Replacement Shocks
#61
11-30-2011, 09:06 PM
Wondering Aspen!
Hey, group reading along and I have a question regarding shocks. My 07 Aspen limited is squirrely at best. If you drive over a slight bump the rear end wants to go side ways especially in the rain. I have spoke to the dealer ship and they stated this is normal. Would shocks cause this feeling of in security? Could they cause the vehicle to feel almost like a pickup with no weight in the back end? I would like any personal experiences with this and if the shocks did take cate of the issues? Alignment has been checked and the tires are wearing evenly. 58,000 miles with the lifetime warranty. If shocks are bad go back with Chryser or after market.
#62
12-01-2011, 08:07 AM
I'd say that if you're still rolling with the original shocks, then that's definitely the reason you're experiencing instability. Most of us here have experienced premature wear or failure well before that... I replaced mine at 40,000 miles, and 3 out of 4 shocks were like sponges, with 1 having completely lost it's spring. I could decompress it, and it would not even try to spring back. That was in my passenger rear.
I'd say that aftermarket shocks are probably your best bet. You'll pay probably as much for them as you would OEM, and I think you'll get better life and performance. Being I only got 40k out of the OEM, I can only assume I'll do better elsewhere.
As stated before, I'm running the Bilsteins, and I'm more than happy with them. I don't see any evidence of wear yet, and I'm 12k miles into them.
I'd say that aftermarket shocks are probably your best bet. You'll pay probably as much for them as you would OEM, and I think you'll get better life and performance. Being I only got 40k out of the OEM, I can only assume I'll do better elsewhere.
As stated before, I'm running the Bilsteins, and I'm more than happy with them. I don't see any evidence of wear yet, and I'm 12k miles into them.
#64
12-02-2011, 08:01 AM
Go Geo,
Replace the shocks and you will feel like you have a new truck. I had the same problem with bridges/ bumps. Worse in a turn. I now have the Bilstein shocks and the truck drives like it should have off the line.
Replace the shocks and you will feel like you have a new truck. I had the same problem with bridges/ bumps. Worse in a turn. I now have the Bilstein shocks and the truck drives like it should have off the line.
#65
12-02-2011, 09:53 AM
Gang, Thanks for the input
I really like the way this works. You guys are awsome. I spoke with the dealer today and asked if they have had shock issues on the Aspen and they commented no they haven't but it was not to say yours were not bad. I asked to cover under warranty they stated they would need to be leaking or if they would remain collapsed that would work. I am moving on to bilsteins after reading the comments and results. It seems ashame to buy a shy $50,000 vehicle, something like shocks would be a weak link and some cases stated less then 14000 miles and being replaced. Maybe Chrysler is reading and would be proactive in a realatively inexpensevise repair. While I do have your attention have any of you experienced a drive line vibration. I really noticed it pulling a trailer of 1500#lbs. You could feel the vibration in the steering wheel, the seat and it would start at 35 - 40 MPH and then smooth out around 60 and start back at 70mph. With the trailer off the vehicle you can feel a vibration in the steering wheel aound 65 to 70 mph. The vibration comes and goes like clock work maybe a 2 second steering wheel vibration then goes for 1 - 2 seconds then comes back and repeats. The dealership had the vehicle for several weeks and blamed the vibration on the trailer. I know it is not right and felt I would need to run the vehicle until something radically happened. I have read maybe a drive shaft issue. I did not know if any of you had this similar experience and found a cure. They did do a force balance and ran two set of differebt wheels and tires same result. It almost seems like it maybe the rear driveshaft angle. As more weight either trailer tounge or passenger it appears more prominet. Thanks again for the shock lead.
#66
12-02-2011, 12:20 PM
Not to hi-jack this thread, but I have felt this vibration to. I've only had my '07 for a few months and don't do a lot of highway driving, but I have felt it. I only seem to feel it in the 65-70mph range and only on super smooth highways. The whole vehicle has a slight vibration for 2 secs, then smooth for 2 secs... then repeats. I'm not sure what causes this.
#67
12-03-2011, 03:19 PM
Without looking at your vehicle, or driving it, It'd be impossible for me to tell what's going on. However, it sounds like you're describing a front end that needs an alignment. I've had 2 done to mine already since I've owned it, and it's made a world of difference. The Aspen seems to be susceptible (sp?) to coming out of alignment for some reason. I've never had an alignment done to our Jeep Liberty in 140,000 miles. Try getting that done, and go from there. I think that's what it is.
#68
03-03-2012, 04:04 PM
I just put on the Monroe Reflex shocks today and noticed a big difference. do not feel the wheel hop and the ride a much smoother. time will tell on the life of the shock but so far i am impressed and happy. plus, complete job done for $180. Advance Auto had a 20% off coupon online, picked up in store and did the work at a Military Auto Skills shop using their lift and equipment. Beats the several hundred the repair shops were wanting.
