Shocks

[skorski]

Can anyone tell me if there is a test to see if shocks are bad 20 14 3500 with 58 k srw Thank you.

 

[Jared Herzog]

Take one off and compress it and pull on it to check rebound. If there is little resistance it is weak and needs to be replaced.

 

[DGamelin]

Unless a shock is completely shot is is hard it is hard to tell. You can also look for oil leaking. Shocks actually heat up or warm up, they can also get heat soaked from engine and exhaust. That would be when to test them. I just replaced mine at around 60k. I have air ride in the rear and the truck was bottoming out when empty and set on the light setting. So to keep from hurting the air ride system I put new rear shocks on, had to buy them from dodge $ no one makes them for the air ride. That took care of the bottoming out. The rear road great again. By the way the old ones felt fine in my hands one had a little oil seepage. I was so impressed with the difference in ride I changed the front ones with bilstein's one did feel a little weaker then the other but again not shot. It made one heck of a different. The truck rides like it did new. I had also just put new tires on. The shock MFG's say your shocks should be replaced at 60k. I have been a mechanic all my life and never had seen such a difference when the old shocks didn't feel that bad in your hands, I would say it is because of the weight of these trucks. There is noway you can duplicate that with your hands. I will replace mine every 60k from now on.

 

[EDankievitch]

Don't waste your time guessing Just get a set of Bilsteins you will not believe how nice your truck will ride after they are in totally different ride.

 

[seafish]

^^^ what he said!!!

The thing with shocks is that they tend to wear out slowly so that it is extremely hard to tell by seat of the pants. But even if the hem shocks on your truck are still OK, the Bilstein series will be a marked and noticeable improvement over them!!! I replaced the oem shocks on my 2005 truck at 60k miles with Bilstein 5100s and was amazed at just how MUCH the ride and handling improved. That being said, the factory shocks on my truck WERE in fact wore out at 60k.

 

[Cummins12V98]

4600's for STOCK truck 5100's for stock and up to 2" lift.

Other than COLOR they are the EXACT same shock.

 

[Jared Herzog]

I have heard that the shock retains the springs in the spring buckets on the front. So if the shock is too long the spring comes detached from the isolator and bucket. I have not yet replaced mine to confirm this. Just seen where some guys with the 5100 bilsteins had issues.

 

[seafish]

4600's for STOCK truck 5100's for stock and up to 2" lift.

Other than COLOR they are the EXACT same shock.

Not quite true--

Bilstein 4600HD are indeed for stock trucks with no lift and are VALVED for the oem trucks specs.

Bilstein 5100 are available in TWO lengths-- one part # for 0-2" lift and another for 3-6" lift.
More importantly, The 5100 series has a different valve tuning then the 4600 in addition to being a different color.

EITHER series is a significant improvemnt over the oem shocks.

The folks at Genos Garage can help sort it all out and have very good pricing as well.

 

[Cummins12V98]

"The 5100 series has a different valve tuning then the 4600"

This is new to me.

 

[Jared Herzog]

If they are in any way longer will the spring come loose? They act as the limiting device. I still do not understand how a shock can do that. I had some that were too short on the rear of my 05. They just ended up getting ripped in half. I am interested in new shocks but do not want other issues.

 

[skorski]

Thank you for all your help Think I will order new from genos. Ski

 

[seafish]

"The 5100 series has a different valve tuning then the 4600"

This is new to me.

Your comment got me to so some more research and I DO need to clarify--

The Bistein 5100 shocks for LIFTED trucks are tuned differently then the 4600HD or even stock height 5100 shocks. This is due to expected differences in vehicle tire size and weight due to the lift.

That being said, it appears that you are correct in that the 5100 and 4600, with for stock height trucks, are identical except for color.

Info here--

http://www.shockwarehouse.com/news/bilstein-5100-vs-bilstein-heavy-duty.cfm

Although this person here, insists that Bilstien provided DIFFERENT compression/rebound numbers for the two different model shocks--

see here--

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/76...001-2010/455499-5100s-stock-truck-towing.html


EITHER WAY, the 4600HD or the 5100 in the correct length for your truck will be FAR superior to the oem shocks on it now!!!

 

[Cummins12V98]

^^^^^ thanks for the research! Stock truck buy the less expensive of the two or the color you like!

 

[JR]

If they are in any way longer will the spring come loose? They act as the limiting device. I still do not understand how a shock can do that. I had some that were too short on the rear of my 05. They just ended up getting ripped in half. I am interested in new shocks but do not want other issues.

I can't really imagine a scenario where the spring could come out unless​ you are launching your truck 4 feet in the air....

 

[JR]

If they are in any way longer will the spring come loose? They act as the limiting device. I still do not understand how a shock can do that. I had some that were too short on the rear of my 05. They just ended up getting ripped in half. I am interested in new shocks but do not want other issues.

I can't really imagine a scenario where the spring could come out unless​ you are launching your truck 4 feet in the air....

 

[seafish]

I can't really imagine a scenario where the spring could come out unless​ you are launching your truck 4 feet in the air....

And if you are doing that, you also better just get some shock travel limit straps from Carli.

 

[seafish]

I can't really imagine a scenario where the spring could come out unless​ you are launching your truck 4 feet in the air....

And if you are doing that, you also better just get some shock travel limit straps from Carli.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

Something else to consider before selecting the yellow body or silver body is your driving environment. What are your driving weather conditions? Myself and two other family members have had both sets of Bilsteins. We live and drive mainly in the Midwest. The silver body shocks lasted a lot longer for all three of us.