Jump to content

Bilstein shocks thread

yanzhixiang

By yanzhixiang
in Modifications & Accessories

 Share

Recommended Posts

Zasker1 Enthusiast

Zasker1

Posted
Posted

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

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

  • Replies 2.8k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

bwilloby46
bwilloby46

I put the bilstein 5100s on the rear of my 14 High Country with a new 2" block a few weeks ago. Ride is unbelievable compared to stock. Liked it so much I got the adjustable 5100s for my front, remove

schloppy
schloppy

Hello, I'm not new to the forum but I just joined and figured I'd contribute to the community.   2016 Silverado 1500 "Z71" removed rancho's and swapped with Bilstein 5100's all around. So after d

Jullian is not my name
Jullian is not my name

I just got done with installing my 6112's on my 2014 GMC Sierra Crew Cab.  Reading some install guides on here really helped, along with printing some Chilton Repair guide torque specs that I got from

Posted Images

Yondu Enthusiast

Yondu

Posted
Posted

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 Enthusiast

DENALIHD66

Posted
Posted

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 Enthusiast

truckmann

Posted
Posted
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 Enthusiast

DENALIHD66

Posted
Posted

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 Senior Enthusiast

michigan2500hd

Posted
Posted
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. 

  • Like 1
truckmann Enthusiast

truckmann

Posted
Posted
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 New Member

cjlangellier

Posted
Posted

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. 

  • Like 2
cjlangellier New Member

cjlangellier

Posted
Posted

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. 

 

 

IMG_0792.JPG

IMG_0838.JPG

  • Like 1
Zasker1 Enthusiast

Zasker1

Posted
Posted

Finally got the right parts for my truck installed and they lasted all of 3 days before this happened200811c3306df75c8dac705fb17ccbdb.jpg

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Yondu Enthusiast

Yondu

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Zasker1 said:

Finally got the right parts for my truck installed and they lasted all of 3 days before this happened200811c3306df75c8dac705fb17ccbdb.jpg

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

The strut mount separated?  Yikes.  

 

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

Zasker1 Enthusiast

Zasker1

Posted
Posted

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

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Zasker1 Enthusiast

Zasker1

Posted
Posted

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.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Forum Statistics

    250.5k
    Total Topics
    2.7m
    Total Posts

  • Member Statistics

    342,902
    Total Members
    8,960
    Most Online
    whenindoubtuseahammer
    Newest Member
    whenindoubtuseahammer
    Joined

  • Who's Online   1 Member, 0 Anonymous, 292 Guests (See full list)

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • davester
      My First Project and GMC has me stumped

      By davester · Posted

      are there any codes? with lots of rust, perhaps disconnect/clean both sides of the connection/examine cable ends (the wires) for corrosion going into the sheath & replace if necessary/reconnect ALL the power AND ground cables between the battery, engine, frame, cab, fuse box and starter charm.li (website) has a no-start diagnostic procedure you can work through to get it working.
    • Chuck FB
      OCI, not when but why?

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      Its no wonder you've gravitated to the oil types and brands you have in later years after trying certain brands and one being a specialty oil or at least very hard to come by up here and the other would have been a commonly found oil of the era and the vastly different outcomes as a result to using the vehicles in question the same distance for an OCI . It shows what marketing hype can do without actually having the product to back up the claims and that is no different now with the insane claims that are written on the side of a bottle of oil from some of the off the shelf oils.    What has surprised me and I was already finding this out before I bought my truck with the GDI engine, that this newer fancy technology that seemingly would suggest better fuel economy/emissions with this high pressure spray of fuel is not in reality kind at all to the engine or at least the oils life. Yet they insist on claiming long OCI with this technology just like they did with the port or similar type fuel injection systems when in reality its a step back in oil life to have a GDI system.    I think the mistake your making Grumpy is that your not sending your samples to Blackstone and getting the feel good glowing report that you can run it another 1000 or more miles and then send another sample where they say run it yet another 1000 miles and on and on it goes until your sending in something that looks a lot like road tar and then they may suggest you change your oil within the next 1000 miles 😆
    • Chuck FB
      OCI, not when but why?

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I am guessing that engines of that design back then had a better ability to be abused and survive longer than a new design engine with the long timing chain and the overhead cams and phasers etc. But I would never guess that an engine could go that far and not fail spectacularly or at least die a slow death. 
    • Grumpy Bear
      OCI, not when but why?

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      In the 80's 90's I'd run Honda's 7,500 miles between changes using Red Line HP 5W20 and do it for hundreds of thousands of miles with issues. Back in the day it was an SAE 20 with the HTHS of a SAE 30 and SN add load. It was also very polar. Oxidation VOA was over 120. Besides those motors were SPFI and lean burn tech. I could have likely run it longer but never did.    We had a Toyota bought new I ran on Pennzoil's latest and greatest synthetic of the day with "Penthane". A made up word for a very low dose of PAO. Tried 7,500 mile OCI's in that Group III/VI chemistry and the rings tapped out at 90K. Rocker box wasn't as bad as the one Punch put up but it wasn't good either. Also a SPFI motor.    I'm around 3,750 across the board on these GDI monsters and the oil it tapped out by then usually on TBN/TAN crossover and color. Red Line HP Euro.    The AMSOIL SS brochures tell you to follow the OEM values for the service class but that it can be run up to 25K if monitored. I can't imagine what motor could go that distance and not tap out. I've never owned one.    Yes, I know. Lot's of people do. I'm just not going to be one of them. 
    • Grumpy Bear
      OCI, not when but why?

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      I knew a guy in the early 80's that bought a new Monte Carlo and ran it a 100,000 miles without ever changing the filter or the oil. Just kept adding. It looked like that inside.     

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...