Shock recommendation

[loveracing1988]

I tried searching and never found a definitive consensus on what a good shock is for the 2014+ 2500's and the 2013+ 3500s. I am going to stay stock ride height which means the bilstein 5100's are out (at least for the front). I keep going back to the 4600's but if I can get something better for a little more I'd be all for it. I found thuren overland shocks which seem to be a good deal but they require the use of their springs. There are fox 2.0 shocks but they are roughly double the money of 4600's and some people say they ride horrible some people say they ride amazing. I know the off road package rams now come with special bilsteins, are those available from bilstein or are those the standard 4600 shocks I can find anywhere? I'm getting new tires Friday (toyo open cou try at2 xtreme in 285 75r17 so I want to do it fairly soon for the new tires sake).

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[jaflowers]

I recently went to the 4600's on my Ram. Really seems to dampen the hard bumps out and gives the truck a much better overall ride. I'm really happy I did the upgrade.

 

[pwjouster]

if you want to spend >100, <100, >1000, <1000 per shock then there are all perfect setups for you.

fox, king, bilstein, all have there attributes, but at each price level.

the most important thing to do is talk to the Carlis and Thurens to talk about your truck and your use.

best bet, fork over the dime for a specific tuned application for your truck. otherwise, its a crapshoot what you will actually like, stiff, soft, responsive, or extreme dampening, every shock is different, every ride is different.

whatever you do, stock springs wont work well with any aftermarket shock...at least not to its potential.

 

[loveracing1988]

if you want to spend >100, <100, >1000, <1000 per shock then there are all perfect setups for you.

fox, king, bilstein, all have there attributes, but at each price level.

the most important thing to do is talk to the Carlis and Thurens to talk about your truck and your use.

best bet, fork over the dime for a specific tuned application for your truck. otherwise, its a crapshoot what you will actually like, stiff, soft, responsive, or extreme dampening, every shock is different, every ride is different.

whatever you do, stock springs wont work well with any aftermarket shock...at least not to its potential.

That's the thing, I'm not about to kill the payload capacity of the truck just to run a shock. Carli and thuren offer nada for stock trucks so that limits it. That and as good as it sounds I'm not about to drop $2000 on shocks, or even $1000. My max budget is $500 which puts the fox shocks right at my max.

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[[email protected]]

I run the fox 2.0 on my 2500. But you will feel the bumps more than the stock shocks. Better control over the bumps but definitely a stiffer ride.

 

[Deki]

Go stock. Factory engineered for comfort and perfomance

 

[loveracing1988]

Go stock. Factory engineered for comfort and perfomance

Not to sound like a ****, but they are engineered to be as cheap as they can be and get you out of the warranty period.

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[pwjouster]

bilsteins always ran stiff for me.
foxs can be softer, but i hear off the shelf never makes stock springs feel great

 

[wyo2track]

I tried searching and never found a definitive consensus on what a good shock is for the 2014+ 2500's and the 2013+ 3500s. I am going to stay stock ride height which means the bilstein 5100's are out (at least for the front). I keep going back to the 4600's but if I can get something better for a little more I'd be all for it.

I've been running 5100's for almost 4 years now on stock 275/70R18 and no lift and have not had any issues. I'm sure with just a taller tire and no lift you'd have no problems. The 5100's sure did take the whippy feeling out of the rear end. I was pretty shocked, no pun intended, how the 2 of the 4 OEM shocks would barely rebound after you compressed them and that was easily done on all 4. I take no credit for the link attached but the gentleman that created it went out of his way to determine which 5100's would work on our RAM trucks and stock height and I used his information and Part No's. Here is the link..

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/4...ter-ram-2500-bilstein-5100-shock-install.html

 

[loveracing1988]

I've been running 5100's for almost 4 years now on stock 275/70R18 and no lift and have not had any issues. I'm sure with just a taller tire and no lift you'd have no problems. The 5100's sure did take the whippy feeling out of the rear end. I was pretty shocked, no pun intended, how the 2 of the 4 OEM shocks would barely rebound after you compressed them and that was easily done on all 4. I take no credit for the link attached but the gentleman that created it went out of his way to determine which 5100's would work on our RAM trucks and stock height and I used his information and Part No's. Here is the link..

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/4...ter-ram-2500-bilstein-5100-shock-install.html

That is what I want to hear. When I called bilstein they said that the 5100's would be too long for a stock truck. In that thread it looks like no one had issues but there was some old information in there about the previous front suspension version of 5100's. Those were rated for a 0 to 2" lift where the ones for the radius arm trucks are 2" plus. That's what is throwing me off.

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[Deki]

Not to sound like a ****, but they are engineered to be as cheap as they can be and get you out of the warranty period.

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You're right that they are engineered to a certain budget, but they are also tested for the pay load, as well as other perfornance metrics. And they factory shocks do ride better than many aftermarket options. If the rest of the truck is stock, it makes sense to go with a shock that all the engineering was done on.

 

[G. Mcpherson]

Before I did my Suspension lift I put the 5100 shocks on my truck. No Issues and much better performance than Factory Shocks.

 

[busterbrown]

I just picked up a set of 5100's for the rears and am installing them tomorrow. Mopar OEM (non-off road) is what's currently on the truck. I'll report back what I think of just replacing the rears. Still indecisive about leveling out the front with the 5100s. I'm against mismatching with the 4600's as I've read the 5100's are better suited for the HD lineup.

 

[River19]

Be curious how this discussion goes.......

I am currently running 35s leveled with stock suspension and I'm fine with how it rides and love how it handles towing and payload. I am familiar with every major shock brand from my current crop of Toyotas and have run everything Bilstein makes including their coilovers and will never buy Bilstein again. Currently have Rancho on one Toyoa and ICONs on another......ICON you do get what you pay for......but you pay dearly.

