Fox Shocks....how do they hold up?

[TXGREEK]

My opinion would be the 5160 in the rear would be better for towing on the rough dirt road. The reason I say this is because they have a reservoir. A reservoir on the shock would increase fluid capacity and surface area for cooling. This would help with the heat built up from the extra movement on the rough road. You could also contact Accutune shocks and look at the fox 2.0 reservoir shocks with custom valving.


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Reservoir shocks are a bit stiffer. One of my buddies is a GM at a nationwide 4x4 store and advised me that reservoir shocks have been known to give some trucks a choppy feel on the highway due to the stiffer ride. I don’t have any experience on them but I do on Fox and Bilstein, both are great but for an everyday vehicle I’d stick to Bilstein cause they give a smoother ride.


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[Madcow2020]

Stiffness of the shock will be determined by the valving not if it’s a reservoir. Bilstien shocks are good.


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[Silverado-Hareek]

4600's or 5100's should be perfectly fine for daily driving on a rough gravel road and towing.  No need to pay up for the 6112's which are for more extreme off-roading, especially since the specific part # for our trucks isn't even available yet according to Bilstein.

 

Back on topic, I do not have Fox shocks but my Rancho's held up like s**t through 4 virginia winters and we don't even get snow that often with road chemicals sprayed down.  The bottoms of the rear shocks were all rusted and the paint was missing from debris hitting them.  I would say get the shocks you want....Fox is great if that's what you like, and just be diligent about hosing your truck off from the winter road chemicals.  Also, maybe look into a style that is mounted with the boots down like the Bilstein 5100's  (other brands do this as well) because the rubber boots will take more abuse while the exposed metal portion of the shock is higher up under the bed and protected from what your front tires are kicking backwards.

[Sierra706]

4600's or 5100's should be perfectly fine for daily driving on a rough gravel road and towing.  No need to pay up for the 6112's which are for more extreme off-roading, especially since the specific part # for our trucks isn't even available yet according to Bilstein.
 
Back on topic, I do not have Fox shocks but my Rancho's held up like s**t through 4 virginia winters and we don't even get snow that often with road chemicals sprayed down.  The bottoms of the rear shocks were all rusted and the paint was missing from debris hitting them.  I would say get the shocks you want....Fox is great if that's what you like, and just be diligent about hosing your truck off from the winter road chemicals.  Also, maybe look into a style that is mounted with the boots down like the Bilstein 5100's  (other brands do this as well) because the rubber boots will take more abuse while the exposed metal portion of the shock is higher up under the bed and protected from what your front tires are kicking backwards.

Rubber boots can trap debris and salt potentially pitting the piston. Then you have real damage as opposed to cosmetic


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[Silverado-Hareek]

11 minutes ago, Bushleaguechew said:

 

Rubber boots can trap debris and salt potentially pitting the piston. Then you have real damage as opposed to cosmetic


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Generally this makes sense, but the 5100's are designed to work this way with the boot down.  Most shocks with a boot-down design are designed this way on purpose.  The boots have drainage holes for the ability to be cleaned and water to flow out of them.  Either way you're going to get salt and chemicals on your shocks no matter the orientation.  But with the boot down, everything flows away from the main shock body which is the critical component that houses the compressed gas and oil.  In a boot-up design, chemicals, debris, etc. can settle around the joint where the piston enters the shock body which is also not good.  Either way you slice it, road chemicals are bad and should be cleaned off quickly.

[Jon A]

7 hours ago, Madcow2020 said:

Stiffness of the shock will be determined by the valving not if it’s a reservoir. Bilstien shocks are good.

Very true.  The 5165's I'm running in the rear are available with three different valvings, from very soft to very hard.  I'm using the middle valving (255/70) in mine.  Bilstein told me the 5160's made for this truck are slightly softer in both compression and rebound than the 255/70 but he wouldn't tell me exactly what it was.  Mine ride really nicely (noticeably better than the 5100's they replaced) so I expect the 5160's for these trucks would provide an even better ride--which would have to be really good.  

 

6 hours ago, Silverado-Hareek said:

4600's or 5100's should be perfectly fine for daily driving on a rough gravel road and towing.  No need to pay up for the 6112's which are for more extreme off-roading

While that's technically true, of course, the 6112's will do a better job of it and provide a better ride in all conditions.  They're just a much better shock.  I had 5100's front and rear on this truck for a while and while they're obviously much better than the Ranchos, they leave a lot of room for improvement.  The 6112/5160's are well worth the money in my opinion.

[Silverado-Hareek]

4 hours ago, Jon A said:

 

While that's technically true, of course, the 6112's will do a better job of it and provide a better ride in all conditions.  They're just a much better shock.  I had 5100's front and rear on this truck for a while and while they're obviously much better than the Ranchos, they leave a lot of room for improvement.  The 6112/5160's are well worth the money in my opinion.

Better is subjective.   If your goal is to do heavy off-roading with very extreme driving conditions,  yes the 6112’s are better. If you’re goal is general driving, towing, and average-Joe off-roading, the 6112’s May be too stiff. Technically they’re designed for a different application thus they’ll feel different and be valved differently than a 5100.  The 4600 is sold as a shock that aids in towing and the 5100 is a lifted version of that. Plus there are videos out there that show the 4600’s and 5100’s stay cool temperature wise after driving in pretty rough conditions so there’s no reason to believe they’ll overheat with average use.  The kicker though is the 6112 isn’t available for our trucks right now 3 years after the product was announced. That gives me some pause for concern about why they can’t get it right for our trucks. Just my $0.02. 