#69
09-03-2012, 08:45 PM
I'd be more than happy to give a quick walkthrough...
First off, leaving the tires on, or jacking the truck up in the back is optional. You can get under the rear of the car and do everything you need to with the tires on if you'd like. We'll start on the rear passenger side.
There are 2 sides to the bolt on the bottoms of the rear shocks. You'll need to grab both sides to loosen the bolt/nut or else it will simply spin. The top of the shock has one bolt that you can loosen, as the other side has a locking metal tab that will keep it from spinning freely. Loosen that as well, and remove. You can now take the shock out. Don't worry, these aren't like springs and aren't under any kind of pressure.
Now you can install your new shock. I've always had luck installing the top first, just because it's the hardest nut to get to, but I guess you can do it either way. Getting that locking tab to line up with the bolt again is a bit of a pain just because it's hard to get a good angle to see it. It may be easier if you jack the rear up, but as I stated earlier, I didn't. Get the top tightened down, but don't torque it down yet.
The bottom of the shock is where it takes a bit of trial and error (or frustration). You'll need to compress it about 3 of 4 inches to get it to line up with the bottom mount. I just press it up to about 1 or 2 inches above the mount, then try to slide the bolt in as it's coming back down. This takes some strength, so if you can't swing it, maybe try jacking the bottom of the shock up until it lines up. Once you get it lined up and the bolt in, torque the bolt/nut down all the way. Then move to the top and torque that down. You're done now.
(Note: I'm using the word "torque", but you don't need a torque wrench for this. You'll just want to tighten the bolts on the mounts so that they're tight, then try to take it another 1/4 turn. These bolts and nuts are constantly under pressure from your shock and are more of a coarse thread design, so they won't be going ANYWHERE)
You can use the same procedure for the Driver's side, but the difference is that you'll need to drop the spare. You simply can't get to the top bolt on the Driver's side without dropping it. It doesn't take but a minute or 2.
The front shocks are identical to put in, so I'll only cover one side. You'll note that these shocks should be noticeably shorter than the rears, so if they're not, you may have the wrong shocks.
Jack up one side of the truck with your jack, and rest it on the frame on jack stands. You'll need the jack itself while installing the shock, so you can't leave it sit on the jack.
Remove the lug nuts, and take the wheel off. In my case, the wheel was actually somewhat "tacked" onto the hub with a bit of rust. In other words, I removed the lug nuts, and tried to remove the wheel, but it seemed like something else was holding the wheel on. It wasn't, and if you have the same problem, I'd try lowing the truck back to the ground with the lug nuts off, and wheel still on. This seemed to break it loose a bit. Anyway, I digress...
Remove the bottom bolt of the shock. This shouldn't have a nut on the other side; it should just be a thru bolt. Once that is off, remove the top. This has a bolt and nut, so you'll need 2 wrenches/sockets. Remove these and remove the shock. Once you get the old shock out, install the top of the new shock first and tighten your bolt to snug, but don't torque it.
Now, here's where you'll need the jack. You may notice when you go to put on your new shock, that it doesn't line up. This is because your wheel hub assembly will have dropped a bit after removing the old shock. Place the jack under the lower control arm and jack it up a few inches, or until it lines up with the new shock. Install your thru bolt, and torque down. Then torque down your top, reinstall your wheel, and you're done this side. As stated earlier, this procedure is the same for both front shocks.
If you have any questions/concerns, give a holler.
First off, leaving the tires on, or jacking the truck up in the back is optional. You can get under the rear of the car and do everything you need to with the tires on if you'd like. We'll start on the rear passenger side.
There are 2 sides to the bolt on the bottoms of the rear shocks. You'll need to grab both sides to loosen the bolt/nut or else it will simply spin. The top of the shock has one bolt that you can loosen, as the other side has a locking metal tab that will keep it from spinning freely. Loosen that as well, and remove. You can now take the shock out. Don't worry, these aren't like springs and aren't under any kind of pressure.
Now you can install your new shock. I've always had luck installing the top first, just because it's the hardest nut to get to, but I guess you can do it either way. Getting that locking tab to line up with the bolt again is a bit of a pain just because it's hard to get a good angle to see it. It may be easier if you jack the rear up, but as I stated earlier, I didn't. Get the top tightened down, but don't torque it down yet.
The bottom of the shock is where it takes a bit of trial and error (or frustration). You'll need to compress it about 3 of 4 inches to get it to line up with the bottom mount. I just press it up to about 1 or 2 inches above the mount, then try to slide the bolt in as it's coming back down. This takes some strength, so if you can't swing it, maybe try jacking the bottom of the shock up until it lines up. Once you get it lined up and the bolt in, torque the bolt/nut down all the way. Then move to the top and torque that down. You're done now.
