New shocks and F250 shock Mounts

[casadejohnson]

I picked up a set of the F250 shock mounts this past weekend for the 74. I'm not ready to swap them on just yet but I have started to look at shocks for them. I currently run Wild Horses shocks up front but was thinking of putting a set of Bilstiens up there or something along that line. The problem is that I don't know a hell of a lot about shock valving to know what I want or need. Who has some knowledge on the subject or who is a good vendor to order them from that can help me make an educated decision. Also, is there any reason for me to spend the money on remote reservoir shocks or is that just a bling factor thing? I'm not exactly running Baja in this thing, I just want reasonable street manors and good flex offroad. The lift is 4 1/2" from Wild Horses.

[Justin]

A set of Bilstein 5100s will do fine. They're a good workhorse shock. If you want nicer or longer travel the 7100s are a good option. They come in various vavlings and the typical front use is the 360/80s. Reservoirs are nice, and if you were buying coilovers the extra is worth it. The exception is the short body 7100s, which pack 14" of travel into a shock the length of a 12" shock. Reservoirs separate the nitrogen charge from the oil, which helps keep them more consistent under heavy use. You don't really need them for street driving or routine wheeling. The other major perk of more expensive shocks like the 7100s is the ability to custom valve them. Honestly, though, if you're going to drop $200 per shock spend a little more and step up to coilovers. I'm shopping for some now because the price wasn't that different from what I had planned to do, especially when I figured in what I could get for the suspension stuff I already had.

[Jesus_man]

Justin - I'm interested in your plans and what you come up with. By my research, new shocks and springs were still 50% cheaper than C/O's, but I wasn't looking at the 7100's either.

Bilstein makes a great shock. I would also think the 5100's would treat you right and you might just call their customer service, or one of the bronco vendors and see what they recommend...

[Justin]

Jeremy, WH now carries Bilstein. It would probably be worth a call to them to chat about it. I was looking at the 7100s because I'll be running long arms and will be able to use much, if not all the travel and wanted to run a short 14" shock while keeping the inner fenders. I also wanted the tunability and ability to rebuild them so that I could make the purchase once and not upgrade down the road. As I kept thinking about it, that's what drove my decision to spend the extra on coilovers since I'm already totally redoing the front suspension. If I was keeping the lower coil buckets I might have stuck with my plan to run a coil spring and shock. I share JM's opinion that the 5100s are probably perfect for what you're shooting for if the long term plan is to keep it a street/light to moderate trail rig.

JM-I don't want to threadjack, so I'm going to keep it shortish. The short bodied 7100s are about $180 or $200. I was able to directly swap my lower radius arm brackets for the coilover ones with Clint (THANKS CLINT!), so no money went out there. I got the adjustable shock towers and coil buckets as a package with my radius arms, and was able to sell those to cover most of the difference in the shock cost. A 12" travel 2" body Fox or King emulsion (non-reservoir) coilover runs about $275, and they're a big step up in performance from the Bilstein 7100s. I can bend up my own shock towers and already have a bunch of tube I got cheap, so no cost there. Springs are available used for less than $50 each. If I can find a nice set of used coilovers they seem to go in the $50-600 range for a pair 2" emulsions, making the cost difference even smaller. I may spend a little more to go to a 2.5" reservoir shock, as that seems to be the price/performance sweet spot. It doesn't hurt that Poly Performance is running a 10% off coupon right now.

[landshark]

Plus rebuildable. I bent a 7100 rod a few years ago ordered a new rod recharged them and was good as new.

I have been a big fan of bilstien. If you want to talk to someone at bilstien. A guy name Joel in the San Diego office is the man to talk to. Great guy if you want his email let me know or do a search on pirate 4x4

[RJLougee]

I have Bilstiens on several rigs, they're a good shock for the $$. That said, I also really like the MX-6 adjustable shocks. I would run either of those two and not much else as far a "regular" shocks go.

As for valving, I usually run the 360/80 up front and the 255/70 in back. If either end is really heavy, then go 400/100 in front and 275/78 or 360/80 in back. E-shocks sells the Bilstien 7100s for $185 each, with free shipping. 4 new 5100s would be $307.
HTH, Joe

[Gunnibronco]

The difference between a short bodied 14" 7100 w/reservoir, and a 14" 7100 non-reservoir, is less than 1.5". Since I don't intend on dune racing or rally cross, what is the real advantage to the reservoir models?

I need to go measure things. I'd like to make an upgrade or two before Moab, and this seems like one I could get done. Saving $80 by going non-reservoir sounds very appealing.

[Justin]

The reservior can make the shock more consistent over long washboard roads and things like that. The other thing that they help with is keeping the shock consistent in radically off camber situation, like climbing an extremely steep waterfall. For most of what we're doing, there isn't a huge difference and the $80 can be better spent elsewhere.

[casadejohnson]

Good info here, I'm just getting started on educating myself on the subject. I mentioned that I'm not ready to install the shock mounts yet, thats because I'm seriously considering long arms of some sort. I would really like to build a set of Lars Bars but I'm not set on it. I need to make the decision on what I want to do there before I can make the shock decision.