A Shocking thread, A1 Monroe 65456

[MatthewWBailey]

Replaced the first front shock with Monroe 65456. Luckily, the Monroe compressed length is 1/8" shorter and extended length 3/8" longer than the originals. (Unless the old shocks are damaged).

The passenger side old shock is super hard to compress while out of the truck (all my weight on it and it barely compresses), but rebounds by itself, while the new Monroe compresses relatively easily and rebounds slowly. Wondering if this is causing my bouncing at 50mph?

Of course, in typical S&S fashion, the top and bottom bolts are not identical diameter, neither are the steel bushings. I drilled out the old rubber and pulled the bushings. Monroe shock has a 1-1/16" ID on the rubber on both ends. S&S shock has a 1-1/16"od bushing on top and a 1-1/4"od bushing on bottom.

So I just turned down the large bushing od to 1-1/16" on the lathe. Both pressed into the new shock smoothly. Still have more than 1/8" of shoulder.

the bottom flange is also 5/16" wider than the top. So I have to add a couple washers. Otherwise, an easy job for a $35 shock.

 

[Keith Knight]

Was the bouncing at 50 with the old shocks?
Also how did you decide on this particular new shock?

 

[flyfishtrailer]

And where did you find them for $35 each?

 

[Ronmar]

Was the bouncing at 50 with the old shocks?
Also how did you decide on this particular new shock?

WTK: LMTV Shock absorber options

Has anyone came up with a cross reference for shock absorbers for LMTV? I see Fox has some but they're evidently in limited supplies.

www.steelsoldiers.com

 

[MatthewWBailey]

Was the bouncing at 50 with the old shocks?
Also how did you decide on this particular new shock?

Yes. The part number is listed in the lmtv spreadsheet on this forum.

 

[MatthewWBailey]

And where did you find them for $35 each?

eBay. Like other singular, retail items, these can end up in the damndest places/sellers on eBay. I couldn't find two of the same color thou. The other items listed by these sellers were the antithesis of auto parts. So who knows where they came from. Probably from an auctioned storage unit. There's one of these shocks on eBay now for $13 plus shipping.

 

[GeneralDisorder]

How does it ride though? I was concerned after looking into weights and valving that nothing seems to be even close to what these trucks require.

What I noticed with the stock FMTV shocks I've played with was that they don't rebound on their own and can be moved relatively easily if you move them slowly and gentle. If you try to move them quickly with force they stiffen up immediately and I'm assuming only can be moved by the relatively heavy forces involved in the weight of our trucks.

 

[MatthewWBailey]

How does it ride though? I was concerned after looking into weights and valving that nothing seems to be even close to what these trucks require.

What I noticed with the stock FMTV shocks I've played with was that they don't rebound on their own and can be moved relatively easily if you move them slowly and gentle. If you try to move them quickly with force they stiffen up immediately and I'm assuming only can be moved by the relatively heavy forces involved in the weight of our trucks.

I've only done one side. No road test yet. Ron stated in a few posts this is an L8000 truck shock and the part number shows that too. L8000 is a class 7 truck with engines no smaller than 10 liters on the modern diesel versions. Pretty heavy iyam and lots of those are dump trucks.

The 2 original front shocks on mine rebound on their own on the bench but compression is manually hard. There is some squish thou. Only the road test will tell. But my existing Bounce is noticeable. Before I changed tires, the XMLs were vibrating in every direction so I could not discern anything. The MVTs are smooth up to 50, then I'm dribbling a basketball, then smooth over 52+ all the way to 80.

 

[Keith Knight]

I often wonder if I should put new shocks on but honestly after all my travels I’ve never said in the moment “oh I need shocks” and when I do focus on it it rides quite well at almost 28,000 lbs. But always in the back of my head wondering. Mines a 2003 LMTV.

Thanks for all the information. Please let us know how she rides afterwards.

 

[MatthewWBailey]

Finished the other side today and took a 34 mile drive around here. One side is yellow lol. Hey, no one will check.

Not a huge contrast with the drive-ability but the vertical shake is gone at 50-52 on flat, smooth Asphault with 70psi in front tires. There's still a lateral wobble at that speed which I'm wondering is the cab shaking. We established that my cab is bent so I wonder if there's a cab mount problem associated with that damage. The cab ride shocks and air bags are new but only dampen vertically obviously. See pic of bent cab..

The washboard roads didn't seem much different but certainly not worse. It's certainly not bouncing.
I was also wondering on what Rick said about weights etc: If this shock is not enough on paper, considering the commonality, maybe adding a second would be the trick? Just thinking out loud. I see lots of trucks with dual shocks but maybe that's overkill.

Oh, on a repurpose note, those cab lowering plates make great die stock for pressing the bushings into the new shocks' lower end. . So yet further evidence that "hoarders" are effective mechanics

 

[Ronmar]

These were the only thing I came across that were off the shelf, in a comparable/appropriate length and at least implied they were in an appropriate weight class. The monroe commercial website(monroeheavyduty.com) said these were for class 7-8. They are also the longest they make

Class 7: GVWR of 26,001 – 33,000 pounds and typically has 3 or more axels. street sweepers, garbage trucks, and transit buses.

Class 8: GVWR over 33,002 pounds. These are really huge trucks. This class is more than heavy-duty but rather “super duty”. Class 8 applies to cement trucks and dump trucks.

Now I may never be as heavy as a Garbage truck, but I can dream can’t I

 

[Keith Knight]

Yellow air line for the air horns. Nice. I have the same horn.