5100's vs 7100's

Im aware of that and its definitely a selling point.

im just in a dilema right now trying to pick out shocks for my tj ( ya I know its an xj forum, but you guys are a great wealth of information when it comes to making jeeps go fast). im at about 3" or so of lift and im not really trying to fabricate custom mounts other then maybe the lowers alot of guys have been doing to get an extra inch or two of up travel up front.

Being on a college kid budget im thinking that 5100's will be able to hold me over till i get a chance to go all out (thinking 12" coilovers) in a couple summers. I also found bilstein 6100's for very good prices over on eshocks as well.

I currently have 20" of mounting space up front and 19.5" in the rear. I'd like to have atleast 4.5" of uptravel.

im currently looking at bilstein part# BE5-A938-H5 for the front and # BE5-A939-H7 for the rear.

these are application specific to the tj, which is one thing that worries me because they probably won't be valved firm enough for go fast.

any help with finding a good dd/ mild go fast shock for a tj would be great. Im also looking at the new fox oem replacement shocks they came out with that are 240 a pair.
 
fox oems are too soft, especially the new ones they just came out with. so are the bilstein oems.

i see youre in PA... not a lot of room to go too fast. get 255/70 valve 5150s and call it a day til you can afford something better.
 
fox oems are too soft, especially the new ones they just came out with. so are the bilstein oems.

i see youre in PA... not a lot of room to go too fast. get 255/70 valve 5150s and call it a day til you can afford something better.

ya, my buddy has access to a fair amount of land that we go fast on, and theres alot of logging roads in central pa to go fast on when you know there's no one ahead, but other then that your right.

I havent heard alot of good thing about 5150's and havent found them in the lengths i need. and with the prices there going for now i can get 7100's for just a few bucks more.

thanks for the info on the oem line of shocks, i appreciate it.
 
They have a 5160 now, which is a resi shock with the stock stem mount up top for front.. You could also go with 5125's rear.
If you think but it, buying what you want now you are not spending twice
 
If you think but it, buying what you want now you are not spending twice

this is a hard lesson to learn, but it's a good one. buy now for what you want to do later, spending a little now and a lot later isn't saving money. If you can't afford what you want now wait until you can or you're going to kick yourself for it later on.
 
i think im gonna go 5125's in a 255/70 valving. this should be plenty shock for my jeeps current useage.

grimm, its a very tough lesson to learn, but its also learning what you need vs what you want.

in the north east where i may reach top speeds of say 45 for a minute tops a good monotube shock valved correctly should suit my applications.
 
i think im gonna go 5125's in a 255/70 valving. this should be plenty shock for my jeeps current useage.

grimm, its a very tough lesson to learn, but its also learning what you need vs what you want.

in the north east where i may reach top speeds of say 45 for a minute tops a good monotube shock valved correctly should suit my applications.

Agreed... the 5125's are a good bang for the buck. I was finding some good pricing on the 5150's and 5125's at www.shockwarehouse.com at one time, check them too.
 
fox oems are too soft, especially the new ones they just came out with. so are the bilstein oems.

i run oem fitment fox's, the only thing oem about them is the mounting. if you buy em off the shelf with generic valving your a chump anyway, you're missing the point =)

your right about the OP though, he doesnt need a RR/rebuildable shock... most people back east dont, and i dare say if you bring up budget in your post, you have no buisness buying finer shocks. typical 'college student on a budget' stuff right there...
 
I can't believe you guys are gonna let him buy 255/70's!!!! Thats WAY too soft (esp. front of a Jeep.

Don't run out and spend your money just yet......let's see if Joel chimes in and can help you find something with a better valve. Also, check on DR or RDC and pick up used 7100's for the price of 5100's and you will be better off. If you blow a shock, you are screwed with 5100's and will be buying another.
 
I can't believe you guys are gonna let him buy 255/70's!!!! Thats WAY too soft (esp. front of a Jeep.

Don't run out and spend your money just yet......let's see if Joel chimes in and can help you find something with a better valve. Also, check on DR or RDC and pick up used 7100's for the price of 5100's and you will be better off. If you blow a shock, you are screwed with 5100's and will be buying another.

there going in the rear of a light tj. No tire carrier, tucked stock skid/tank.

I have some edelbrock extreme monotubes for up front that i picked up for real cheap that im gonna run for now till I can save up for a quality shock/ coilover.

