Shocks - Rancho, Bilstein, etc.

I have some old bilsteins that perform great, despite an unknown amount of miles on them. My understanding is that the valving on the bilsteins 5100 series makes them superior to a lot of others? On the front I have Radflo Coilovers which are adjustable to accommodate dual batteries, a custom steel bumper and a winch.

It looks like there are lots of great adjustable options for the super duty which is nice http://www.summitrac...aillocation=int

It would be a mistake to assume that shocks suitable for a race truck are suitable for an everyday vehicle; the requirements are quite different. For example, a lot of so-called high-performance shocks come with heym joints instead of rubber bushings, which I think is a mistake for an overlanding vehicle.

I've had very good luck with Old Man Emu shocks, including about 140,000 miles on a Land Cruiser used for guiding and training. 

I disagree respectfully about adjustable shocks. If you have a camper that is removed between trips, adjustable shocks are the only way to ensure a comfortable and controlled ride with or without the load. We're running Boss adjustable shocks on our Tacoma, and even though our camper stays on all the time I'll adjust the shocks up for firm freeway handling, then down for off-pavement comfort.

The Boss shocks look interesting.  Thanks for the heads up on those.

Bilstein 5100's come with bushings, not bearings. A little known trick with the Bilstein 7100's, that come with Heim joints or spherical bearings or Rose Joints - which ever you want to call them, is to remove them and replace them with quality urethane shock eyelet bushing. I've done exactly that on the chase truck which also serves as my crawler and my long distance solo trips rig. Damping is damping, if it is tailored correctly to the truck then it will be suitable no matter how the truck is used.

It would be a mistake to assume that a high pressure, mono-tube shock is only for racing. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are exotic high pressure mono-tube dampers out there that only belong on race vehicles, but price alone will DQ them from consideration.

A common misconception is that the dampers damp the movement of the body. An easy conclusion to come to that is completely erroneous. They damp the movement of the un-sprung weight (the axle or the suspension links of an independent design) relative to the sprung weight (body, frame, interior, etc.). If you have to change the damper setting with a change in weight then something is wrong with the damping.

Edited by ntsqd, 17 February 2016 - 01:57 AM.

It would be a mistake to assume that shocks suitable for a race truck are suitable for an everyday vehicle; the requirements are quite different. For example, a lot of so-called high-performance shocks come with heym joints instead of rubber bushings, which I think is a mistake for an overlanding vehicle.

 

I've had very good luck with Old Man Emu shocks, including about 140,000 miles on a Land Cruiser used for guiding and training. 

 

I disagree respectfully about adjustable shocks. If you have a camper that is removed between trips, adjustable shocks are the only way to ensure a comfortable and controlled ride with or without the load. We're running Boss adjustable shocks on our Tacoma, and even though our camper stays on all the time I'll adjust the shocks up for firm freeway handling, then down for off-pavement comfort.

I haven't done it, but aren't airbags more recommended if you are going to be taking the camper off and on? 

So, it seems the consensus is...wait, no consensus

So, it seems the consensus is...wait, no consensus

I'm gonna start a "best" oil viscosity and (gas) octane thread next! 

One of the problems with consensus is everybody likes something different. I grew up driving when trucks were trucks and ride was secondary. I like a firm ride in both a car and a truck. Younger folks who grew up in very soft riding new cars complain about the harshness and truckyness in good riding SUV's. 

Then comes money. From cheap to sky is the limit. There are some good bargains out there. I've had great luck with things like Sears gas HD truck shocks over the years. They did fine for a while. But didn't last long. Lifetime replacement was a blessing.

Bang for the buck OME's rock if they make them for your truck. Mine ride nice empty and have no trouble handling loads like this.

I'm told the new OME sport shocks are even better. Position and velocity sensing valving.

Personally I'd rather have too much shock or stiffness than not enough. A little bit of firm ride beats wallowing to me any day.

I know lots of folks who love Monroe Sensatracs or whatever they call them this week. But most admit they start to give up with a lot of weight on the truck. 

On another Trooper I ran a set of Doetsch Tech shocks. Physically they weren't huge but they sure damped like they were. Quite impressive. I wasn't sure if they still made them so I looked them up. They don't seem to get the press they once did. Maybe ntsqd can shed some light on these as well.

http://www.doetsch-shocks.com/

On our import cars I've been pleased with KYB's. Don't think truck shocks are their market though.

JH you've mentioned Boss stuff before. Is there a retail outlet for these in the US? They look nice. In fact the welding and outer tube shape and such reminds me a lot of OME.

Edited by Squatch, 17 February 2016 - 03:25 AM.

I remember DTs.  Boy that brings back memories.  Thanks.

I remember DT's too, but have no experience with or info on them. Their popularity in off-road racing pre-dates me.

I have had one set of RS5000's that I thought worked extremely well. They were purpose damped for the application: front of my '91 4WD Suburban. It happened that the springs were also Rancho's, but not the std part number easily found. They were a rarely known "pre-runner" K5 application spring that you really had to know how to find in their catalog. Fortunately Ruben at Ventura 4x4 did know how to find them and that spring & shock combo worked exceptionally well. Right up until they would fade. Fortunately I had to work pretty hard to get them to fade so it was a rare event (the road from Baja Hwy 1 to El Arco could do it, and I suspect that Harry Wade Rd. could do it too).

Contrast that singular good experience with Rancho's with many more uses of Bilsteins (or similar design of other mfg) where bolt them on and they work well regardless of how or where the vehicle was driven and you see why my bias is what it is.