A little background first. My 98 has 72K miles. The original Dodge shocks still on the truck. I new they were well over-due. I would bound into every corner. Kinda like I was hitting the brakes, but I wasn't. Man that sucked. The death wobble happened numerous times in a week. I found that to be the worst feeling of all. Anyway, I checked the suspension while the shocks went on and found other than slight movement of the drag link, overall everything was pretty good. Honestly, everything was pretty darn good. I didn't want the KYB's or the Edlebrock's. I have read here and on other sites that they might be a little too stiff for a non-working daily-driver. I kinda wanted in the middle. That's what I got.

Shock install. The bottom of the shocks for the front were a little too wide for the knuckle where the bolt goes through. A little love tap or two solved that one. The rears were a piece of cake. Other than that, an easy install. By the way, these were the ones for a "0" ride height adjustment, and the 8800 GVWR.

Results: A very nice ride. The ride is like a new truck. I no longer feel the tires travelling near as far up and down. And when they do travel, I get a "nice" brief rebound. They are definetly NOT stiff. My wife and I kinda charicterize the ride as "like a car". When I travel over a speed bump, I get a quick jolt, not a mushy bound. Anyway, the freeway has yet to cough-up any death wobble. Sometimes I feel like the truck wants to vibrate a little more after a low speed bump, but I think the shocks are limiting that from happening. Kinda like a tiny death wobble. But so far, NOTHING like before. So all I can tell you is......so far so good. I would reccommend these shocks to anyone that wants a comfy ride. Lets just hope I don't need the warranty on these shocks any time soon

Tom

 

I replaced the original shocks with Bilstiens @ 90,000 miles and they still had some life left. I find the Bilstiens to be a great improvement, but I thought the upper bushings in the fronts were a little flimsy compared to the Stocks. JMO.

 

Nice report. Anything that can make a dually ride "like a car" is worth looking into.

Have you hauled anything heavy yet?...or towed?

My Rancho 9000's are great when loaded...been up to 9500 lbs (700 over gross)...no sag or sway! But they are just ok, IMO, when empty, even when set on 7/3.

RJ

 

Monroe gas magnums are also a great shock,if you dont want to pay the price of the Bilstiens.

 

i had the Monroe gas shocks for about 6 months and blew two of them, but i am towing HEAVY. went to the Bilsteins proably 25000 miles ago and they are still taking a beating. (also have lifetime warrenty)

 

REplaced the stockers at ~160k miles. They were beyond shot. You either couldn't push them together or pull them out, or one one of them just dropped with no resistance at all.

Bought the Bilstien OEM version. Very nice improvement.

 

That's what I've been talkin' about....

Billies are by far the best shock for the money.....