Jump to content

Upgrading Shocks On My Nbs Z71

Jameson

Recommended Posts

Jameson Enthusiast

Jameson

Posted
Posted

I was thinking while I put my levling kit on, maybe I should go ahead and replace the stock shocks/struts. Any ideas on the best brand/ model #? I was thinking Rancho, Bilstien, or Edelbrock. What do yall think?

Jameson Enthusiast

Jameson

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Nothing, I just heard upgrading the shocks can help with the bounciness of the susp. Firming the ride up a bit.

Rocco715 Enthusiast

Rocco715

Posted
Posted

If your going to replace your shocks then i'd go with bilstein. I've got Bilstein HD on my other truck and love em'. But I wouldn't replace the shocks this soon, Let them get beat up a little bit before you change out the stock z71's

rayy79 Enthusiast

rayy79

Posted
Posted

i am intersted in why my 98 Z-71 had the big yellow bilstein shocks; my new 04 z-71 came with a red colored shock; and now the nbs 07 i have looks to have the same shock as my dads nbs 2wd WITHOUT Z-71 package. i thought the Z-71 package had the stiffer suspension and different shocks to start with; maybe the package "Z-71 has changed somewhat over the years. supposedly Bilstein has a shock that lifts/levels the front end on these trucks now; but i havent seen them. i noticed the "bounce in my truck a little too; dealer says it comes from dueler at tires. im not sure he is correct on that

C & A s Dad Senior Enthusiast

C & A s Dad

Posted
Posted

Ray, I am not disputing you on the new Bilstien offering that "supposedly lifts and levels". I realize you said you have not seen them. I find this to be all but impossible. If a shock had enough pres. to lift the front end the truck would ride like a Freighliner. I cannot imagine this can be true. Also, remember shocks are there for ride control and not lift. Last but not least, shock mounts are not designed to support the weight of the vehicle or lift it, this is the problem with airshocks.

 

As far as Jamseson's question about brand. I sure do not want to take anything away from Bilstien because I know they are good shocks. However, I would strongly suggest he take a look at KYB's MonoMax. We have been selling the entire KYB line for 2 years and the warranties are all but non existent. They are excellent quality and the Mono Max works great on heavy pick ups and large SUVs.

rayy79 Enthusiast

rayy79

Posted
Posted
Ray, I am not disputing you on the new Bilstien offering that "supposedly lifts and levels". I realize you said you have not seen them. I find this to be all but impossible. If a shock had enough pres. to lift the front end the truck would ride like a Freighliner. I cannot imagine this can be true. Also, remember shocks are there for ride control and not lift. Last but not least, shock mounts are not designed to support the weight of the vehicle or lift it, this is the problem with airshocks.

 

As far as Jamseson's question about brand. I sure do not want to take anything away from Bilstien because I know they are good shocks. However, I would strongly suggest he take a look at KYB's MonoMax. We have been selling the entire KYB line for 2 years and the warranties are all but non existent. They are excellent quality and the Mono Max works great on heavy pick ups and large SUVs.

i know it seems wierd and unrealistic; check this link http://www.bilstein.com/Height_Adj_5100-Feb06.pdf

hubbycap Senior Enthusiast

hubbycap

Posted
Posted

I'm thinking of taking out the spacer above the axle on my '07 GMT900 as posted elsewhere (1-1/4" bed lowering) so that side access to the bed is easier on a 5'10' human when picking up something off the bed floor without requiring the dropping of the tailgate. But after about 6 weeks of unloaded bounce, I've also noticed that a 300-400 lb. load makes "Silvia" ride like a luxury car. The shock action on the Z82 (I think) suspension seems fine.

 

The un-credentialed engineer in me sez that the micro-bounce experienced at all speeds in this truck are due to the springs being at the top of their extension when unloaded. That said, when a slight raise in the road height, such as when the asphalt spreader's forward motion is interrupted, the bed is kind of tossed up in the air and lands on the fully topped-out (and unforgiving) leafsprings. With a moderate cargo load, the springs are within the travel extremes and the inertia of the bed and its load provide the ability of the axel to travel UP and down whilst the bed remains essentially stable.

 

Not knocking GM, for they designed a p'up to carry a load, but all of us do "bobtail" a lot and the unloaded spring position is NOT in the sweet-ride spot. The Sulastic (velvet ride) rubber spring is probably the route I'm gonna take. Its design seems to place the unloaded bed weight in a point of equilibrium (sweet spot) so that smooth-road variations are absorbed by the Sulastic shackle in both travel directions but additional cargo weight bottoms out the down travel of the shackle (spring) to the point of direct weight transfer to the leaf springs as any stiff shackle would.

 

I am not thrilled on spending $300 for the product, but the ride improvement would be worth it. Anyone out there using the Sulastic? Comments would be welcome.

arzinet Enthusiast

arzinet

Posted
Posted
Ray, I am not disputing you on the new Bilstien offering that "supposedly lifts and levels". I realize you said you have not seen them. I find this to be all but impossible. If a shock had enough pres. to lift the front end the truck would ride like a Freighliner. I cannot imagine this can be true. Also, remember shocks are there for ride control and not lift. Last but not least, shock mounts are not designed to support the weight of the vehicle or lift it, this is the problem with airshocks.

 

As far as Jamseson's question about brand. I sure do not want to take anything away from Bilstien because I know they are good shocks. However, I would strongly suggest he take a look at KYB's MonoMax. We have been selling the entire KYB line for 2 years and the warranties are all but non existent. They are excellent quality and the Mono Max works great on heavy pick ups and large SUVs.

i know it seems wierd and unrealistic; check this link http://www.bilstein.com/Height_Adj_5100-Feb06.pdf

 

 

That's a pretty common setup on cars with a coil-over-shock front suspension. Should work the same way on a truck with front coil springs, too.

