Rock and Roll with Konis?

Pueblo Dave · 03-14-2008, 04:59 AM

Been reading about everybody's happiness with switching to Koni shocks. Do they by any chance (I hope I hope I hope) reduce the horendous tossing back and forth of everything in your rig when pulling out of the gas station into traffic and trying not to get hit?
What other wonders do they do for a gas rig?

Pueblo Dave · 03-14-2008, 04:59 AM

Been reading about everybody's happiness with switching to Koni shocks. Do they by any chance (I hope I hope I hope) reduce the horendous tossing back and forth of everything in your rig when pulling out of the gas station into traffic and trying not to get hit?
What other wonders do they do for a gas rig?

Ding-a-ling · 03-14-2008, 05:07 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Pueblo Dave:
Do they reduce the horendous tossing back and forth of everything in your rig when pulling out of the gas station </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
P.D.
That problem is helped by sway bars, not shocks.

DriVer · 03-14-2008, 06:14 AM

I'll second that!

Going in and out of gas stations is an evolution that we all want to keep at a "minimum." I can't see spending "a couple grand" to control just that issue.

My best advice to anyone is to slow down entering and existing these types of transitions. The feedback I received from those folks said that it made a big difference.

Clay L · 03-14-2008, 06:43 AM

On some(all?) 2004 and I believe some 2005 W20/W22 chassis, WH used a 2 inch front stabilizer bar. They switched to a 2 1/2 inch bar and it made a huge difference in sway, rock and roll.
I changed mine myself and it was well worth it.

RedT · 03-14-2008, 10:35 AM

Don't know what chassis you are asking about, but I can answer for a Freightliner XC chassis. Mine had the rock-and-roll when new. Installing the motion control units on the air bags helped dampen it somewhat, but the REAL improvement happened when I replaced the stock shocks with Koni's. Now it rides like a big Cadillac!

SCVJeff · 03-14-2008, 12:20 PM

The short answer is YES. On our Meridian I swapped the 2 front shocks (rears are still on the radar) to help with the washboard road problem. They did help to some extent, but I noticed a significant difference in rock dampening. The Sach's that were OEM were all but useless. I could extend or compress them by hand in a few seconds. With 20,000+ moving them around they were totally passive.

jbowers · 03-14-2008, 01:02 PM

I had exactly the same experience that Jeff had. Greatly reduced rock and roll and helped a lot on the slap of bridge and road slab junctions. Did not seem to reduce the noise but the coach rode better. I would put them on if I were you.

Tenn.Vol. · 03-14-2008, 02:24 PM

Dave, on my W-20 I had the same rock ad roll comming out of my drive.
To the point it would drop dishes on the floor (coming off a 4in. curb,
at a 45deg. angle) no matter how easy Idroped it off the curb.
After I installed the BILLS, it took care of 80% of the sway if not more.
But the bills will shake you cavities out of your head on those tar strips.
So when I replaced the rear (because the fronts were such a PO*)I put on
teh RV Monroe. But they had no effect one way or the other???
Because of the R&R I have been afraid to put Koni on the front. TENN.

Clay L · 03-15-2008, 08:23 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tenn.Vol.:
Dave, on my W-20 I had the same rock ad roll comming out of my drive.
To the point it would drop dishes on the floor (coming off a 4in. curb,
at a 45deg. angle) no matter how easy Idroped it off the curb.
After I installed the BILLS, it took care of 80% of the sway if not more.
But the bills will shake you cavities out of your head on those tar strips.
So when I replaced the rear (because the fronts were such a PO*)I put on
teh RV Monroe. But they had no effect one way or the other???
Because of the R&R I have been afraid to put Koni on the front. TENN. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you happened to miss my post above about the front sway bar size change, you might want to take a look at it.

NeilV · 03-15-2008, 05:38 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ding-a-ling:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Pueblo Dave:
Do they reduce the horendous tossing back and forth of everything in your rig when pulling out of the gas station </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
P.D.
That problem is helped by sway bars, not shocks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If your shocks are not up to it the sway bar can toss you about on transitions as the coach will follow them more exactly and snap you back and forth more sharply as the wheels and coach more immediatly conform to the road surface. I put the high performance front bushings and bar on my last coach and while they did help with cornering and wind gusts they also made transitions more obvious as the coach followed the road more accurately and more instantaniously. Maybe if I had upgraded the bar and not just the bushings in the back it would have balanced out better and the rear would have eased off the action at the front but I never got to it.