I am pretty sure i have the original shocks on my truck and at 170,000 miles im pretty sure its time for new shocks.. but how does a guy tell if they are bad?

 

if they are stock they are bad.......


i always heard that if you could get the front or rear bouncing up and down, like jumping on the bumper, and you hopped off mid bounce and the truck bounced for more than 2-3 times on it's own then the shocks were bad. if you also notice more than normal bouncing when hitting big bumps or dips on the road i'd replace them.....

 

The bounce method doesn't work as well on these trucks due to the high spring rates, aka, they're real stiff.

At 170K miles, they're bad... Replace them every 60K miles or so.

 

Or if they look wet or have been wet from the fluid seaping out if the top seal

 

my guess is all the fluid has leaked out, because they are dry as a bone! thanks guys!

 

One guy has told me to check the side to side play, if there is, they are shot.

 

Once I start noticing the rear axle bouncing hard after a bump,or skipping like a wash-boarded road I figure it's time for some new ones.

 

yep, thats exactly what my truck is doing.. thanks!

 

I just look for the Mopar part #

If I see it, we replace them with Bilstein 5100s.

 

OEM shocks are junk..........changed mine at 3k and the diff was night and day