Shocks, it is time.......

[jgillott]

Sorry about the upside down pic. Having one of those days.

 

[mwilson]

Fixed it. It was making me wooozy.....

 

[mwilson]

After a trip across Route 6, down Route 1, across Route 214 (goat path with a little asphalt on it), back onto Route 1 and then over to Lubec towing the trailer I can tell you that the difference in the truck is incredible. I can't believe that I put the Bilstein upgrade off for a couple years for fear of a decline in ride quality.

If you are hesitating, stop. Do it and you won't believe the difference.

 

[jgillott]

Thanks Mike.

And, I agree with you. It's a night and day difference in the way my truck handles.

 

[brods]

So Mike are you comparing the ride to the worn out beat shocks or to how you remember the truck riding when new? I changed to 5100 at 50K miles and felt a minor difference at best. Maybe I'm just numb. I still have the stock shocks and might throw them back on just to see if I can feel this huge difference everyone talks about.

 

[Jim W]

I guess I will have to put new shocks on my truck now that you have done them. But I know this will be easier for me now that you have done this.

I just buy the shocks hand them to my oldest son and say install them for me on your lift? For Fathers day he gave me a home made coupon for installation and buying any component I need for my truck. So I will have to pay for the difference in the coupon price and the actual cost of the four shocks.

Jim

 

[mwilson]

The major difference to me is when towing. Even when the truck was new you could see the rear shocks were heating up and bouncing more the farther you drove.

It does not do that now. Much stiffer when cornering or on roads with a high center crown.

 

[mwilson]

I guess I will have to put new shocks on my truck now that you have done them. But I know this will be easier for me now that you have done this.

I just buy the shocks hand them to my oldest son and say install them for me on your lift? For Fathers day he gave me a home made coupon for installation and buying any component I need for my truck. So I will have to pay for the difference in the coupon price and the actual cost of the four shocks.

Jim

That sounds like a fair deal to me!

 

[cerberusiam]

The 5100's are lot better than anything else in new shocks, a huge improvement form worn shocks. Ride quality is really not effect as shocks don't really change that, but, handling and performance under hard use are light years better. I don't like a caddy ride in an HD truck so the more aggressive valving just make it fell much more solid, the rebound damping is MUCH better than any OE shock. With a suspension system they really make speed bumps feel like cow chips.

Now, if you want more shock under harder use the 5160's a great shock for a heavy truck and rough roads. They are a step over the 5100's and not as noisy or stiff as Kings or Fox.

 

[Ozymandias]

I could never go back to standard shocks from my custom valved Fox/King Combo - this is an unmatched solid ride without being rough.

 

[08_2500]

Did my front's today with 4600 from geno's i took my time the truck is still new to me and the fronts were SHOT!!! i took the fender liners out took the top nut off the shock. loosened the hat, removed the lower bolt, and since mine were in such bad shape i pushed them down and pushed the stud under the hat and one at a time took the nuts off. on the last one i pushed the stud down and slid the hat out the side. the shock extended and i lifted each one out from the top no problem.

for the new shocks i knew i would not want to wrestle the new shocks down to get the hat on, so i made a loop with para cord double looped the bottom and took a 2x4 sat in folding chair with one end under me and used the other end on the top of the stud. i was able to push it down and slide the loop over the top stud.

i put the shock in through the top and put the bottom bolt in, bolted the hat back on, cut the para cord and the stud slide up into the hat. since i did not tie the para cord i was able to pull all of it out.

took about 30 minutes per side going to tackle the rears in the morning hope this helps