(Note: I'm using the word "torque", but you don't need a torque wrench for this. You'll just want to tighten the bolts on the mounts so that they're tight, then try to take it another 1/4 turn. These bolts and nuts are constantly under pressure from your shock and are more of a coarse thread design, so they won't be going ANYWHERE)
You can use the same procedure for the Driver's side, but the difference is that you'll need to drop the spare. You simply can't get to the top bolt on the Driver's side without dropping it. It doesn't take but a minute or 2.
The front shocks are identical to put in, so I'll only cover one side. You'll note that these shocks should be noticeably shorter than the rears, so if they're not, you may have the wrong shocks.
Jack up one side of the truck with your jack, and rest it on the frame on jack stands. You'll need the jack itself while installing the shock, so you can't leave it sit on the jack.
Remove the lug nuts, and take the wheel off. In my case, the wheel was actually somewhat "tacked" onto the hub with a bit of rust. In other words, I removed the lug nuts, and tried to remove the wheel, but it seemed like something else was holding the wheel on. It wasn't, and if you have the same problem, I'd try lowing the truck back to the ground with the lug nuts off, and wheel still on. This seemed to break it loose a bit. Anyway, I digress...
Remove the bottom bolt of the shock. This shouldn't have a nut on the other side; it should just be a thru bolt. Once that is off, remove the top. This has a bolt and nut, so you'll need 2 wrenches/sockets. Remove these and remove the shock. Once you get the old shock out, install the top of the new shock first and tighten your bolt to snug, but don't torque it.
Now, here's where you'll need the jack. You may notice when you go to put on your new shock, that it doesn't line up. This is because your wheel hub assembly will have dropped a bit after removing the old shock. Place the jack under the lower control arm and jack it up a few inches, or until it lines up with the new shock. Install your thru bolt, and torque down. Then torque down your top, reinstall your wheel, and you're done this side. As stated earlier, this procedure is the same for both front shocks.
If you have any questions/concerns, give a holler.
I just replaced my OEMs with Bilsteins this weekend, and I'd like to contribute a couple of tips from my own experience.
When doing the front shocks, I found I was able to replace them without removing the front wheels. Just by jacking under the frame, I found I could get things positioned to get at the bolts with the wheels on (for the bottom, just to get the suspension arm out of the way of the lower shock bolt, and for the top, to raise the vehicle high enough to work right over the tire). Since the bolts tend to be rusted on pretty well and extremely hard to break loose (even with lots of penetrating lube), all that yanking is something I prefer to do without depending on the vehicle staying put on a jackstand (which tends to not be the most stable platform). I found this method to be both safer and less bother (i.e., no need to remove and replace the wheels, and no worry about doing damage to me or to the car when trying to get enough leverage to break loose rusted, stubborn bolts).
When doing the rear shocks, your description of "requires some strength" when compressing the shocks by hand to get the shock in position to put the bottom bolts in wins for understatement of the year! After struggling like hell through the driver's side installation (the shock decompresses quite quickly, and it's really tough to get it in the right position and get the bolt to find the frame hole and the shock hole in time before the shock has gone too far and you have to start all over again), I think the best way to do it via compressing by hand is to grow a third arm for getting the bolt in! LOL! I knew I would have much more of an issue with the passenger side, with the muffler in the way, because to get enough leverage to compress THAT one by hand I would have to work from deep underneath the vehicle in a tight space (you can't pull it back towards you like you can on the other side, because the muffler is in the way). I found a better (and easier) way to deal with this problem. Simply jack under the frame (as far back as possible, just before the frame rail curves up) until you get the extra distance needed by stretching the suspension, and pop the bolt in.
Oh, and by the way, you'll want to have a breaker bar on hand (like an 18"), if your bolts are as rusted in place as mine were, for cracking them loose and for the first several turns after (partial turns, due to limited room, not necessarily "full" turns) in many cases. You'll know if you switch to your ratchets too early, because the sucker just won't move.
Hope this helps you DIYers to get it done with a little less pain and suffering! I should mention that my wheel/tire package is a little, er aggressive in terms of fitment, so YMMV with regard to how much room you have to work the front shocks with the wheels mounted, but it's easy enough to check before going through the extra work of taking the wheels off.
The truck is like a whole new vehicle with the Bilsteins on it - as others have indicated, it gets rid of the bouncing/floating/side-stepping squirreliness issues of the OEM shocks, is a bit firmer (but I don't find it harsh), and handles much better (big reduction in body lean in curves). Before the shock change, my Aspen kind of felt like driving a waterbed - lots of bouncing (repeated bouncing at speed) and swaying. Now, it's crisp and confidence inspiring to drive - amazing what a transformation a decent set of shocks brings!
#70
09-04-2012, 06:28 AM
10-4, glad I could help out. For the breaker bar, I always use the top half of my floor jack handle... it fits nicely over my ratchet. Forgot to mention that.