Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get?
| [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83184] |
Wed, 05 May 2010 13:29  |
fbhtxak
Messages: 191
Registered: April 2006
Karma: 0
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This is NOT an endorsement for Bilstein shock absorbers. I
noted, however, some concern about Bilstein's warranty
service.
I have found them to satisfactorily comply with the terms of
their warranty contract. I have had to replace two shock
absorbers in the almost twenty years since I installed them.
I replaced those two when they began to drip hydraulic fluid
on the garage floor. I replaced the first one in May '03 and
the second in Feb.'10. Bilstein readily complied with my
request for a replacement shock absorber on both occasions..
Here is the contact at Bilstein for warranty service:
Justin Diczhazy - (858)386-5951
Justin.Diczhazy@thyssenkrupp.com
ThyssenKrupp Bilstein of America
Customer Service Aftermarket Division
1402 Stowe Drive
Poway, CA 92604
The warranty contract provides for the customer to pay the
shipping charge to return the defective shock to Bilstein
(about $10 from Zip 75703 to 92064 in Feb.'10). Bilstein
pays the return shipping charge.
Fred Hudspeth
'78 Royale - Tyler, TX
'82 Airstream Excella 28' Motorhome - Anchorage, Alaska
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83298 is a reply to message #83184] |
Thu, 06 May 2010 07:39  |
Jim Bounds
Messages: 842
Registered: January 2004
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I was not going to get into the "shock wars" here but Fred brought up an important point. Yes, if the shock blows out, Bilstein will honor their warranty and especially if you do all the things they require and the shock was not "mistreated". They deen yanking the eyelet on the end apart on the rear shock because it was subjected to too much travel because our rear suspension uses the shock as stop for bogy travel. This is the number one issue on their shocks and something they do not cover. You must know that if you hit a huge pothole with the rear suspension and the shock is overextended you will be hooped on the warranty.
Fred drives his coach as it should be, on the flat, good road. I know how he treats his machine, he understand the limits but many of the coaches out there in the real world see service that they should not and there is the rub I have with Bilstein shocks. Can't tell ya why other than to say the eyelet on the KYB shoch is of better construction but they do not rip out like the Bilsteins do. Have never seen KYB damage the way I heve from the Bilsteins. Sorry but that is a fact and in that folks used to come by wanting their shocks warrantied. Wanting to help my customers I would trade them out, charge for the install and a couple of bucks for shipping one way, sent them back and got no satisfaction. it only takes a dozen or so losses like that to sour my opinion for Bilstein. Maybe I should have shown the customer the problem and refused to trade out their shocks-- then I would be the bad guy! My feeling is to just stay away from them
alltogether. i have to down them because when it was important they did not support me.
Just like anything, if you do not support me do not expect me to support you! I inventory KYB shocks, not Bilstein!
Jim Bounds
--------------------------
----- Original Message ----
From: Fred Hudspeth <fbhtxak@sbcglobal.net>
To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
Sent: Wed, May 5, 2010 2:29:07 PM
Subject: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get?
This is NOT an endorsement for Bilstein shock absorbers. I
noted, however, some concern about Bilstein's warranty
service.
I have found them to satisfactorily comply with the terms of
their warranty contract. I have had to replace two shock
absorbers in the almost twenty years since I installed them.
I replaced those two when they began to drip hydraulic fluid
on the garage floor. I replaced the first one in May '03 and
the second in Feb.'10. Bilstein readily complied with my
request for a replacement shock absorber on both occasions..
Here is the contact at Bilstein for warranty service:
Justin Diczhazy - (858)386-5951
Justin.Diczhazy@thyssenkrupp.com
ThyssenKrupp Bilstein of America
Customer Service Aftermarket Division
1402 Stowe Drive
Poway, CA 92604
The warranty contract provides for the customer to pay the
shipping charge to return the defective shock to Bilstein
(about $10 from Zip 75703 to 92064 in Feb.'10). Bilstein
pays the return shipping charge.
Fred Hudspeth
'78 Royale - Tyler, TX
'82 Airstream Excella 28' Motorhome - Anchorage, Alaska
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
List Information and Subscription Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83311 is a reply to message #83184] |
Thu, 06 May 2010 08:33 |
Larry
Messages: 2875
Registered: January 2004
Location: Menomonie, WI
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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I'll post this again in this thread:
I will probably be the only one to register a complaint about the KYB's. I purchased my KYB's in 2004 from one of the GMC suppliers and installed them. Now, 6 yrs later, I pulled all 6 wheels off to do a brake and bearing check and look the suspension over good. Rear shocks...just fine..no issues. But the fronts...the rubber bushings in all four eyelets has deteriorated. The shocks are no longer centered on the bushings, and the rubber bushings appear to be squashing themselves out of the eyelet. I called KYB about this issue. They do not provide replacement bushings, and the bushings are not covered in their lifetime warrantee. I pulled the shocks off, and found that the stroke still has lots of resistance, indicating to me that the valving is working properly, so I can't use that as a reason to warrantee them out. I don't want to let them go so that they rattle around on the mount and eventually break the eyelet, or worse the mount and then get them covered by warrantee, So I decided to MacGyver them. I put several large washers on either side of the rubber bushings in an attempt to confine the rubber to the eyelet. I will run this over the next year...watching it closely, and see how it survives. I am somewhat disappointed in KYB that they won't address this issue with me.
