Monroe Gas-Matic shocks?

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for the help here. After more test driving and paying even more close attention to how my truck handles and behaves I believe my Reflex shocks are OK for now. They do have some wear, but they are not leaking and the truck rides very well on normal, relatively smooth roads. I thought maybe I needed new shocks because I noticed it was a lot more bumpy on a trip I took this past Saturday. The road I was on when I noticed the rough ride was in pretty bad shape itself. I know the bounce test does not always apply to every vehicle, but my truck passes the bounce test at all 4 corners. I rocked each corner up and down about 5 times as hard as I could and when I let go they still bounced up one time and came to a perfect stop.

I am going to leave well enough alone for the time being, but I thought about it a lot and read a lot of reviews on shocks. Whenever I do have to replace my shocks I will very likely buy a set of the Gabriel Ultra's. There are a lot of good reviews on those and I figure if I did not like the SensaTracs before, I won't like them in the future and I should buy a better shock and not have to worry about it later. The Reflex do have a lifetime warranty, but I can't get another set for my Dakota. Warranty or not, I got my money's worth out of them. As long as my Reflex shocks hold out OK I am leaving them alone.

Thanks for all of the help on this.

 

[vssjim]

It's interesting that on any given day, the consensus is either Monroes suck, or, KYB's suck. On the alternative day, either Monroe is the greatest, or KYB is the greatest.....but, not both. Ya, none of this makes sense.

I'm considering new struts and shocks for my Caravan this winter and my choice keeps changing with the BITOG tide.

Maybe Gabriels are the better choice after all. [/quote at work we either use KYB's or Monroes, we haven't used Gabriels in awhile due to nobody carried them. Car Quest is now selling them again but we will probably stay with KYB and Monroes, we try not to use Monroe Matics as they just seem too soft on most cars and the cost to upgrade for most of our customers doesn't seem to be a problem

 

[artificialist]

Reflex shocks do have the warranty on them, but you might have to fight to get the warranty honored.

Don't ever buy Monroe gas-matic shocks, monroe-matic struts, or econo-matic struts. Gas-matic shocks last 20,000 miles, their cheap struts last 30,000 miles.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
Reflex shocks do have the warranty on them, but you might have to fight to get the warranty honored.

Don't ever buy Monroe gas-matic shocks, monroe-matic struts, or econo-matic struts. Gas-matic shocks last 20,000 miles, their cheap struts last 30,000 miles.


I don't think the Gas Matics I had even really made it 20K miles. I know one of the rears blew out and leaked the oil within a few thousand miles of normal use. I replaced them with Motorcrafts in the front and KYBs in the rear today. The improvement in ride and handling was amazing, I did not realize just how bad the Monroes had become in two short years. If I can find the receipt for the Monroes I might try to get them replaced, but I'll probably just throw them in the scrap metal pile.

The Motorcrafts used a different size nut on the studs for the front shocks than the Monroes, and I didn't have the correct nut on hand, so with one shock removed from the front I drove to Advance Auto (about a mile away) and there was no noticeable difference in how the truck handled or rode! The Monroes were so bad I may as well have gone without shocks!

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks again. I am taking the same trip today as I took last Saturday (going to Disney, my wife and I are Florida resident seasonal pass holders) and I will pay even more attention to the road and how my truck behaves. I want to see if it really is as bumpy this time as I remember from last week. My truck does ride OK around town but today I will see a good variety of roads and road conditions, so I should be able to get a good "second opinion", as it were. If the trip today is bumpy, I may just do a new set of Gabriel Ultra shocks anyway. Ultra's only cost $12.00 more per shock than the mid-grade Gabriel shock.

My Reflex shocks do have about 70K on them now, I just wonder what really is the life span of a shock on a 2 wheel drive truck? The bounce test does not really tell me much, because the coil springs and leaf springs on my truck are pretty stiff as it is. My shocks don't leak or anything but I do wonder if they are worn to the point where new shocks would improve the ride quality.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Thanks again. I am taking the same trip today as I took last Saturday (going to Disney, my wife and I are Florida resident seasonal pass holders) and I will pay even more attention to the road and how my truck behaves. I want to see if it really is as bumpy this time as I remember from last week. My truck does ride OK around town but today I will see a good variety of roads and road conditions, so I should be able to get a good "second opinion", as it were. If the trip today is bumpy, I may just do a new set of Gabriel Ultra shocks anyway. Ultra's only cost $12.00 more per shock than the mid-grade Gabriel shock.

