Shock recommendations? Bilstien?

[I Lean]

I ran with my RS9000's on 3, mine were the old 5 ways ones. I've never found a Rancho guide that lists their valving options, hard enough to find chart of their lengths for their newer offerings.

Girth she has...

How do you like your damping? I'd think the 8K's would be good, but I like a bit of extra control at the expense of the Cadillac ride. (helps when I want to push it fast a bit... ) IIRC Mbryson was happy with the 8K's on the front of his XJ, and the 3K's on the rear (since the front is more floppy on that rig anyway), and I'm sure yours weighs more than his. But then it's leaf-sprung, so.......

 

[cruiseroutfit]

How do you like your damping? I'd think the 8K's would be good, but I like a bit of extra control at the expense of the Cadillac ride. (helps when I want to push it fast a bit... ) IIRC Mbryson was happy with the 8K's on the front of his XJ, and the 3K's on the rear (since the front is more floppy on that rig anyway), and I'm sure yours weighs more than his. But then it's leaf-sprung, so.......

No complaints with the current dampening, my fall back plan is to just buy some new of the Rancho 9-way units. One issue is I do want to run them "can up" on the front, jury is still out on whether or not this is OK. I've found info referencing both??

I'm going to see if I can dig up some valve number for the RS99000 and the DT8000's. I know the 255/70 is like by many in similar rigs, I guess I'll use that as a starting point?

 

[I Lean]

They may not all use the same measuring system for damping, if you do find numbers.

Bilstein's numbers are Newtons of force required to achieve a piston velocity of 1 meter per second, I think. Can't quite remember for sure the piston velocity, I think I have it written down somewhere. I also can't remember if it's compression/rebound or rebound/compression. :guilty:

 

[cruiseroutfit]

They may not all use the same measuring system for damping, if you do find numbers.

Bilstein's numbers are Newtons of force required to achieve a piston velocity of 1 meter per second, I think. Can't quite remember for sure the piston velocity, I think I have it written down somewhere. I also can't remember if it's compression/rebound or rebound/compression. :guilty:

Bilsteins are Newtons force at .52 m/s, rebound/compression. While I would assume they use some standard number of valve referencing (such as an SAE guideline) but given the fact you can't find any valving numbers easily for any of the other manufactures, your probably right.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

One last question about the DT8000's I can't seem to find the answer too. Is the bumpstops length computed into the closed measurement? At the moment it touches or after it is compressed?? Make sense?

My tires barely rub the bottom of my front fenders at full flex currently. I was going to lower my bumpstops 1/2" but the DT8000's could kill two birds so to speak...

 

[rockreligious]

Ive run the 5125's for three years (hard) and theyve held up awesome, got them from Jack-it for like $75 each they are probably more now.

 

[Bodine]

Kurt, I have 5125s on my CTD so far they have been great I know the CTD is a couple lbs different than your rig but I have liked the quality of the Bilsteins Talk to Matt over at Jackit if you decide on the Bilsteins. I have also talked to quite a few people running the 5150s on Jeeps and they have been impressed with them just my .02

 

[I Lean]

One last question about the DT8000's I can't seem to find the answer too. Is the bumpstops length computed into the closed measurement? At the moment it touches or after it is compressed?? Make sense?

My tires barely rub the bottom of my front fenders at full flex currently. I was going to lower my bumpstops 1/2" but the DT8000's could kill two birds so to speak...

The bumpstop is not calculated into the compressed length, it's just the travel of the shock. Without measuring, I'd guess the bumpstop on the shaft is around 1.5" long, so add that to the compressed length to see where the bump starts to make contact. It does compress fairly easily at first, then gets progressively harder as it gets closer to squished.

 

[MRJ]

Kurt,

I have run 5150's for almost 3 years now on my TJ. I love them. I have not had any problems with the mounting of said shocks either.

Bill at Great Basin Rovers in SLC is a dealer.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Using some linear interpolation (yes I'm a geek) I've dialed in the lengths I want to go and the bumpstop mods I need to make Now to choose the shock

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Update. I ended up with Bilstein 5150 fronts and 5125 rears. So far so good. I broke a spring earlier in the year and switched to Old Man Emu springs all the way around, I had to modify the packs a bit to work with my SOA and not be ridiculously tall, but the two seem to compliment each other nicely! Thanks for all the help

 

[ALF]

How much did you pay for them...I pulled the bils. off my DD at 120k miles and went with ranchos and I miss them dearly would love to go back to them if I could get them cheap enough

 

[cruiseroutfit]

How much did you pay for them...I pulled the bils. off my DD at 120k miles and went with ranchos and I miss them dearly would love to go back to them if I could get them cheap enough

Fronts were ~$120 each and rears were ~$85 each

 

[jeffsclan]

Kurt, while this is fresh in your head I had a question for you. I'm running 5100s up front on my 60. The compression damping is fine @ 70NM. The rebound could be better (255NM). I know I could get 5150s' with different valving or re-valve them myself. I had another thought. OME 's , do you know the specs on them? I need more rebound control. Thanks Jeff

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Kurt, while this is fresh in your head I had a question for you. I'm running 5100s up front on my 60. The compression damping is fine @ 70NM. The rebound could be better (255NM). I know I could get 5150s' with different valving or re-valve them myself. I had another thought. OME 's , do you know the specs on them? I need more rebound control. Thanks Jeff

I've got information on the OME's, but they don't use the same rating as Bilstein (in fact I think Bilstein is the only one using that?), so its pretty hard to compare shock to shock based on their ratings alone. Give me a ring or stop by if you want to check out the OME spec I would love to run some OME Nitro or LTR shocks on my LC, but with the SOA their options are pretty limited in the long lengths I needed.

 

[jeffsclan]

O tay, Thanks

 

[Jared]

I love my Bilstein 5125's!

I also tossed a pair on the front of the JK. They blow away any other shock I've run. There's a guy on ebay that sells them cheap.

Jared

 

[jeffsclan]

So after pondering my shock woes ( sorry Kurt I haven't had a chance to swing by yet). I noticed that I have 5125s not 5100s. I thought that all Bilstiens needed to be mounted shaft down shock body on top, now I'm thinking I was wrong and its just for the upper end shocks. Would this have an effect on my ride? Have I been running around with my shocks upside down like an idiot?