Just my relatively informed, off the cuff, back yard mechanic, gut level, eyeball it up and guesstimate, way of doing things....that's all...
Larry 
78 Royale w/500 Caddy
Menomonie, WI.
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83464 is a reply to message #83311] |
Fri, 07 May 2010 10:51 |
midlf
Messages: 2212
Registered: July 2007
Location: SE Wisc. (Palmyra)
Karma: 1
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| Larry wrote on Thu, 06 May 2010 08:33 |
I'll post this again in this thread:
I will probably be the only one to register a complaint about the KYB's. I purchased my KYB's in 2004 from one of the GMC suppliers and installed them. Now, 6 yrs later, I pulled all 6 wheels off to do a brake and bearing check and look the suspension over good. Rear shocks...just fine..no issues. But the fronts...the rubber bushings in all four eyelets has deteriorated. The shocks are no longer centered on the bushings, and the rubber bushings appear to be squashing themselves out of the eyelet. I called KYB about this issue. They do not provide replacement bushings, and the bushings are not covered in their lifetime warrantee. I pulled the shocks off, and found that the stroke still has lots of resistance, indicating to me that the valving is working properly, so I can't use that as a reason to warrantee them out. I don't want to let them go so that they rattle around on the mount and eventually break the eyelet, or worse the mount and then get them covered by warrantee, So I decided to MacGyver them. I put several large washers on either side of the rubber bushings in an attempt to confine the rubber to the eyelet. I will run this over the next year...watching it closely, and see how it survives. I am somewhat disappointed in KYB that they won't address this issue with me.
Just my relatively informed, off the cuff, back yard mechanic, gut level, eyeball it up and guesstimate, way of doing things....that's all...
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Note to self: When installing front KYB's during front rebuild use washers. The Caspro that were on my coach also had the rubber bushings smashed out of the eyelet.
Steve Southworth
1974 Glacier TZE064V100150 (for workin on)
1975 Transmode TZE365V100394 (parts & spares)
Palmyra WI
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83476 is a reply to message #83311] |
Fri, 07 May 2010 11:30 |
Steven Ferguson
Messages: 3447
Registered: May 2006
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Larry,
I know you've been to at least one of my seminars. Never run your
shocks on worn bushings. You end up with bent broken shock mounts.
The only repair I've found so far means an unusable lower control arm
has to give up a part to repair this. A lot of the damage I find on
lowers goes directly to bad bushings.
On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 6:33 AM, Larry <weidnerl@wwt.net> wrote:
>
>
> I'll post this again in this thread:
>
> I will probably be the only one to register a complaint about the KYB's. I purchased my KYB's in 2004 from one of the GMC suppliers and installed them. Now, 6 yrs later, I pulled all 6 wheels off to do a brake and bearing check and look the suspension over good. Rear shocks...just fine..no issues. But the fronts...the rubber bushings in all four eyelets has deteriorated. The shocks are no longer centered on the bushings, and the rubber bushings appear to be squashing themselves out of the eyelet. I called KYB about this issue. They do not provide replacement bushings, and the bushings are not covered in their lifetime warrantee. I pulled the shocks off, and found that the stroke still has lots of resistance, indicating to me that the valving is working properly, so I can't use that as a reason to warrantee them out. I don't want to let them go so that they rattle around on the mount and eventually break the eyelet, or worse the mount and then get them covered by warr
> antee, So I decided to MacGyver them. I put several large washers on either side of the rubber bushings in an attempt to confine the rubber to the eyelet. I will run this over the next year...watching it closely, and see how it survives. I am somewhat disappointed in KYB that they won't address this issue with me.
>
> Just my relatively informed, off the cuff, back yard mechanic, gut level, eyeball it up and guesstimate, way of doing things....that's all...
> --
> Larry :)
> 78 Royale w/500 Caddy
> Menomonie, WI.
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
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--
Steve Ferguson
'76 EII
Sierra Vista, AZ
Urethane bushing source
www.bdub.net/ferguson/
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83487 is a reply to message #83478] |
Fri, 07 May 2010 12:59 |
Steven Ferguson
Messages: 3447
Registered: May 2006
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Keep the faith a little longer Larry. I am in contact with KYB about
the possibility of a bulk purchase of the correct bushings.
On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Larry <weidnerl@wwt.net> wrote:
>
>
> Steven Ferguson wrote on Fri, 07 May 2010 11:30
>> Larry,
>> I know you've been to at least one of my seminars. Never run your
>> shocks on worn bushings. You end up with bent broken shock mounts.
>> The only repair I've found so far means an unusable lower control arm
>> has to give up a part to repair this. A lot of the damage I find on
>> lowers goes directly to bad bushings.
