If you have a light duty truck, how long have, or how long do you expect, your shocks to last ?

1. For commuting and light hauling for DIY homeowner stuff.

2. For professional use as a work truck.

You may assume you started out with a solid reputable brand name of upper medium or premium quality units.

Based on those answers, my situation is this - I have 73K miles on my current shocks, OEM spec Bilstein, that is, not shocks for HD or off road use etc. Just OEM stock spec regular shocks as a plain jane F150 came off the line in 2010.

All of a sudden my ride has gone to hell. I THINK my front shocks are still working acceptably (I think, I don't know for sure, but I do know my rear Bilsteins have given up the ghost. One shock is still working a little but not well, and the other rear shock is just gone in terms of damping action, the rear of my truck is dancing around at all speeds on any paved road or highway thing not already smooth as glass.

I'm not a shock person, but I thought these Bilsteins would give me 100k, but maybe I'm just wishful thinking.

So what do you guys think ?

Ford’s Motorcraft OEM shocks suck and about 50k is what to expect if you are lucky. Mine went at about 46k.

Bilstein a touch more but yes you are due for new. 100k on any shock you are dreaming anymore.

The Bilstein factory shocks on my Z71 lasted a hair over 50k each set.

Bilstein used to reign supreme in the late 90s early 2000s. Their quality especially their OEM spec stuff has gone way down.

I won’t buy their stuff anymore.

I think Eibach is the best in the market for OEM replacement and even mild off-road right now with out breaking the bank.
Though you won’t get 100k out of them either.

If you are one that does moderate to heavy off-roading Falcon/TeraFlex is my choice.

Serious off roading Dobinson or King.

Fox is not a bad option in quality but they tend to be more rough riding across their levels than the ones I have mentioned.

Mine came with Bilstiens from the factory.

When I bought the truck, it had about 147.000 miles on it.

The shocks weren't bad, but I replaced them with new Bilstien shocks when replacing the ball joints and bushings.

More so because mileage as opposed to wear, but it is a daily driver and it doesn't see much off road use.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
All of a sudden my ride has gone to hell... the rear of my truck is dancing around at all speeds on any paved road or highway thing not already smooth as glass.
So what do you guys think ?

Consider the condition of the sway bar links and bushings also.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Ford’s Motorcraft OEM shocks suck...

Yep. On my 2001 F150, I swapped the stock Motorcraft shocks for Bilsteins and they're still on the truck after 100K+ miles.

My wife's 2001 F150 has 160K miles and the factory shocks are fine.

I have never replaced shocks on any of my Fords. I hardly ever drive in a city though. Our rural roads are narrow and lack potholes.

quote:

Originally posted by Hay2bale:
My wife's 2001 F150 has 160K miles and the factory shocks are fine.

I have never replaced shocks on any of my Fords. I hardly ever drive in a city though. Our rural roads are narrow and lack potholes.

The thing about shocks unless you have one that is fully blown and the others not (like the OP) you become a custom to the diminished ride overtime as ride comfort is only slowly degraded.

Kind of like putting a frog in water and slowly turning up the heat.

Swap those shocks for new and you’ll no longer think the shocks are fine.

My 2016 F250 platinum's shocks didn't last long at all. I just replaced them with bilstein 5100's a couple months ago.

I have a 2011 Ram and AFAIK the shocks are the originals. No signs of leakage, rides just fine.

New shocks wouldn't hurt anything, but I'm in no rush.

I put Fox on my 2016 F350. She rides better. I'm looking at KYB for the Land Cruiser. The reviews are good . Anyone here using them? They are made in the USA supposedly.

I have a 2009 Dodge 1500 with 128k miles that my son has been driving for the past 4yrs. Last week we replaced the ball joints and control arms and one of the shocks was completely blown. They were the original shocks.
It's funny that I didn't even notice much of a difference in ride quality.
Ive got the original rough riding, bouncy Ranchos on my Z71. I hope to get some softer shocks in the next year or two.

quote:

Originally posted by coloradohunter44:
I put Fox on my 2016 F350. She rides better. I'm looking at KYB for the Land Cruiser. The reviews are good . Anyone here using them? They are made in the USA supposedly.

KYB is is a decent quality OEM replacement. While not bad shocks I think a Land Cruiser deserves more than KYB

My stock Z71 shocks 2013 GMC Sierra “lasted” 157K miles until I replaced them with the Bilsteins. Huge improvement. I chose the Bilsteins with the zinc plating rather than yellow paint. $412 for the set.

My old F250 shocks lasted about 200k as I recall. The wife’s Rouge still fine with little over a 100k. The local roads we drive are maintained well.

Changed the OEM shocks out on my half ton GMC at 150,000 miles.
They were still fine at 150k.

I have a 2008 F150. Changed the factory shocks at 120,000 miles. Couldn’t tell the difference.

I replaced the rear shocks on my 2010 F150 with Bilsteins, mostly because I just wanted to. The truck had 130k on it and had been used mostly as a daily driver but would occasionally tow heavy loads. The factory shocks were not leaking and still operated fine as far as I knew. But replacing them really helped the ride quality which, wait for it…shocked me. It was super easy to do myself. I do want to also replace the fronts and level the truck a bit but there is more involved with that, so for now the OEM fronts are still on and I have 138k on the truck now.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by coloradohunter44:
I put Fox on my 2016 F350. She rides better. I'm looking at KYB for the Land Cruiser. The reviews are good . Anyone here using them? They are made in the USA supposedly.

KYB is is a decent quality OEM replacement. While not bad shocks I think a Land Cruiser deserves more than KYB

KYB makes more than just OEM replacement type shocks. I replaced the shocks on my F350 with Rancho 9000s at about 15,000 miles. I replaced those with KYB MonoMax at about 120,000 miles. I liked the Rancho’s, but never really used the adjustability on the fronts. I did use it on the rears. They didn’t leak, but the truck felt like it wobbled more than it should when braking or turning. Coming to a stop, for example, it would keep bouncing back and forth after it had stopped.

The KYB MonoMaxs are nice. My youngest son commented on how much he liked how my truck rides on these Michigan roads on our way to Jay’s Sporting Goods for his birthday. I hadn’t really thought about it, but he’s right. My 2015 F350 rides so much nicer up here than our 2012 Honda Odyssey minivan. At 75,000 miles, I really should replace its shocks and struts. I haven’t really towed with it enough to comment, but I haven’t noticed any poor handling in a couple, short, 500 mile trips with our 5th wheel. We didn’t bring it up to Michigan this year, but that would be the real test.

The KYB MonoMaxs are high-pressure nitrogen charged monotube shock like the Bilsteins. I chose them over the Bilsteins because KYB specifically said their shocks were designed for towing heavy trailers. I’m happy with them so far.

quote:

How long do your light duty truck shocks last ?

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time. In other words, they last right up until the worst possible time (e.g. day before a trip).

2012 F250.
New shocks about 80k. I also had the front end rebuilt about the same time due to death wobble.
Last “ride improvement” was new cab mount bushings. Apparently the factory bushings are biodegradable. Who knew?

I'm on my 6th GM truck/suv and I've never replaced the shocks on a single one of them.