As a former road racer I obviously tried the shocks at full firm, full soft
and several places in between.  I can change shocks on a Vanagon pretty
quickly now!  ;)

You probably know that the Konis are only adjustable on the 'Rebound'
valving, the 'Jounce' setting is set at the factory - that's the part I
didn't care for...

As I said before, YMMV

"Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks!"

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 1:05 PM, David Vickery <david_vickery@yahoo.com>wrote:

> I'm surprised to hear you say the Bilstein HD were soft and wallowy.  I
> have read quite a few posts the past 2 days and the only complaints have
> been that they are too stiff.
>
> The Konis are adjustable.  Did you dial them up, or was that on the lowest
> setting.  I read they can be very jarring when dialed up but the vanagon
> people that posted about them recommended dialing them up some (I forget
> what the consensus was, more in the rear than the front though).
>
> I am going to get the Koni's so I guess I will be able to figure that out
> myself.  I decided from posts that I don't want the ride of a gas charged
> shock (better performance but stiffer and translate more bumps on highway).
>
> --- On Tue, 3/29/11, Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
> > I have used several of the shocks
> > that you mention.
>
> > The Bilstein HD shocks were too soft and wallowy for me, so
> > I sold them. If you think a '68 Thunderbird has a good ride,  you
> > might like them.
> >
> > The Konis were much too bumpy and hard riding on the jounce
> > part of the stroke, so I removed them. I didn't like them with the
> > Carat springs or with the '89 Westy springs.
> >
> > I went back to my former ALKO shocks, the same ones I have
> > on my '84 and like them a lot. If they were a tiny bit firmer on rebound
> > I'd reach Vanagon suspension nirvana.  ;)
> >
> > IMHO, YMMV, etcetera
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 4:29 PM, David Vickery <david_vickery@yahoo.com
> >wrote:
> >
> > > My rear shocks are leaking (oil residue all around the
> > shock tube) so I am assuming it is time to replace them.
> > >
> > > What are people recommending?  I am more
> > interested in quality over cheap
> > > but a good deal is nice to find.  And for what
> > it's worth I put a set of
> > > Bilstein's on a previous van and I didn't think there
> > was much difference
> > > from the stock Boge.  I wouldn't rule out getting
> > them again, but what do
> > > you recommend. I drive highway and dirt roads in a 2wd
> > Westy.
> > >
>
>
>
>

--
Jake

1984 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX - 'The Grey Van'
1986 Westy Weekender/2.5 SOHC Subie - 'Dixie'

Crescent Beach, BC

www.thebassspa.com
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27