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Bilstein shocks... whatchya gonna runnin??

Sucky
 
Evan03 said:
Did you see how I cut a pocket and welded channel to lower shock mounting point down beside control arm bracket.

On my dana 30 I'm building I going to build a bracket off the side of the control arm bracket
Bracket will have adjustment to tun my current 10" shocks and I'll be able to do 12"

I'm sitting at just shy of 2" of lift have the lower mount lowerd quite about.

I did notice the foa shocks run long. Othere than that all I know is the are far less expensive than fox I've also seen a mixed bag of review's from haters to lovers. For 150 bucks they're alot of shock.

They do not come charged though. The need about 150 shot of nitrogen ounce recieved

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I've run foa before. I don't recommend them at all. I would rather spend money on used fox, king, saw, etc. Either way you will get familiar with the internals and workings of a rebuildable shock. Foa out of probable frustration and the used shocks out of the regular rebuild process.
It's not what anybody wants to hear, but that's been my experience. I will save a buck any chance I get and I'm not sure there's a cheap enough price above free that I'd take foa shocks. If nothing else their coating really sucked and rusted the body in one winter. I have had fox, king, and saw on vehicles in that have gone through 5+ winters that still looked pretty good.
 
Yeah there's always of both sides of the foa debate. I've not bought any yet so I not sure what side that puts me on.
I like I can get 7/8" shafts without resivor.
I've been watching Ebay for used 12"
 
One last question... with a lot of peeps recommending the 360/80s up front... I’m seeing only 2 lengths in this flavor for 5125s eye to eye style

https://www.shockwarehouse.com/site/bilstein_5125.cfm

I was all for lowering my shock brackets... which would entail longer limiting straps and longer SS braided brake lines.. or I go 5125 360/80 collapsed ~15”s extended ~25”s which is pretty much what I am going to be replacing... I’m thinking F it. If I NEED 12”s of travel down the line I will spring for Fox or 5700s or the like.


Or am I missing some other lengths in the correct valving not on this list?
 
I did call.. when I was trying to find the proper size.. didn’t even get to valving, I felt like they were trying to get me off the line the whole time...

Maybe I will call an authorized dealer
 
Evan03 said:
Yeah there's always of both sides of the foa debate. I've not bought any yet so I not sure what side that puts me on.
I like I can get 7/8" shafts without resivor.
I've been watching Ebay for used 12"
Click to expand...

I've seen both sides of the debate too. I've been on both sides. The one thing I realized about the supporters is that they seem to not have much experience with anything better than foa.

It's like when you ride in a stock teryx and think man this is smooth over the whoops and then you ride in a modified sxs or a moderately built prerunner truck or whatever. The first one starts to seem like a buckboard pretty quick.
 
Lol true.
I have just fox 2.0 ifp right now.
I'd like to get into a tunable shock nw that fox has bit me with they're low end until
 
Evan03 said:
Lol true.
I have just fox 2.0 ifp right now.
I'd like to get into a tunable shock nw that fox has bit me with they're low end until
Click to expand...

Fox is good at doing that. For the money they make some really nice stuff. The fox and king shocks I've had were very good at resisting corrosion too. Sway away was a bit worse with corrosion and foa was terrible, but it's been a few years and maybe they are better now.
 
Im either getting all billys 5125 universal eye to eye shocks... Or buying some used 5165s from an NAXJA member. My rear axle is pulled for paint seals abd earings atm, so still sourcing the best bang for the buck
 
I wouldnt buy used bilstein anything. I've got one pogo sticking on my pickup. Pretty disappointed in performance and longevity only a year old maybe.

Anyways I'm looking for a monomax to fit your application but I can't remember if your post or eye up top

565#s are monomax

https://www.carid.com/kyb/monomax-rear-shock-absorber-mpn-565105.html

I'm still learning the part #s
They do have some that just about exactly fit your compressed and extended needs.

https://www.kyb.com/resources/technical-information/dimensions/

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Rockin eyes top and bottom
 
Idk man... they look kinda cheesy imo.. no valving specs to be found either?

Not saying Billies are the best, but imo are better then the average multi branded white tubes and I’d argue the best shock for under $100ea

Why are you on the mono max wagon? I thought you were pretty stoked with your Goadiator Foxs?
 
ShoeterMcgav said:
Idk man... they look kinda cheesy imo.. no valving specs to be found either?

Not saying Billies are the best, but imo are better then the average multi branded white tubes and I’d argue the best shock for under $100ea

Why are you on the mono max wagon? I thought you were pretty stoked with your Goadiator Foxs?
Click to expand...

I've only run mine with Monomax on the front up and down the road. A lot wrong or to do on this XJ. My initial view is that the Monomax is a lot less stiff than the Bilsteins. They seem to be a quality shock for $50. I couldn't find a match for the rear of my XJ at 2" lift. There are other shocks I'll be looking at for the 3.5" lift on another XJ. Mainly Doetch-Tech shocks.
 
Monomax is the best cheap shock I've run.

I do love my fox shocks. But I cant afford to play with longer then the gladiator. The gladiator shocks are 9.1 something stroke. I'm definitely watching for some used fox 12" stroke shocks to play with.

The 5100 on my pickup arent holding up I jumped on the 5100 wagon cause that's what you do. To be honest I've only used the monomax and fox on the jeep while my 1ton pickup wears monomax rear 5100front.
Just a thing I guess . I've found monomax work well so I'm going with it same everyone on the 5100wagon.
Fox at 700 for pair is dream maybe tax time.
 
Bilstein hasa bandwagon for a reason imo... they are also top dawg in the Subaru world, until you go coil overs.

Maybe the valving is off on your truck?

Idk, personally I’ve ran 10 year old used bilsteins I got from a friend for free who swore they still felt ok (off a spec B on to my Subaru LGT) and it was night and day difference... and my shocks weren’t shot or anything.

So ya my experience differs.

I too can’t afford Fox or King... so mid grade it is. Maybe I’ll let the parts guy sell me on something different depending on any deals.

I’d like at least a 10” stroke... 12” seems to require a bigger collapsed size then I can manage... keeping eye to eye and 6.5”s of lift about
 
I have a hard time seeing why packaging is hard on 12" shock with 6" lift. When I have plenty of room at 2" minus without dropping shocks below axle tube.
 
Eye to eye nullified some of the lift.

Your fox’s are 12” stroke? My ride height eye to eye is about 20”s, collapsed is about 15”, and fully extended can be greater then the shocks I had at 25”.

I can lower the bottom eye mount to achieve 17” possibly and get into something with more extension.


The main bummer is bilstein doesn’t offer the valving I want in very many flavors
 
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