Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 14, 2025 ...

New Airbags and Shocks

July 17, 2015, 08:05:09 pm

Well, I changed the shocks to Koni FSDs about 150k miles ago.  I had the rest tag shocks kind of wallow out around the shock mount so I changed those in October.  This week I had all the rest rep,aced.  The only thing I can say is wow, it made a huge difference. No up and down any more. The dips on I 20 near Jackson MS were a none event.  I also had them chase down a few air leaks.  There were lots of them. Two on the tanks up front and then rebuild both six packs and the sliding step cyclinder.  I am still at 110 psi not three hours later.  Very happy with the service that way but the ride is like a new coach again. I had just gotten use to he old shocks and will replace them agai at 125k I think next. That will put the coach at 300k.

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Re: New Airbags and Shocks

Reply #1 – July 17, 2015, 09:05:26 pm

John would you use the same shocks on a U270 34' FT? Bern'd replaced all the air bags in April and I thought that the ride had improved with that change. And after reading your post, I think maybe shocks are on the short list. By the way it has 147000mi on the shocks.

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Re: New Airbags and Shocks

Reply #2 – July 17, 2015, 09:21:07 pm

Yes I would I had a 34 foot 270 and did that change when I owned it. Helped out a bunch and your shocks are old too image wise.  I was surprised it was so big a difference.

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Reply #3 – July 18, 2015, 09:06:24 pm

I put new FSD and bags on my rear...didn't get to the front before a big trip. Doing the front soon. I think shocks made a difference, can't wait to see how it helps the front. Did all work myself. Simple job, just remove tires. The long part was I took extra time to paint everything with rust bullet!

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Reply #4 – July 19, 2015, 03:16:30 pm

They new shocks made a huge difference as did the airbags.  I do not know which one was the better deal but I am going with the shocks. The coach rode like it was when I bought it. I did not realize how the ride had changed over the miles. These shocks had 126000 miles on them so it was due.

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Reply #5 – July 19, 2015, 05:28:50 pm

Are shocked dated? I'd like to figure out how old the shocks on my coach are. No records unfortunately.

For a '93 U300GV are 6 or 8 shocks needed?

Thanks all.

Jeff

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Re: New Airbags and Shocks

Reply #6 – July 19, 2015, 06:21:34 pm

Jeff,

You have 8 shocks.  No dates on them that I am aware of.

You can look at them and copy down the make (likely Koni or Bilstein) and we can tell roughly what they are.

BUT, bottom line if they still properly dampen, you are good to go.

Drive over a speed bump in a parking lot at regular/low speed.  If an axle does not bounce more than 1.5 times, you are fine. Other reasons to replace shocks are leaking oil (not just damp, but leaking) or worn bushings.

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Reply #7 – July 19, 2015, 06:30:21 pm

I will say that the shocks that I first replaced had worn mounts in them. These were on for over 125K miles and while they looked ok the ride difference is very noticeable.  I do not bounce up and down i just go up and back down.  No rebound or second smaller bounce. This is hitting the dip at 65 mph. I hate that section of I20 but it is a great test.

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