[Richard]

One more idea. You may or may not be aware the same front end was used on the high end Country Coaches. You might either talk with Koni RV, or Henderson's Lineup and ask what they are using in the EVO shock line.

[sgsvette]

We removed the front Bilstein shocks and they are 14" compressed and 21.5" extended. Of course the part numbers on the shocks are nowhere to be found. Fortunately they seem to be working good so if I can't find them I'll just keep using them. Thanks for the help Richard.

[Cienzo1]

I'm in a bit of a conundrum with my King Shocks and would like some advice from the gurus.

Like Richard, I put King Shocks on my coach.  I gave them my VIN# and ride height measurements for correct sizing and specs.  A shop put them on for me a year ago.  Last summer I found the weld on my drive axle shock completely broken so I returned the broken shock back to King.  They were still under warranty and within two weeks I got the repaired shock with a fresh weld at no cost with the exception of shipping.  A month later I was under my coach and found both drive axle shocks weld broken again (front and tag axle shocks were fine.)  I sent them back to King again and we determined that the shocks were too short and needed a longer shaft.  No mention of any payment or invoice before or during the modification.  Two months later I get an invoice for modifications of the shocks for almost $800.  

My question is this: is this a reasonable invoice for something that should've been correctly measured using my VIN# with ride height measurements taken the first time?  Or do I go back to a more tried and true Koni or Bilstein shock on the drive axle?  Sad part is I had no idea the shocks were broken if I didn't go under the coach to replace my muffler.  No crazy bumps or off road driving.  I have had to use the raise all feature of the Valid system though so maybe that was the culprit?  But then why didn't the front and tag shocks break?  Still, shouldn't Newell have already calculated this in the shock specs?  It's possible that King miscalculated and gave me a short shock on the drive axle?  There's no guarantee that a longer shaft will fix the problem either and this trial and error is getting expensive.

In short, do I pay for the modifications or do I go with an alternative?

[Richard]

I am a bit fuzzy. Do you now have the longer shocks?

I don't remember, did you buy the shocks from Newell or from King? The reason that may matter is that Newell delt with RoadKing shocks. Roadking was a company that marketed the shocks, and simply had King make them.

I had quite a negative experience with Roadking, but I didn't lose any money in the long run. a year later, after Roadking was out of business, I bought my shocks directly from King. But I had to send them back because they were simply valved way too soft. I don't know this for a fact, just sort of what I surmised, was that whatever info Roadking had did not translate to King when King decided to market the shocks.

I am guessing you only provided VIN number and not the actual measurements, is that true?

Have you talked with the sales rep at King about your concerns and your surprise at the invoice?

Is it possible that the most excellent shop (sarcasm) put the fronts on the rear and vice versa? I ask because I spent some time making sure the fronts went on the front, and the rears on the rear because the rears were slightly longer than the fronts.

[Cienzo1]

King Shocks is holding my longer shocks and is waiting for payment before they release them.  I haven't spoken to them yet to make sure my mind set was right (am I in the right or do they have a legitimate invoice.)  For the record, when I called them back and told them the shock broke a second time, they said to ship them back again (which I paid for) and they'll fix it.  No mention of invoice.

It is entirely possible that the best mechanic in the world (more sarcasm) put the rear shocks on the front and front shocks on the rear.  I do know that when I "raise all" the front is taller than the rear and the coach looks like it's going uphill (rear only raises a couple inches).  When I spoke to King Shocks they said the longer shocks (KS305) should be on the front, so perhaps it's correct.  Per their request, I went under the coach and verified that the KS302 are on the tag and KS305 on the front.  I did ask them on what to do about the drive axle shocks and they said "we could make the shafts longer by going from a KS303 to a KS304, but that would be your call.  It would give you a couple more inches on extension but a little less on compression."  

I called Newell and asked for the specs of the drive axle shock.  After a few phones calls I still couldn't get any answers from parts, service or the engineering dept.

When I called King Shocks the first time they asked for was my VIN and ride height measurements.  When I called them back a second time I spoke to a new service rep and they asked for the actual measurements of the shock.  After I gave the actual measurements to him he said the drive axle shocks were too short and advised they could make them a KS304 or KS305 - but I have to be the one to make that call.  Again, no mention of cost throughout the conversation.  He said I have KS302 on the tag and KS305 on the front and currently KS303 on the drive.  He also said the longer shaft would get less compression on the bottom end and could break the shock going over a bump.  The shorter shaft length would give me more compression but less extension and 'might' be the reason the weld keeps breaking.  If I fix one problem, I have another?  I told them I guess I'll go with the KS304 and see what happens.  Why are they asking the consumer who knows nothing about shocks what he should do about the extension and compression specifications of a high performance shock?

So the longer KS304 might solve all of my problems, perhaps not.  The question is who pays for it?  I'm a little disappointed by the surprise invoice after the repairs were already made.  

[Richard]

The question is who pays for it? I'm a little disappointed by the surprise invoice after the repairs were already made.

You need to talk with them about that, it does not matter what we might think.