B190 Enthusiasts

Here I am again, asking the dumb woman questions. Last fall when I purchased new tires I was told the front shocks were half gone. Since I plan to head west in April I would like everything to be okay. I was quoted a price for front shocks installed of under $200. Heavy duty would be around $400. I was reading the comments about Bilstein shocks. Would that be what the tire place means by heavy duty? Or are there even more choices? Help!

Bilstein makes a heavy duty and a comfort ride shock. Get the heavy duty. I ordered mine online and had my local tire shop install them for a hundred bucks. A set of four is running $355 on eshocks http://www.eshocks.com/bil_veh.asp?Mode ... &SubChar=Q. I'd recommend replacing all four but doing just the fronts should make driving more pleasurable. Happy trails!


Cliff

Thanks for the advice. Since only the front shocks are bad, I'm only having them replaced. $405 installed for the Bilstein. They're on order for me. I know I'm paying more than you guys did, but that's part of being a woman.

I don't know how you know only the fronts need replacing. I did all 4 last fall and all 4 were worn, original Ford shocks. You might try a local community college with an auto tech program. Sometimes they will install for free as a training project for their students. BTW, it is a terrible job even for us men, so a good decision on your part.

Last fall I decided to upgrade the suspension in my 93 B190 based on the posts in this forum. I've put about 30k miles on the RV over the last 5 years and have experienced a few control issues while driving in high crosswind areas. I couldn't decide what was the best approach, Bilstein shocks or Helwig stabalizer bars. So I decided to have both done and then I could just forget it.

I ordered front and rear Bilstein shocks from http://tirerack.com total cost was about $370 dollars. The front shocks were in stock but there was about a 4 week back order on the rear shocks.

I also ordered front and rear Helwig stabalizer bars through Amazon. The total cost for them wad about $400.

Once I had the shocks and stabilizers in hand I called around and found a place that would install the shocks and stabilizers for $500. Not cheap but I thought they were reliable.

I did these enhancements right before I put the B190 in storage for the winter so I put very few miles, less that 100, on the vechicle. I could however tell that the ride was stiffer and it looked like the B190 rode a little bit higher. I'll post some feedback on this forum after I complete my summer trek.

Good luck with your upgrades! I think both shocks and stabilizers are great enhancements.

Mike