>
> AWWWWW...Crap. So my only option is to replace them. Don't seem right that I should have to replace with only 25K miles, especially when you consider that they are in otherwise VG condition. Have you seen anyone stack washers on either side of the rubber bushings to keep them from squashing out. Can't figure why this happened. I eyeballed the mounts and they appear to be aligned ok...not bent or beat up. I it possible to get eurathane bushings for the shocks, and is it even possible to replace them? They look like it took a machine to force/squash them into the eyelet. Thanks Steve.
> --
> Larry :)
> 78 Royale w/500 Caddy
> Menomonie, WI.
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
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--
Steve Ferguson
'76 EII
Sierra Vista, AZ
Urethane bushing source
www.bdub.net/ferguson/
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83539 is a reply to message #83488] |
Fri, 07 May 2010 17:52 |
bumpersticker
Messages: 60
Registered: February 2004
Location: Redondo Beach, CA
Karma: 0
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Steve:
I replaced the rubber bushings in my KYBs with urethane. I have been running them for several years. I don't remember the part No.s but they are working great.
Bob Cook
78 Birchaven
75 Avion (In work)
Redondo Beach, CA
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83545 is a reply to message #83543] |
Fri, 07 May 2010 18:56 |
Carleton Douglas[1]
Messages: 174
Registered: March 2006
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Autozone
On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 4:35 PM, Steven Ferguson <botiemad11@gmail.com> wrote:
> Bob,
> Where did you get them?
> Thanks,
>
> On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 3:52 PM, Bob Cook <bcgmc@verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Steve:
>>
>> I replaced the rubber bushings in my KYBs with urethane. I have been running them for several years. I don't remember the part No.s but they are working great.
>> --
>> Bob Cook
>> 78 Birchaven
>> 75 Avion (In work)
>> Redondo Beach, CA
>> _______________________________________________
>> GMCnet mailing list
>> List Information and Subscription Options:
>> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Steve Ferguson
> '76 EII
> Sierra Vista, AZ
> Urethane bushing source
> www.bdub.net/ferguson/
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
--
Carleton Douglas
73 custom, by myself
Prescott, AZ
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83556 is a reply to message #83311] |
Fri, 07 May 2010 20:35 |
jimk
Messages: 6734
Registered: July 2006
Location: Belmont, CA
Karma: 9
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Senior Member |
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Larry,
I will send you 2 new ones to you n/c, but will charge you freight if
you did not purchase them from us. If you did , we pay freight both
ways.
We purchase enough that the sales rep from KYB comes by at least twice a year.
We also carry Bilstines. We send in the defective ones to the factory
for the customer and have the replacement shocks shipped here.
On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 6:33 AM, Larry <weidnerl@wwt.net> wrote:
>
>
> I'll post this again in this thread:
>
> I will probably be the only one to register a complaint about the KYB's.  I purchased my KYB's in 2004 from one of the GMC suppliers and installed them.  Now, 6 yrs later, I pulled all 6 wheels off to do a  brake and bearing check and look the suspension over good. Rear shocks...just fine..no issues.  But the fronts...the rubber bushings in all four eyelets has deteriorated.  The shocks are no longer centered on the bushings, and the rubber bushings appear to be squashing themselves out of the eyelet.  I called KYB about this issue.  They do not provide replacement bushings, and the bushings are not covered in their lifetime warrantee.  I pulled the shocks off, and found that the stroke still has lots of resistance, indicating to me that the valving is working properly, so I can't use that as a reason to warrantee them out.  I don't want to let them go so that they rattle around on the mount and eventually break the eyelet, or worse the mount and then get them covered by warr
> Â antee, So I decided to MacGyver them. I put several large washers on either side of the rubber bushings in an attempt to confine the rubber to the eyelet. Â I will run this over the next year...watching it closely, and see how it survives. I am somewhat disappointed in KYB that they won't address this issue with me.
>
> Just my relatively informed, off the cuff, back yard mechanic, gut level, eyeball it up and guesstimate, way of doing things....that's all...
> --
> Larry  :)
> 78 Royale w/500 Caddy
> Menomonie, WI.
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
--
Jim Kanomata
Applied/GMC, Fremont,CA
jimk@appliedairfilters.com
http://www.appliedgmc.com
1-800-752-7502
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Jim Kanomata
Applied/GMC
jimk@appliedairfilters.com
www.appliedgmc.com
1-800-752-7502
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| Re: [GMCnet] What is the best Shocks to get? [message #83703 is a reply to message #83607] |
Sat, 08 May 2010 18:47 |
bumpersticker
Messages: 60
Registered: February 2004
Location: Redondo Beach, CA
Karma: 0
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Member |
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Steve:
A friend dug up the notes; Energy Suspension Parts are packaged 2 in each box.
Front shocks: 4 Boxes P/N 9.8108 (uses the same size for both ends)
Each end takes 2 halves.
Rear shocks: 2 boxes P/N 9.8107 (Uses 1 bushing per top side.)
4 boxes P/N 9.8108 (Uses 2 halves per bottom side)
These bushings have worked out great. Without them I would have been forced to scrap these great shocks.
Bob Cook
78 Birchaven
75 Avion (In work)
Redondo Beach, CA
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