My Reflex shocks do have about 70K on them now, I just wonder what really is the life span of a shock on a 2 wheel drive truck? The bounce test does not really tell me much, because the coil springs and leaf springs on my truck are pretty stiff as it is. My shocks don't leak or anything but I do wonder if they are worn to the point where new shocks would improve the ride quality.


One characteristic my Rangers with similar suspensions have always exhibited with worn shocks is the rear end shifting to the side slightly when going over a speed bump.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I am leaving the shocks alone for the time being. Truck drives and rides very well on a relatively normal smooth road. No nosediving when I come to a stop, no floating sensation at highway speeds. The roads down near Disney are not so good, especially the main highway leading toward the park. I did notice some bumpiness on the bad sections of roads today, but the rest of the time the shocks seemed to handle the road just fine. I will just leave well enough alone until/unless the shocks get any worse.

 

[Spazdog]

Tokicos for my Mazda are only about $20 more from Steeda than Monroes from O'Reilly. (yes Mustang boys, I said Steeda)

KYBs from RockAuto are even less.

Why would I even consider Monroes?

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Tokicos for my Mazda are only about $20 more from Steeda than Monroes from O'Reilly. (yes Mustang boys, I said Steeda)

KYBs from RockAuto are even less.

Why would I even consider Monroes?

There is no need for you to consider monroes. The reason I often install them is simply because I can find them easily for almost anything.

 

[RF Overlord]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Maybe Gabriels are the better choice after all.
I've always liked Gabriel shocks from back in high school (WAY too many years ago) so I bought them for my newly-acquired Mercury Grand Monkey as it has 120,000 on the originals. I don't think they were BAD per se, but the ride and handling do seem better with the new ones, although not by much. The rear shocks on this car are a huge PITA, and I haven't the ambition to launch that ship just yet so I'll have to wait to see if they make any further improvement.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: RF Overlord
I've always liked Gabriel shocks from back in high school (WAY too many years ago) so I bought them for my newly-acquired Mercury Grand Monkey as it has 120,000 on the originals.


I have a soft spot for Gabriels. The first ever rear shock job I did many years ago was with Gabriels. It took under 45 minutes, which doesn't sound like the job you just had on the Grand Marquis.

 

[SteveSRT8]

The new Gabriel Ultras are a real treat for our extra heavy duty fleet vans. They really work well with a fully loaded truck on them!

We fracture and ruin KYB's here. Happened TWICE with no warranty support. Not a fan.

Ultras are cheap and hugely over-engineered for our application.

YMMV!

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
The new Gabriel Ultras are a real treat for our extra heavy duty fleet vans. They really work well with a fully loaded truck on them!

We fracture and ruin KYB's here. Happened TWICE with no warranty support. Not a fan.

Ultras are cheap and hugely over-engineered for our application.

YMMV!


Where did the KYBs fracture and at what mileage? What was KYB's reason for not covering them? I've only seen a shock housing fail due to rust.

Asking because I just put KYB Excel-Gs on the rear of my truck, which gets worked pretty hard including towing. If the current Motorcraft/KYB arrangement doesn't last, I'm just going to buy Bilsteins next time.

 

[SteveSRT8]

One broke at the mounting point and one ruptured internally and leaked. Both on fully loaded Savana 3500 GMC vans (2 different ones). Normal usage, normal miles. One may have had 60k on it, the other one didn't last that long!

After I found out they do not honor a warranty I tried about everyone. I tried 2 Ultras off Amazon and was blown away by the value.