 

It's not that the shock is super pressurized to somehow jack up the truck - in fact, I'd expect the shock internals to be exactly the same as any other Bilstein 5100 - it's just that the spring seat can be adjusted up or down along the outside of the shock body. As you move the truck's spring up or down relative to the shock, you also raise or lower the truck's ride height.

C & A s Dad Senior Enthusiast

C & A s Dad

Posted
Posted

I think I got it now. The spring seat is actually attached to the shock and as you raise the seat you are increasing the tension on the spring and providing more lift. If I am correct, I did not realize the bottom of the spring actually attaches to the bottom of the shock body.

onac255 Senior Enthusiast

onac255

Posted
Posted
Ray, I am not disputing you on the new Bilstien offering that "supposedly lifts and levels". I realize you said you have not seen them. I find this to be all but impossible. If a shock had enough pres. to lift the front end the truck would ride like a Freighliner. I cannot imagine this can be true. Also, remember shocks are there for ride control and not lift. Last but not least, shock mounts are not designed to support the weight of the vehicle or lift it, this is the problem with airshocks.

 

As far as Jamseson's question about brand. I sure do not want to take anything away from Bilstien because I know they are good shocks. However, I would strongly suggest he take a look at KYB's MonoMax. We have been selling the entire KYB line for 2 years and the warranties are all but non existent. They are excellent quality and the Mono Max works great on heavy pick ups and large SUVs.

i know it seems wierd and unrealistic; check this link http://www.bilstein.com/Height_Adj_5100-Feb06.pdf

 

 

That's a pretty common setup on cars with a coil-over-shock front suspension. Should work the same way on a truck with front coil springs, too.

 

It's not that the shock is super pressurized to somehow jack up the truck - in fact, I'd expect the shock internals to be exactly the same as any other Bilstein 5100 - it's just that the spring seat can be adjusted up or down along the outside of the shock body. As you move the truck's spring up or down relative to the shock, you also raise or lower the truck's ride height.

 

 

 

Exactly.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Newduramaxh*ar
      DTC P2C48 auxiliary cooling pump

      By Newduramaxh*ar · Posted

      I tried tapping it.  This might sound like a dumb question, you should feel vibration or some type of noise when it turns on? Can someone please verify? Thank you all!
    • Chuck FB
      first oil change - 2026 2500HD gas

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I feel better now for my own view point and actions or lack there of towards the dealership service theme reading your post and others. GM corporate is who offers the two free oil changes on the HD trucks and I bought my truck in Feb of 2025 and those oil change offers run out within 2 years I believe and I highly doubt I will be using either one of them. I had asked if I could officially give those free services to another customer ( a friend ) and they said no, its all a GM corporate thing based on the vehicle in question. What that service advisor did however was go into a little story about how such and such customer was denied engine warranty because he had done his own oil changes because then they are not documented ... you see where that goes and so an employee playing the game of scaring the customer into having the service work done there most certainly triggered my thought process. At a later date I did talk to the person who handles warranty claims at the dealership and she said to be sure to document the oil changes and keep receipts for the oil and filter ( coped the receipts from cases of Mobil oil and case of filters I bought from them ) and the vehicles VIN, the date of service, mileage etc and staple that together as a record I would give them if that was ever needed and I keep my own log book for services for each vehicle as well. Oh and about 8 months after I bought the truck the dealer starts calling me to offer a maintenance service since they haven't seen my vehicle show up on their system ... for the mere fee of 300.00 Canadian to change the oil and rotate the tires and a few other minor checks and I declined the offer, I get the call again a couple of months later for the same thing and she could tell I was not interested and she asked if they should take my name off the call list and I said yes, do that !.    By the way did you happen to keep your factory oil filter to open it up and see the surprises inside as I expect some will show up as per the odd little sliver of metal shaving and particles that the filter does trap along with bits of grey silicone sealer that come off of the inside edge of mating surfaces. I have cut open every filter so far on my truck although few miles but have changed the oil often and the second filter was vastly better with very little of anything, that first filter was the unsettling one as I expected it would be. 
    • OnTheReel
      OCI, not when but why?

      By OnTheReel · Posted

      I get why they do this…but man…not ideal. I only extract on inboard boat engines because the drains are buried and even then I hate it because it’s easy to leave a quart behind with that method.   They should market it as an “oil refresh” not oil change!
    • KARNUT
      OCI, not when but why?

      By KARNUT · Posted

      I only get oil changed where I can watch. Valvoline pulls through the dipstick into a see thru glass. When done they show me the dipstick. About the only way they can mess up is using the wrong oil. But that secret wouldn’t stay secret long. Honda uses TQ wrenches on everything. You can watch through a plate glass window. Discount tires does that with tires. Trust but verify. 
    • Grumpy Bear
      OCI, not when but why?

      By Grumpy Bear · Posted

      I would not argue that with you. It would be pointless to argue against the truth and you speak the truth.    My question and in fact the entire point of this thread is an exploration into the levers of wear which happens no matter how well we maintain our powertrains.    Some of these levers we exert a good deal of influence over which can and do result is lower wear, longer powertrain life. Some others we are sort of stuck with.    An engine is typically done when the ring to bore seal no longer is able to do the job effectively. Normally the first thing to go in a engine otherwise well maintained and adult driven is this seal.    Looking into the means, methods, products and attitudes that influence the rate of wear seems a worthwhile inquiry to me.     

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...