[Rock1500]

Hope would the blistein compare to fox shocks? I am looking to upgrade my truck but still trying to figure out if I just do a level or lift.

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[ftwhite]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 7:31 AM, kevinfranklin said:

I may get roasted for asking this on this thread, but I've looked around and haven't found anyone who's had both Bilstein 5100's and Fox Coilovers.

My truck only has 8k on it, but the Rancho's drive me nuts.......at least I THINK they're contributing to me feeling every little bump in the road, and making the truck shake a bit if I roll over a section of rough paving.

 

I'm willing to pay for what will increase my satisfaction of my ride, since it is my daily driver and I just hate noticing and then worrying whether what I'm feeling is tranny related or just shock related. 

 

Update: I've talked to a couple shock dealers and the folks at Accutune seemed most knowledgeable.......and they're convinced that for "smoothness" I won't see much improvement in the FOX shocks over Bilsteins unless I go with the Fox 2.5 with reservoirs.  Does that sound accurate?

I swapped the stock z71 Ranchos for FOX 2.0 front and back, and the daily driving was night and day better. The highway expansion joints, especially on the turns are now basically in complete control, rather than throwing the truck into a set of undulations that made it feel like it might lose grip. Potholes are now bumps rather than slams. Cornering has less body roll. Acceleration and hard breaking are now flatter. They perform great on the washboard forest roads, and handle off road fine; but hands down, the on road daily driving stuff is what makes it well worth the money. Wouldn't go back even if someone offered me 4x the cost. It made the truck a different truck.  

[Silverado-Hareek]

5 hours ago, Rock1500 said:

Hope would the blistein compare to fox shocks? I am looking to upgrade my truck but still trying to figure out if I just do a level or lift.

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I’ve never had Fox shocks. Bilsteins to me feel controlled, sturdy. Going over speed bumps with bilsteins is night and day different than ranchos....therea basically no recurring bounce at all. Honestly anything will be an upgrade from the ranchos so you won’t be disappointed. Some people say bilsteins are too stiff but I personally don’t think so. They’re my favorite shock for a stock or leveled truck. 

[Jon A]

9 hours ago, Silverado-Hareek said:

 If you’re goal is general driving, towing, and average-Joe off-roading, the 6112’s May be too stiff.

They won't be though.  They'll be better over everything.  You aren't comparing shocks of the same size and capabilities, one with "off road race valving" and the other with "street comfort valving."  One shock is just bigger and better than the other--capable of doing everything better.  Washboard roads are a perfect example of where a larger piston can provide very real benefits in giving controlled damping for small shaft movements that shocks with smaller pistons just can't match.  For the most part with shocks you do get what you pay for.  Both of these are on the steep part of the curve long before diminishing returns are evident.  They also come with softer than stock springs which help the ride as well.

 

Granted, most experience with them is based upon other platforms as it seems they're just now coming out for these trucks, but there's really no reason to expect anything different.

[Silverado-Hareek]

3 hours ago, Jon A said:

They won't be though.  They'll be better over everything.  You aren't comparing shocks of the same size and capabilities, one with "off road race valving" and the other with "street comfort valving."  One shock is just bigger and better than the other--capable of doing everything better.  Washboard roads are a perfect example of where a larger piston can provide very real benefits in giving controlled damping for small shaft movements that shocks with smaller pistons just can't match.  For the most part with shocks you do get what you pay for.  Both of these are on the steep part of the curve long before diminishing returns are evident.  They also come with softer than stock springs which help the ride as well.

 

Granted, most experience with them is based upon other platforms as it seems they're just now coming out for these trucks, but there's really no reason to expect anything different.

Perhaps too stiff wasn't the right descriptor.  Overkill for the application?  I'm not saying you're wrong per se, I'm just saying for what the OP is describing as far as vehicle use goes, the 4600's or 5100's are more than enough shock for that application.  It's what they were built for.  But agree to disagree.  Me personally, I don't know that I'd spend the extra money, but bigger is better or at least more fun haha

[TXGREEK]

Perhaps too stiff wasn't the right descriptor.  Overkill for the application?  I'm not saying you're wrong per se, I'm just saying for what the OP is describing as far as vehicle use goes, the 4600's or 5100's are more than enough shock for that application.  It's what they were built for.  But agree to disagree.  Me personally, I don't know that I'd spend the extra money, but bigger is better or at least more fun haha

I had Fox shocks on my 14 Silverado and though it was enormously better than the Rancho garbage that came on the truck, they were much more stiffer than I wanted, switched to Bilstein and that was it. Fox shocks have been known to cause a dipping feel on highways due to their performance attributes. Go Bilstein, you’ll love them, go Fox for your toys [emoji6]


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[Silverado-Hareek]

49 minutes ago, TXGREEK said:

 

I had Fox shocks on my 14 Silverado and though it was enormously better than the Rancho garbage that came on the truck, they were much more stiffer than I wanted, switched to Bilstein and that was it. Fox shocks have been known to cause a dipping feel on highways due to their performance attributes. Go Bilstein, you’ll love them, go Fox for your toys


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Agreed I wouldn’t buy anything else for a stock or leveled truck. Lifted....I’d start shopping around and make sure I’m satisfied with a proper suspension lift product. 

[TXGREEK]

Agreed I wouldn’t buy anything else for a stock or leveled truck. Lifted....I’d start shopping around and make sure I’m satisfied with a proper suspension lift product. 

Very well said.


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