 

[Rock_Hudstone]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I bought the Reflex shocks at Napa, they have a lifetime warranty, but Napa will not warranty them for normal wear, the warranty only covers a shock that is actually broken or has a manufacturer defect. I am wondering here if anyone has any experience with the (cheaper) Monroe Gas Matic truck shocks?

My experience is with passenger car shock/stuts. The Monroe gas-matics have a comfortable ride and are inexpensive. However, they can wear out in a few years depending on mileage.

Good news is Advance Auto will replace them under warranty no questions asked. The Sensa-tracs last much longer, I got over a 100,000 miles on the last set of front struts.

 

[wrcsixeight]

I had some KYB's shear off the lower tabs, but that was because the shop installed the incorrect shock which was too long and bottomed out before the suspension itself would.

The shop replaced them free, I do not know if The parts store, the shop, or if KYB took the hit.

I really like the feel of the KYB's over the sensa tracs I installed briefly after the KYB tab sheared off.

I am dismayed about the reports of the KYB failures.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I don't need the very best shocks money can buy, even for a bargain Ebay or Amazon price. I will watch the sales at Autozone and on Amazon and wait to see what kind of deals and/or rebates come up on Gabriel shocks in the next few months. I am sure the shocks I have now have more than enough life still left in them so I can wait for a good sale or rebate deal.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I don't need the very best shocks money can buy, even for a bargain Ebay or Amazon price. I will watch the sales at Autozone and on Amazon and wait to see what kind of deals and/or rebates come up on Gabriel shocks in the next few months. I am sure the shocks I have now have more than enough life still left in them so I can wait for a good sale or rebate deal.


Edit: I just remembered there is a rebate deal going on now on Gabriel shocks. I can get a $20.00 MIR if I spend over $100.00 on a set of Gabriels between now and Oct. 15th. Not too bad of a deal I guess, and I don't expect AZ to run any other Gabriel deals at least until the rebate expires. So I have some time to poke around online for any other good prices/deals I might find.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Well here's an update if anyone is interested..I did a ton of research on the yellow Monroe Gas-Matic LT shocks they sell at AAP. There are a lot of great online reviews on them from other Dakota owners and owners of similar size trucks. I decided to give the Gas-Matics a try and I am sure glad I did. I picked them up at AAP last night and put them on today. It was super easy to do. I went for a test drive on some of the real bumpy roads around here and with the Gas-Matics I hardly even felt any of the rough road surfaces. It also did not feel like the bed was hopping when I hit a bump either. The ride quality is 1000% better now than it was on my worn-but-still-OK Reflex shocks. The ride is nice and firm on smooth roads in town and at cruising speeds too, which is exactly what I wanted. Truck handles like a dream and ride quality is even better than new.

I got a great deal on these shocks too. I did two separate transactions, and each pair of shocks came up to a total price of $49.96. I threw in a $1.50 roll of duct tape on each deal to be able to use the PAYPAL discount code for $20.00 off a $50.00 purchase so I saved $40.00 on the four shocks. Plus there is a mail-in rebate from Monroe, if you buy four new shocks you get a rebate for the price of one. If they give me a rebate for the regular $24.95 price of one shock, then my new set only cost me $35.00, and they seem to me to be excellent quality for normal street use. I don't tow or go off-road, I have no idea how the Gas-Matics do in that aspect.

I sure am glad I tried these less-expensive shocks first. I hope they last a long time, but even so they have a lifetime warranty. As it is, I would recommend the Gas-Matic LT's to anyone who needs a good quality truck shock at a good price. The Monroe shocks are also made here in the USA. I believe these were made at the Monroe factory in Arkansas. That is important to me. I try my best to buy American whenever possible.

 

[01rangerxl]

New shocks will always feel good at first, even cheap ones. What's not so good is when you see oil running down the shock from a blown out seal after just a few thousand miles. Granted my truck tows and hauls a lot more than the typical small truck, but still that shouldn't happen. I never saw a shock actually have runs of oil going down it until the Gas Matics.

Sorry, these are bottom of the barrel shocks and are priced accordingly. I hope they work out for you, if you never carry anything they might be fine. These shocks aren't really fit for anything but a beater that needs to get through one more state inspection though.