Shocks for MC-5C

[chuckdrum]

I find myself in need of replacing the rear brakes on my '79 MC-5C (long story I won't go into here) and was thinking now would be a good time to change out the shocks.  I've owned the bus for 10 years, put 57K miles on it, and the PO (who did the conversion in the late 90's) never mentioned changing out the shocks and he put 93K on it. Previous to this bus, it had been almost four decades since I had owned/driven a bus so I just accepted the ride on my MCI as is- didn't really know if it should/could be more comfortable.  A couple questions for y'all:

Will new shocks actually smooth out the ride, or is it more for improving control, reducing roll, etc.?
Recommendations on brand and model?

Thanks, as always, for your knowledgeable assistance.

Chuck

[RJ]

Chuck -

Gabriel Fleetline 85700 for the front axle, and either 85312, 85708, or 85729 for the rear, depending on the mounts.

Monroe 65448 for the front, 74440 or 74465 for the rear, again, depending on the mounts.

I like Konis, but you can buy a full set of Gabriels for the price of one Koni - not gonna happen!

FWIW & HTH. . . 

RJ

[chuckdrum]

Thanks for the specifics, RJ! I'll be talking with mechanics tomorrow and will pass on the suggestions.

Chuck

[Dave5Cs]

Also replacing your control arm rubbers will help a lot too. Luke will have those.

[RJ]

Also replacing your control arm rubbers will help a lot too. Luke will have those.

Talked to Luke the other week about something else, he says those control arm bushings are less than $15 each, and that they're the same as what GM used on all of their buses. 1-888-262-2434 M-F, 9-4 Eastern.

[chuckdrum]

Dave and RJ,

Apologies for the slow response... I was just trying to get our rig on the road again and get back to Seattle after a week+ delay in NM and didn't get back to this thread.

I'm home again now and I'll need to have a few things done by my local shop, including the brake work that couldn't be done in NM because of a delay in parts delivery.  I'll share the info about the shocks and the bushings with the mechanic when I get the brake work done.

Chuck

[luvrbus]

www.shockwarehouse.com have Konia and Bilstein on sell from time to time,you can buy Konia's at Rv wrecking yards cheap and they are rebuildable all the upper end RV's have Konia shocks.I paid $250.00 for 10 Konia shocks a few years back at AZ RV Salvage in Phoenix 

[RJ]

www.shockwarehouse.com have Konia and Bilstein on sell from time to time,you can buy Konia's at Rv wrecking yards cheap and they are rebuildable all the upper end RV's have Konia shocks.I paid $250.00 for 10 Konia shocks a few years back at AZ RV Salvage in Phoenix

Clifford -
Never seen rebuild kits for Koni shocks, that's interesting.

New Koni's aren't cheap - you can do a whole 3-axle bus in Gabriel Fleetlines for the same cost as just the front axle alone with Konis. . .   

FWIW & HTH. . . 

RJ

[windtrader]

How does one determine a bus shock is in need of replacement? Seems kind of hard to do the push on hood and watch the rebound. Can you get on bus roof and jump up and down?

[buswarrior]

Change shocks on mileage, same as we should for the personal conveyance.

They stopped doing their job a long way back, if we wait for failure, leaking, or bouncing.

The unseen savings are in the tires.

Preventive maintenance.

You can lay a pretty safe bet that the previous owner did not change them recent to your purchase...

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[dtcerrato]

When we put all new shocks on our bus after 36 years and used our specific tire load chart for tire psi it ran & handled like a completely different beast!
WTH took me so long?......

[windtrader]

Come on. isn't there a way to test them? Why throw away good shocks? I need to look for a shock change in the log book but if there isn't one then how many miles is on them?

Let's say they have 75,000  miles on them, the previous owner put 50,000, no changes, I get it and put 25,000 on but that fact is unkown. Do I just throw them out? There must be some testing available.

[Glennman]

I heard of a place in New York that that exchanges shocks.

[luvrbus]

Come on. isn't there a way to test them? Why throw away good shocks? I need to look for a shock change in the log book but if there isn't one then how many miles is on them?

Let's say they have 75,000  miles on them, the previous owner put 50,000, no changes, I get it and put 25,000 on but that fact is unkown. Do I just throw them out? There must be some testing available.

You can test shocks but they need to me removed from bus,if you have one that is wet with oil or has a oil flim on the outside you know those are bad

[Busted Knuckle]

I heard of a place in New York that that exchanges shocks.

Glen I don't think it's shocks they exchange at the place yer talking about!
  BK