Shocks are a crucial part of every ATV as they provide safety, comfort and play a huge role in a smooth ride. Over time, your shocks might get rusty, they might break or maybe they just aren’t supporting the ATV the way they should. Knowing when to change your shocks will improve you ATV experience and your safety exponentially.
It is time to change your shocks whenever you find rust, if any part breaks, or if the terrain feels rougher than it is. These are all pretty big signs to change your shocks. There is not necessarily a schedule or a “every few years” timeline because how much you ride, the ATV you are driving and the terrain will create too many variables.
There are so many factors and variables that go into understanding when to change your shocks that it really requires a lot of information. To really understand the when to and even the when not to lets dive into a deeper dive at the topic.
A Deeper Dive
Knowing when to buy new shocks is a super helpful skill to have as an ATV owner. The quality of your vehicle will increase, the quality of your riding will increase and overall you will be much happier. The reality that can be hard to grasp for some people is that it is now a straight forward answer. There are certain times where no doubt it is time to change them but there are other times where you need to take a closer look at the shocks.
It is pretty hard to change a shock without knowing how to do it so if you are wondering that, check out this other article we wrote:
Installing New ATV Shocks – A Helpful Tutorial
One of the most prominent and definite times to replace your shocks is when you see a decent amount of rust. Rust will eat away at the part until it is nothing but a sandy-textured, brown mess. This rusting process will take time but overall once you see a lot of rust, it is officially time to swap out those shocks. Rust will eat away at the part until the mechanical physics shocks follow are no more. Riding with this virus-like environmental process on your quad is dangerous for you and your vehicle.
Another big red flag telling you that it is time to change your shocks is if any part breaks. Shocks are made of two main parts, the spring and the dampener. Both play a huge role in the physics of how a shock works and with either of them broken or rusted the shocks cannot perform its role. Some things you might see to determine if a part is broken is a detached spring. Unfortunately, it is quite frequent to have one end of the spring detach. This is super dangerous and will completely ruin the shock ability to accomplish a more stable ride. The physics behind the mechanics of the shock depend on its design so if you ever see the spring detached, the dampener cracked or anything that is unusual or doesn’t look right, it is time for a change.
One of the most overlooked signs that it is time to change your shocks is if your riding experience is feeling bumpier than it should be. The very purpose of your shocks is to dampen the effect of bumps or disturbances during your ride. If you are riding in relatively smooth terrain but you are feeling like you are driving over a bunch of pot-holes then it could mean a few bad things. One is that your shocks fall into the categories above of rusting or some kind of break in the part. Another perhaps even more popular reason is that the shocks were just simply not designed well. Maybe you bought the cheapest shock you could find and it turned out to be made with no effort or strategy. Poorly designed shocks are probably the number one reason you may have to change your shocks.
An important thing to remember about the previous sign is that it is not always the shocks fault. Now, that does not mean it is your fault but maybe the shocks have not been adjusted to the right terrain. If you want to learn more about adjusting shocks check out this article we wrote about just that:
Adjusting Your ATV Shocks – A Helpful Guide
Buying New Shocks
Obviously, if there is a point where you need to change your shocks then you will need shocks to replace them with. Buying the right shocks and the best shocks is usually a long, hard and annoying process. We wrote an article on just that to save you some serious headache and improve your knowledge on good shocks:
What ATV Shocks Should I Buy? – A Helpful Guide
How Much Do Shocks Cost?
Although this topic is answered in the subheading above it is a simple one which can be answered in this article. The price of a shock will definitely vary based on the ATV, the size and who made the shock but an average price can be calculated. Most ATV shocks will cost somewhere around $100 to $500. There are some that are cheaper which I don’t really recommend because quality is definitely sacrificed for that price. There are also some that are more expensive which will be much more luxurious or maybe designed for a very specific ATV.
