I guess if I would have to classify it I would have to call it mediocre. I did notice a difference but not the result I was expecting. I installed the shocks because on concrete roads I get a "galloping" type ride from the tow vehicle because of the joints in the concrete. My Coleman has fairly small tires and I had to go with the shortest shock absorber they had listed. I installed it as in the instructions and the shock sets at a fairly steep angle forward because of spring length and tire size. I now am wondering if the shocks would have done better on a trailer where they could be installed a bit more towards straight up and down.
I've been wondering how effective shocks would be, considering my camper only has about an inch of travel. My present Coleman doesn't have the problem, but my '95 did on some stretches of highway. There was some posting last summer of someone who tried everything but shocks or a new axle. I never saw if it got resolved.
Although high-performance shocks CAN SOMETIMES minimize the effects of washboard road surfaces, they will also result in "beating up" your T and load.
Crappy road surface results in a crappier ride for pretty much any vehicle. The best solution is proper loading, AND "reasonable" speed for the road---when you load suspension to near-max all the time, you're gonna' shorten spring life. And, no shock is gonna' eliminate the feel of patch on top of patch at concrete seams, or in the worst cases, the bounce from lifted & settled concrete surfaces.
If your rig "continues to bounce" with NO load and just leaning on it, your springs are wasted----and installing shocks is only going to mask that until they die, too.
Single-axle Ts are always more susceptible to road-surface rebounding and sway than tandems----fact of life....and those conditions are magnified when the load isn't balanced, and the springs are shot.
Suggest you have your springs checked by a pro and re-arched if necessary!
J
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