Bilsteins installed

[Skandocious]

So the 5100s came a few days ago. Got them in today. The six of them ended up taking 2-3 hours because the bushings were wider than my brackets, so I had to pull the brackets off and bend them to make them big enough to get the shocks in without tearing up the bushings. All in all-- not a hard job... Just a pain in the butt.

I only drove it the short distance from Toms to my mom's house but damn it felt great; riding on smooth pavement feels mostly the same except that the damned VIBRATIONS I've had for the past couple years seemed to be greatly reduced. I'll get a better feel for it on the ride back to Davis tomorrow-- can't wait to see how the washboard stuff on the freeway feels

Very satisfied thus far. Bumps are a lot less jarring.

 

[Raptor22]

Awesome Chris. You got a damn good deal on them too. I am jealous.

 

[john112deere]

riding on smooth pavement feels mostly the same except that the damned VIBRATIONS I've had for the past couple years seemed to be greatly reduced. I'll get a better feel for it on the ride back to Davis tomorrow-- can't wait to see how the washboard stuff on the freeway feels

That was one of the big advantages to the new shocks I put in my Ranger a few years back. I mean, being able to steer and brake hard simultaneously again was probably the best result...but getting rid of those daggone vibrations on the highway was a huge plus, too.


Just out of curiosity- did you require a torch to loosen any of the bolts that held the shocks in?

 

[Skandocious]

Negatory on the torch. The only time I've ever had to use one was on the sag pump that Travis sent me-- had a busted bolt when it arrived

 

[Dirky]

Perdy Shock Absorbers.

Right on man! I don't even need them and I want them.

 

[5.0]

Just out of curiosity- did you require a torch to loosen any of the bolts that held the shocks in?

You ---> Old Town, ME

Skan ---> Davis & Newcastle, CA

..........

 

[O'Rattlecan]

Looks great, Chris! Did Bilstein start making them all stainless steel looking like that, or did you get some super-uber bonus shocks? Mine are yella and blue.

Ryan

 

[Skandocious]

The yellow and blue is their basic shock. The stainless ones are the superior 5100 series.

 

[TexasNomad]

How do these shocks stack up to other brand of shock?

 

[FordF-SuperDuty]

How do these shocks stack up to other brand of shock?

There just horrible.








No. From what I've heard there some of the best.

 

[Skandocious]

Tex they're supposed to be just about the best of the best that I can get for my truck. They've got variable valving so the stiffness of of the shock changes as it is compressed. Stan from UC explained it in laymens terms pretty well

The shocks aren't "stiffer" they are just properly valved. You take that into account with Bilsteins popular Digressive self-adjusting shim stacks and you have a winner. The shocks digressive adjustability will correct out the different spring rates on different trucks. What you get with the 5100 is a soft plush ride when the suspension is barely cycling (road, minor bumps, ~3" of the shocks up/down travel), then when the suspension gets cycled really quickly or takes hard hits, the valving stiffens up keeping you under control.

So the idea is that my truck should ride awesome on-road, then it'll be very easy to control when I've got it out on the dunes next weekend

 

[Blue Goose]

*off topic*

Soooo, you're going to Pismo nest weekend?.....

I guess you know pictures and lots of them are required upon your return...

 

[Skandocious]

Just a quick update-- we took the truck for a pretty long drive last night and most of my predictions were true. The shocks are working fantastically for small, jarring bumps in the road. A good example of this is the road reflectors that stick up about an inch off the road. We were driving down the freeway and I drifted off into the shoulder a bit and rode on top of the reflectors-- it was pretty amazing how smooth it felt. Of course you could feel it but it felt MUCH more cushioned than before (even Trista could feel the difference and she was telling me she couldn't feel it elsewhere).

What the shocks have NOT affected (and I didn't expect them to) is smoother bumps in the road. By this I mean things like unlevel pavement that makes smooth curves up and down. There's a road like this by my house and driving over it pushing my truck around quite a bit; very little change there.

But the icing on the cake for me was a road a few miles from my house that I've always hated driving on. It's paved with concrete instead of asphalt, and due to age all of the concrete has broken into pieces and makes for a VERY rough ride in my truck. I generally avoid taking that route because of this small 1-mile stretch of road, even though I like that route better. Well NOW that damned road felt smooth as freakin silk I was thoroughly impressed-- that's the kind of stuff these shocks are designed to remedy and they worked wonderfully in that category.


So the only type of on-road driving that I've yet to test is the washboard stuff on the freeway. Then pismo next weekend! I'll report back as I get new info

 

[Skandocious]

*off topic*

Soooo, you're going to Pismo nest weekend?.....

I guess you know pictures and lots of them are required upon your return...

Yessir we're going! The trip will be a little shorter than expected because Trista has to work Friday night, but we're headed down REAL early (read: 6am) with Rick on Saturday-- leaving Sunday. Should be fun

 

[TexasNomad]

Tex they're supposed to be just about the best of the best that I can get for my truck. They've got variable valving so the stiffness of of the shock changes as it is compressed. Stan from UC explained it in laymens terms pretty well



So the idea is that my truck should ride awesome on-road, then it'll be very easy to control when I've got it out on the dunes next weekend

Hmm sound pretty good, i've been looking in to the Edelbrock shocks, i've been hearing allot good thing about them...
I'll start looking in to these

 

[TexasNomad]

damn, they don't make a set for gen 6 trucks, only vans..

 

[john112deere]

...we're headed down REAL early (read: 6am)

Glad you translated...'cause my idea of leaving "REAL early" is a couple hours before that.


Glad you're happy with the shocks...they're one of those things where you don't really notice how much they've degraded (until they get really bad), but when you replace them, WOW- it's almost like a whole new truck. ('Course, I had a bit over 200k on the factory shocks when I finally got around to replacing mine...)

 

[Skandocious]

That's heading out of town at 6am. Which means waking up at around 4am.

 

[Blue Goose]

That's heading out of town at 6am. Which means waking up at around 4am.

4 a.m....

 

[nobodyspecial]

wah wah wah... poor baby and his 4AM.

Chris, I am actually crying for you right now, its just not fair, nobody should have to deal with that...

What I mean to say is... Suck it up and grow a pair.