Bilstein shocks thread

[Zasker1]

Yes I have already ordered the parts and I did take the time to call the original installer who told me to go pound sand when I brought it to their attention that they did not install the parts that I had purchased on my truck

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[Yondu]

Got my struts today... or should I say strut.  Looks like the mail carrier was a little rough and one of the front struts ejected from the box and is MIA.  Hope I get the replacement in time for next weeks 4 day weekend.  Hahaa

[DENALIHD66]

Pretty close to pulling the trigger on a new set of 5100s.  I do notice that my truck has a really rough ride.  Like if my front end hits a bump, it really "bangs" and feels firm.  Will shocks really help much with that, or is it just because the springs in these trucks seem really stiff?

[truckmann]

22 minutes ago, DENALIHD66 said:

Pretty close to pulling the trigger on a new set of 5100s.  I do notice that my truck has a really rough ride.  Like if my front end hits a bump, it really "bangs" and feels firm.  Will shocks really help much with that, or is it just because the springs in these trucks seem really stiff?

The 5100s will help a bunch. I hated how mine felt like it would hop over bumps in the road. It doesn't do that anymore and feels like it stays planted much better without the jarring bumps. It also feels more stable in turns. 

[DENALIHD66]

The worst is when you hit a pothole or a drain where its an "inverted bump" if you will.  Or driving slowly off road and you hit a root, you feel every bit of it.  I want that smoothed out and for the suspension to absorb a lot more of those impacts.  

[michigan2500hd]

10 hours ago, truckmann said:

The 5100s will help a bunch. I hated how mine felt like it would hop over bumps in the road. It doesn't do that anymore and feels like it stays planted much better without the jarring bumps. It also feels more stable in turns. 

Typically the Bilsteins will amplify the small jarring bumps and pavement cracks, seams, etc. 

It was really noticable in a video I shot with the Bilsteins and then again without. You could hear the truck hitting the little bumps with the Bilsteins and it smoothed out when I went back to the stock black shocks. 

[truckmann]

4 minutes ago, michigan2500hd said:

Typically the Bilsteins will amplify the small jarring bumps and pavement cracks, seams, etc. 

It was really noticable in a video I shot with the Bilsteins and then again without. You could hear the truck hitting the little bumps with the Bilsteins and it smoothed out when I went back to the stock black shocks. 

I don't have any experience with the black shocks since I had the stock Ranchos. The 5100s are night and day better than those. The Ranchos were so bad it actually felt unsafe to drive at times on highway curves. My truck does have 145,000 miles on it, so that may also be a factor, but I saw no signs that the stock shocks were leaking or otherwise bad. 

[cjlangellier]

I just installed Bilstein 5100's on my crew cab Z71 Sierra last night.  I was a little nervous about the ride quality after reading some of the bad reviews but I am happy to report that the ride was vastly improved over the stock Rancho shocks.  Mine are set to the top notch.  Aside from having issues getting the spring compressed far enough to use stock top hat retaining nut, the install went relatively smooth.  I did end up using the Bilstein supplied top hat nut. 

 

My truck has 44,000 miles on it.  Switching to the 5100's resulted in a firmer, more planted feel at highway speeds.  Body roll in curves is drastically reduced, and the harshness and chatter that I would feel when the Rancho's would rebound is gone.  At low speeds you will feel small bumps and expansion joints in the road, but they are not harsh or jarring at all.  Honestly, I'm not sure I notice much of a difference between the shocks driving straight line at lower speeds. 

 

Thanks to all those that provided info in this thread.  It made the installation a breeze.  It took me about 3.5 hours to do the swap.  If I had to do it again, I'm guessing I could cut 45 minutes to an hour off that time.   I have  a set of 33" Falken Wildpeak A/T3W's on order.  I'll be sure to post some before and after photos after those are installed. 

[cjlangellier]

I finally got my Wildpeak's (275/70r18 E load rated) mounted up.  I have very limited drive time since install, but the ride quality is noticeably rougher compared to the P-rated SRA's.  I expected that moving to the heavier, higher load rating tires.  The ride is not terrible, just noticeably rougher than with the 5100's and stock tires.  Overall, I am very happy with them so far though.  They look great and are relatively quite at highway speeds.  Here's the initial pics from before the 5100's and tires and after.  I'll get some better quality pictures after I get the truck washed up. 

 

 

[Zasker1]

Finally got the right parts for my truck installed and they lasted all of 3 days before this happened

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[Snowcamo]

Damn. Guess I shoulda bought new strut mounts while I was at it huh.

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[Yondu]

8 minutes ago, Zasker1 said:

Finally got the right parts for my truck installed and they lasted all of 3 days before this happened

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The strut mount separated?  Yikes.  

 

Was it a better ride, vs the wrong ones that were on there?

[Zasker1]

Yes definitely better ride but I'm bummed that finding a new top strut mount to such a difficult task finally found one on Amazon but they want a hundred bucks for next day shipping or free shipping but I have to wait 14 days

Very surprised that summit doesn't stock this part

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[Snowcamo]

Rock Auto?

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[Zasker1]

I did look at RockAuto they don't stock this part.

I ordered from GM parts direct but they wants three weeks to deliver it which seems absurd, they did offer 3 day delivery but wanted $140.00 for shipping which is ridiculous.

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