Shocks on 2008 Journey 39Z - When to change out?

[Liv4weekends]

Putting new tires on my coach really improved the smoothness of ride. With 55,000 miles on shocks, I want to know if there are guidelines when it is time to change out the original shocks. What I notice most is sway and handling in wind.
What brand gives better ride, Bilstein or Koni?

[Sun88]

Don't know about Bilstein or Koni, but on my 2007 22000GVW gasser I installed new Monroe shocks, and they work great. Far less swaying in wind or while meeting big rigs - and far cheaper than Bils or Koni. I had 60K miles on the old shocks.

[creativepart]

With a car you test the condition of the shocks by pushing on a fender and looking for oscillation... repeated bouncing. And by visually inspecting the shocks for oil leakage.

On an RV the best way to tell is similar, but you can’t obviously do the fender bounce test. You can break hard in a empty parking lot and watch for oscillation after releasing the brakes.

But honestly replacing OEM RV shocks with new shocks is generally a good idea any time after the first year or two.

I replaced mine in year two with Koni FSD shocks. They made some improvement in ride control. Not earth shattering that some people report, but smaller bumps evened out more.

[HollywoodGT]

Just going through some old post. I put the Koni shocks, safety steer bell crank and the air bag valves. Its a new coach virtually no swaying and rides great.

[Chaffeekid]

When we bought our new to us 2004 Winne Brave, it was hard to keep it on the road, wow weave and sway, and a pot hole sounded like I hit an open man hole.

The shocks were original, and at least two were leaking, so I replaced them with Bilstein's and couldn't be happier. Course I also replaced all the tires. I bought my Bilstein's at the Shockwarehouse.com Fast shipment and put them on myself. Course I have owned a couple of Semi's and am used to working with Large Tools, but its not hard, and I'm 77 years old for reference.

Note how the rubber bushing around the old shock is rotten. This really is a cause of a lot of sway and sawing on the steering wheel. New shocks and she rode and held the road almost like new, almost.

Hope this helps.