Wonder what I would go with on my Ram when the time comes

 

[Will Ram 2500]

How are the Ranchos and Skyjackers on these trucks?

 

[busterbrown]

Okay, here's my 5100 Bilstein update.

I installed the shocks on the rears yesterday evening with help of a floor jack and hack saw. I should point out that with the 4th generation heavy duties, the top shock mount has a single threaded stem that bolts through the frame rail with a 18 mm nut. The top of the stem has a reduced 9 mm tip to attach a wrench to hold the stem in place while turning the nut. Here's where the extra 1 hour of choice words came in to play.

The tips of both shock stems were a little rusty and stripped out immediately with my 9mm wrench. Vice grips...you'd think. Nope...didn't hold it. After every tool available to me was exhausted in an attempt to remove the shocks without destruction, I had to "hack saw" off the nut and stem. I wanted to keep them intact for the possibility of reinstallation if the Bilsteins didn't offer an improvement. Stupid design by Mopar.

Well, the moment of truth came around 10 pm in the black of night. Michigan roads are pretty beat up, one particularly very close to me. So that was my destination. Immediately I noticed a significant improvement in control of the "rebound" on the rear end after making contact with each bump or pothole. Where the OEM Mopars are grossly unrefined over each road rut, the Bilsteins offer up satisfying dampening on the rears. When people talk about a compliant ride with the 5100's, I now know what they mean. They don't feel softer on the truck; rather, they feel more supportive on each road imperfection. It's so obvious on each bump as the front OEM shocks are felt first. Then, immediately the Bilstein rears are felt. What a great comparison.

And for those who have own a 1/2 ton, there is no direct comparison to your application as the suspensions are completely different. With the HD trucks, the 5100's complement the stiffer suspension in a good way. The jarring rebound is now tamed.

Now I have to decide if I want to level or not, as the front 5100's are not offered for stock ride height. I need rake as I tow a camper.

 

[loveracing1988]

Okay, here's my 5100 Bilstein update.

I installed the shocks on the rears yesterday evening with help of a floor jack and hack saw. I should point out that with the 4th generation heavy duties, the top shock mount has a single threaded stem that bolts through the frame rail with a 18 mm nut. The top of the stem has a reduced 9 mm tip to attach a wrench to hold the stem in place while turning the nut. Here's where the extra 1 hour of choice words came in to play.

The tips of both shock stems were a little rusty and stripped out immediately with my 9mm wrench. Vice grips...you'd think. Nope...didn't hold it. After every tool available to me was exhausted in an attempt to remove the shocks without destruction, I had to "hack saw" off the nut and stem. I wanted to keep them intact for the possibility of reinstallation if the Bilsteins didn't offer an improvement. Stupid design by Mopar.

Well, the moment of truth came around 10 pm in the black of night. Michigan roads are pretty beat up, one particularly very close to me. So that was my destination. Immediately I noticed a significant improvement in control of the "rebound" on the rear end after making contact with each bump or pothole. Where the OEM Mopars are grossly unrefined over each road rut, the Bilsteins offer up satisfying dampening on the rears. When people talk about a compliant ride with the 5100's, I now know what they mean. They don't feel softer on the truck; rather, they feel more supportive on each road imperfection. It's so obvious on each bump as the front OEM shocks are felt first. Then, immediately the Bilstein rears are felt. What a great comparison.

And for those who have own a 1/2 ton, there is no direct comparison to your application as the suspensions are completely different. With the HD trucks, the 5100's complement the stiffer suspension in a good way. The jarring rebound is now tamed.

Now I have to decide if I want to level or not, as the front 5100's are not offered for stock ride height. I need rake as I tow a camper.

I'm not going to tell you what to do. I was in the same predicament and I ended up doing the fronts first and figured if they worked I'd do the rears. I installed them in about 30 minutes or so in my driveway, air tools helped a bunch. For comparison I compressed both of them side by side and both of them went to almost the exact same compressed height. If anything the bilstein's might have went a little shorter.
I know exactly what you mean though only in reverse order, the fronts hit the bumps first and it's nice and soft and then the rears hit and it is jarring. So hopefully when I get the rears swapped it will be constistent front to rear.

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[loveracing1988]

Well, attempted the rears and it didn't go so well. Same exact problem as above. I started out using a 6 point 9mm wrench and it even stripped it. So tomorrow is a trip to home depot for a Sawzall because I am sure as f### not taking a hour in my driveway with a hacksaw...

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[busterbrown]

Well, attempted the rears and it didn't go so well. Same exact problem as above. I started out using a 6 point 9mm wrench and it even stripped it. So tomorrow is a trip to home depot for a Sawzall because I am sure as f### not taking a hour in my driveway with a hacksaw...

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Just buy yourself a cheap $10 hacksaw. It only took an about 10 minutes of 'hacksawing' each side off, the rest of the 50 minutes minutes was me 'b&tching' at the engineers for making a stupid design.

How long did it take you to do the fronts? Any special tools or tips?

 

[loveracing1988]

Just buy yourself a cheap $10 hacksaw. It only took an about 10 minutes of 'hacksawing' each side off, the rest of the 50 minutes minutes was me 'b&tching' at the engineers for making a stupid design.

How long did it take you to do the fronts? Any special tools or tips?

I tried, the hacksaw was taking too long. My patience was already shot when I reached that point... That and I've been wanting a Sawzall for a while and this is the excuse I need to do it!
If you have a impact that's the best option. It took me literally a half hour if that including getting tools and cleanup to do the fronts. If you don't have access to a impact you'll probably be doing the same and cutting the tops off because I don't see any other way of holding the top from spinning.

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