Why Bil over complete strut replacement?

[RoadKing]

Looks like just about everything else in southern Ga the labor cost to do anything is high. I have found two places in Savannah that seem to know what they are doing when it comes to lifts.

However labor is high. They both want around $700 OTD to put Bills on the front.

Only thing they both ask why bother with paying labor to R&R the OEM shock with a Bil.

They say it would be cheaper to just replace the entire tire strut with a Rancho.

I have no idea other than right now it seems the preferred way on the forum is to put Bils on vs a complete strut.

There may be obvious reason that is not obvious to me.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[Ricks Ram]

The Bilstein has several different adjustments up to 2.8 inches. The Rancho is a spring in shock assembly that you buy and gives you approximately 2 inches of lift. It is not adjustable as far as your ride hight goes. I have no experience running the Rancho quick lift so I cannot speak to how they ride. I had the bilsteins on my truck set at 2.1 for over 2 years and they rode great. I now have a 6 inch BDS Lift and I still have the Bilstein shocks on my truck with them front set at 5/8 inch ti levrl mu truck. The ride is still very nice. I don't see why it would cost that much more to install the Bilstein shocks over the Rancho. I they don't take that much longer to install. You just need to compress the springs and switch the shocks out. I would recommend the bilsteins just from my personal experience and the quality of the shock plus the fact that they are adjustable. If you decide to lift your truck later or do other options to it you can still use the Bilstein shocks to adjust your ride height to where you want.

 

[Marciel]

If money is a factor I'd look into fox 2.0 coilovers. Who wants primative settings in 1" incriminate when you can the the infinite adjustment of threads. Also when you buy a coilover you don't have to take your strut apart and salvage the spring.

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[00R/T]

If money is a factor I'd look into fox 2.0 coilovers. Who wants primative settings in 1" incriminate when you can the the infinite adjustment of threads. Also when you buy a coilover you don't have to take your strut apart and salvage the spring.

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If money is a factor you'd recommend something where the parts alone are more than his entire quote with labor?

 

[Marciel]

I was just implying that they are the most cost friendly coilovers on the market and they will out perform a cheap bilstein any day. And they are easy to slam in and adjust.

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[Wandell]

Well, it takes decades of use for coil springs to sag out. This is why most replacement coilover shocks reuse the OEM spring. I agree in theory that it would be easier to replace the OEM coilovers with a complete assembly. But the only thing different is the need to remove the spring from the old shock and reinstall it on the Bilstien. But that is easy compared to removing and reinstalling the assembly on the truck.

 

[Marciel]

Coilovers don't use the factory spring , they are a different shape and length completely most of them have Ebach make their springs.

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[cmznj2]

There really isnt much to it. I did my bilsteins by myself with handtools and rented a spring compressor from autozone which is free. took about 1.5 hours the first side and an hour on the second side. A shop should have it done in no more than 2 hours and the have power tools, lifts and a wall mounted spring compressor. My truck was a month old so it was probably a little easier to do.

 

[69GWC]

$700 dollars is freaken retarded amout to do that job.

and thats all I have to say about that.

 

[Csanders1992]

$700 dollars is freaken retarded amout to do that job.

and thats all I have to say about that.

Yep. I did the install myself in about 2 hours on jack stands. It's an easy job


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[Neumie]

i was quoted $665. Will be doing it myself when I get a chance.

 

[DannyMK2]

Looks like just about everything else in southern Ga the labor cost to do anything is high. I have found two places in Savannah that seem to know what they are doing when it comes to lifts.

However labor is high. They both want around $700 OTD to put Bills on the front.

Only thing they both ask why bother with paying labor to R&R the OEM shock with a Bil.

They say it would be cheaper to just replace the entire tire strut with a Rancho.

I have no idea other than right now it seems the preferred way on the forum is to put Bils on vs a complete strut.

There may be obvious reason that is not obvious to me.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

once you have the oem shock assembly out it takes ~10 mins to swap the OEM spring over to the bilstein using air tools. i dont see a cost savings in this since the ranchos are a good amount more expensive. sounds more like the shop is too lazy or makes more money off the ranchos.

theres nothing wrong with the ranchos. they ride nice and you can adjust the firmness. bilsetins have the option of giving you more lift though.

 

[Marciel]

I used to have the rancho struts , complete garbage. Over sprung and under dampened, they do make a nice shock though. Love my 9000's in the rear.

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[RoadKing]

Found aplace that has installed Bils several times. $616 otd including alignment. I know I will prefer the look I just hope i like the ride.