-RK at 135,000 miles. It took me two days of hard work to do the installation and I had to borrow metric tools from my neighbor and get some help from my wife. There was a noticeable improvement in control when going over dips in the road. Another neighbor has the unit now and it handles fine at 160,000 miles.

When to replace: These truck shock absorbers don't seem to completely fail like car shocks do. You can tell that they are getting weak if your vehicle rocks side to side a little too much when going over dips in the road.

My suggestions: (1) Get the barely used Ford factory shocks from Trish's 26-RB and install them between 100,000 and 120,000 miles. (2) As an alternative, install Bilstein or Koni shock absorbers with a lifetime guarantee.

I know this was an old post but I just changed out my Bilstein shocks that were on the unit at 7000 miles and now it has 52000. No leaks but the rear duallies were "hammering" when going over seams in the highway. After driving my just bought BF and driving it home I knew something was wrong on my old one.

So now the American Cruiser has new shocks...NAPA/Monroe HD Industrial shocks and sounds like a car from the back axles. Next owner will love it now! I had replaced the front Bilstein shocks at about 32000! So not very impressed with that brand.

Sam,

Take a look at http://eshocks.com/

I ordered Bilsteins from them back in 2007 as it was the best deal around at the time (may not be so now, but worth a look).

I paid no NJ sales tax, shipping was free, like I said best price I could find. I had a local shop do the install for me.

Worked out good.

I would go with the Billstein B6 heavy duty shocks.You should be able to find them on E bay or Internet for $90 Dollars each. I installed those on my 1995 coach.
The front shocks are a little hard to install.

Hans Rueckert
1995 BF 26FT RSB

Just put HD Bilsteins on 2011 24'RB. Cannot really tell the difference--well, maybe some improvement but not earthshaking. The Michelin tire guy says I have too much air in tires, and should move from 65/75 (F/B) to 60/70 given the weight I run at. The tables from Michelin says the same, but numbers of people at Humboldt Homecoming said that was not enough. I have not yet tried it with lesser pressures. Am going to Elkart this month for Mor-Ryde RS. Will report back on progress, also moving to RoadMaster heavy duty Sway Bars and Stabilizers. Must do something to improve the ride quality and safety. I lost a great deal of both moving from a 2008 E-350 22' to the 2011 E-450 24' cabover.
Love the unit, but not the ride!

Sam,

I had my OEM Ford shocks replaced several years ago with Bilstein Comfort shocks and was impressed with the ride improvement and especially the reduction in side to side swaying.

However, I had a mechanic do the work. When he was done, he said that he had as much time and effort to replace the front left shock as the total for the other three. Somewhere I saw a post that verified what this mechanic said - replacing that front left side shock is a bit difficult.

I were going to do it again, I think I would install the HD versions

Hawkeye111 wrote:Just put HD Bilsteins on 2011 24'RB. Cannot really tell the difference--well, maybe some improvement but not earthshaking. The Michelin tire guy says I have too much air in tires, and should move from 65/75 (F/B) to 60/70 given the weight I run at. The tables from Michelin says the same, but numbers of people at Humboldt Homecoming said that was not enough. I have not yet tried it with lesser pressures. Am going to Elkart this month for Mor-Ryde RS. Will report back on progress, also moving to RoadMaster heavy duty Sway Bars and Stabilizers. Must do something to improve the ride quality and safety. I lost a great deal of both moving from a 2008 E-350 22' to the 2011 E-450 24' cabover.
Love the unit, but not the ride!

I will not get into debate on ride quality and possible improvements, but to the extent that your concerns relate to steering stability, there are two things I would suggest. Move as much weight to front axles as possible since ratio of front to rear weight has our front end light. Second have a capable shop verify front end alignment is centered for toe and camber.
Caster should be set within specs but in range of +5 degrees with right about .5 degrees ahead of left. You may have to buy brackets to get this setting.
All this should be done with unit loaded and wet.
RV Net Class C discussions go into this subject in great detail.
My ride quality is tolerable and as good as previous 2001 23 RK that was also on E450. Still I would be very interested in how Mor-Ryde works out for you.
Ralph

Sam Ryan wrote:Ed,

Did you go with the Bilstein Comforts or Bilstein Heavy Duty?

Sam,

Right now I can't remember which I went with... the RV is all covered up for winter. I do have to weasel my way in there to check on something else, when I do I'll bring the maintenance record book out as well and report back to you.

Ed

P.S. Made a BIG difference in reducing my rear end sway, which used to scare the heck out of me at 70 mph.

Sam Ryan wrote:Ed,

Did you go with the Bilstein Comforts or Bilstein Heavy Duty?

Just got the book out of the coach.....

I bought the "Comfort" shocks, it was in 2006, not 2007.

I am very happy with their performance and in fact canceled doing any further enhancements (neoprene bushings, additional sway bar) to my coach that I had discussed with a local RV place.

You might have to use a 17 mm box wrench.the, length I dont remember

Hans Rueckert
1995 BF 26FT RSB

The very nice young man that put the Bilstiens on my 24' RB said that he should have put the left front on before the right front, although I do not understand why it should make a difference, but he was emphatic!