Anyone have experience with the valving on FOA's? Plan to run 300 main 200 secondary's on 12" co's. I just am lost when it comes to the valving on foa's though and im not finding much information.

thank you for the advice though guys, besides some of the heavy metal concepts guys theres not a whole lot of knowledge out here for making full body rigs go fast.
 
:laugh:

I raced my XJ at Line Mountain and Rausch the whole season in 2009 on 255/70 5125's front and rear. They did OK and I never blew one out. Airbumps up front helped too and even had a decent time out at the Hammers that year.

2010 I did 2.5" FOA coilovers all around. I'm at 300/350 on the springs front and rear; medium firm/medium light valving in the front, firm/medium light in the back (compression/rebound). Also on air bumps on the rear. The rear was set to medium compression valving for all of last year; I felt it was bottoming a little to easily so I just recently changed it to the firm setting. Should be headed back out sometime in March to do some testing. At the race at Rausch last october I had it just shy of 60 MPH at points and it feels great...if I had more motor I'd be comfortable going even faster on it.

What do you want to know about valving?
 
:laugh:

I raced my XJ at Line Mountain and Rausch the whole season in 2009 on 255/70 5125's front and rear. They did OK and I never blew one out. Airbumps up front helped too and even had a decent time out at the Hammers that year.

2010 I did 2.5" FOA coilovers all around. I'm at 300/350 on the springs front and rear; medium firm/medium light valving in the front, firm/medium light in the back (compression/rebound). Also on air bumps on the rear. The rear was set to medium compression valving for all of last year; I felt it was bottoming a little to easily so I just recently changed it to the firm setting. Should be headed back out sometime in March to do some testing. At the race at Rausch last october I had it just shy of 60 MPH at points and it feels great...if I had more motor I'd be comfortable going even faster on it.

What do you want to know about valving?

how does there valve ratings compare to bilstein's valving. have you revalved the foa's yourself?

your rig's killer by the way, seen it at rausch a couple times
 
Rear of a TJ should be ok. I must have missed that. sorry.

Vetteboy....ur rig spent its time at hammers on its roof!! hahaha Was great meating you though back then!! I still miss Matty on here.
 
Yeah, I've revalved & rebuilt them...all brands are pretty much the same. Not all that difficult to do.

The Bilstein ratings are actually quantified - 255/70 means the rebound force is 2550 newtons at 0.52 m/s; compression force is 700 newtons at 0.52 m/s. I don't know how that compares to anything because as far as I know, no one else rates that way. The higher the number the more 'control' it has = firmer ride.

Generally though, for something that gets rec wheeled, street driven, with an occasional dirt-road jaunt, I wouldn't go as agressive as I did. You won't need as much compression damping and a lighter rebound will only increase the tendency for it to bounce off stuff. Dedicated rock crawling rigs use pretty much the opposite - light compression valving so that the rig sets down nicely onto stuff, and heavier rebound so it doesn't spring back (think throwing a blob of mud at a wall). This is typically the 'stock' setting for many shocks unless you specify something else. Fox usually comes with around 40/80 compression/rebound, each on a scale from 30-90.

Going fast you'll have much larger hits that need to be absorbed quickly, and you need the axle to drop out faster to catch the next bump. Too much rebound and the suspension 'packs' - it doesn't have time to fully extend before the next bump, and over repeated bumps it'll have the same effect as losing uptravel. Then you just bottom out harder. Too little rebound and it'll spring off of stuff; that's where the tuning comes in for your terrain and vehicle weight.

What that means is it's not as nice for trail riding as a 'crawling' valved shock. But that's the tradeoff.
 
Vetteboy....ur rig spent its time at hammers on its roof!! hahaha Was great meating you though back then!! I still miss Matty on here.

Good times for sure. I managed to dump it on Resolution last year. :D

25014_552512977505_10400686_32541049_2946989_n.jpg


Here's a halfass video showing a bit of the suspension working, this is at about 40 MPH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-_mJ0Vrhag
 
Go with the new application specific 5160 or the order by length 5165. Swivel hose reservoir, can be converted to revalve/ rebuild with 7100 parts. 5160/65> 5100, 5150, 5125, 6011 etc. 5160/65 hose config > 7100.
 
there going in the rear of a light tj. No tire carrier, tucked stock skid/tank.
TJs are actually heavier than XJs. Frame vs unibody. :)

I have 7100s all around and went 360/80 up front. Biggest improvement in high speed performance yet. They pair very nicely with the Deaver coils I got off Wildman. Now I just need to set up some bumpstops.
 
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