Leaking Bilstien?

[laramieram]

Was just under the truck in preparation for the installation of bed lights. Noticed some wetness along the axle and followed it to a drip hanging from the bottom of my driver's side shock. Follow up the shock and it clearly looks to be leaking. These have less than 5,000 miles on them. Nothing off road. I do tow a 2900 lbs boat a couple times a week. That should be well within the capacity of these things, I thought. This may explain what I have been noticing while driving. Like the rear end is loose.
Now what do I do? Buy a new one or just wait till I put on a lift kit that has new rear shocks anyway.

Purchased at Moe's. (In no way do I see this as their "problem" or "fault").

 

[kg93]

happens. Things fail, id take some pictures and email bilstein. Im not sure if they have a warranty or what, but you never know.

 

[brandonjansen]

I would take that shock off and cycle it to see if it is in fact low on oil or if the residue is actually coming from somewhere else.

Bilstein does have a limited lifetime warranty on their shocks so if it is shot I would imagine it would be covered. You'd likely need to go through Moe's to get them replaced under that warranty.

 

[A05GSHO]

happens. Things fail, id take some pictures and email bilstein. Im not sure if they have a warranty or what, but you never know.

^^^^^^^

What he said

 

[laramieram]

The seal is gone, all the oil has come out and the thing sucks and blows air as it moves in and out. It happens. Bilstein would warranty, but that has to go through the retailer where you purchased. My wife bought these for me as a gift back in may from Moe's. She spoke with someone at Moe's, they said they did not think they were warranted but would check and get back to us. That was a couple of weeks ago. Since, she has left messages for them but hasn't heard back so on to buy just 1 shock on amazon. I can't sit around and wait, I need to be able to use the truck.

On the bright side, I did put it in the garage and spend 30 hours buffing it. Looks like a mirror, the metallic really sparkles.