Opinions needed on Alko shock replacement

[pumasong]

Hi folks,

First time posting here but long time caravan owner. I'm pretty handy and happy to get my hands dirty, and have plenty of experience working on vehicles of different sorts.

I'm trying to work out whether these shocks are past their useful lives and need urgent replacement, or if this rust is just superficial:



The other side is pretty much the same. They move when compressed with the jack but I obviously can't tell whether they're doing much in terms of absorbing shocks.

I'd be interested to hear opinions from the community - they look pretty easy to swap out once those rusty bolts are freed up!

Thanks in advance

George

 

[Jcloughie]

Welcome to the forum.

There are videos on YouTube like this which will help.

Although you cannot really bounce a caravan like a car, testing off the van is pretty easy. Caravans shocks get little use when compared to a car so can look worse than they actually are.

John

 

[RogerL]

Dampers on cars last 50,000+ miles, much, much more in many cases - that's probably more than a lifetime for most caravans.

The fact that they're rusty means they aren't leaking hydraulic oil - which in turn means they're fine!

 

[AndrewAventura]

Dampers themselves may well be OK, but what about the rubber mounting bushes - are you planning to change them? The chassis mount is very offset, and these are surely not offset design type? That free movement would bang about in use.

 

[IanB1485]

The first sign a shock absorber is knackered is oil marks on the lower part , showing the seal has failed. Yours look dry so should be ok. On a car MOT they dont 'test' the effectiveness of the shock absorbers, just look for oil/wetness on all the caked on mud, if dry its a pass

 

[pumasong]

Thanks all, yes no sign of leakage so fair to assume they're still holding their oil. I'll inspect the other side in detail but I reckon I can save that job for the time being.