How long do OEM shocks last?

Mine takes a beating, so get replaced every spring, they don't do anything in the winter here anyway.
The new monroes are black, I replaced mine this spring and when I got home had black shocks, until I opened the last two and had yellow. I went back and got some more black ones. lol

 

I use monroe and gabriel.

Actually keep them in stock because they get changed out when the trucks are brought in for their annual checkup which includes the alignment and everything else.

We used to do that at 120k, but after testing ten trucks out, I decided to move that number up to 200k.

 

I’m sort of reevaluating my shock program after learning the short intervals many of you do. My local shop looks at me crazy when I want to change out rear shocks. They always say fronts are good to change but nobody worries about rears but you. They work on a ton of trucks too both small guys up to big companies.

Now I’m thinking each time a new set of rubber goes on it gets a new set of shocks. I very rarely get any blowouts but I do occasionally get wavyness or funny wear. Maybe that would get taken care of as long as air pressures are also kept up.

 

I think the governed speed of trucks also matters. I drive at 62 MPH, but every time I do 70 MPH, I can tell my shocks (and whole equipment) is in more use than normal.

If I had a fleet I think I would remove and inspect the shocks at 100k, 200k, and then every 50k after that. Then once I found some failed shocks, I would place the maintenance interval at 50k less than that. I have a feeling today’s shocks can last at least 400k, especially now that very precise machines create these shocks. By the way, I’ve heard there are machines that can test the life of shocks.

 

It just gets hard if you have quite a few trucks but still aren’t big enough to have your own mechanic. That’s sort of an in between area I’m stuck in right now. But, yes if you wanted you could invest in a shock dyno to make sure the shocks are 100%. Could even dyno brand new ones before going on.

I hear what your saying though and it’s a sound idea I’d say.

Across 70 in central Indiana you may get airborne doing 70mph haha.