Got the Bilsteins Installed last night.. WOW! Review

[redz 1970 K5]

For anyone unhappy with the unresponsive feel of their lifted old truck on the road, these shocks are pretty amazing.

It all started with my unhappiness with the Burb on the street. On the highway and over uneven surfaces it felt vague and I didn't feel a whole lot of control. I don't like the feeling of driving a lifted 6,200lb truck without a feeling of control. Even moreso, I didn't like the feeling knowing that if I had to make a high speed maneuver in the burb, it would more then likely end up on it's side or top. That troubled me, since my wife and kids ride in it.

The truck had standard BDS shocks that come with the lift kit, and they had relatively low use- I knew I wasn't happy with them, so I had two choices-

1. Add Duals up front (truck had OEM quad mounts)
2. Add a higher end Nitro charged shock all around

I was tempted to add the extra 2 shocks, but I have done research and the resounding message was that unless you bought correctly valved front shocks for quad shock setups, it would ride like a tank, and even then I wouldn't get what I was after. So, I would be stuck buying 4 new front shocks.

No cellular gas shock was going to fit the bill (ES3000, RS5000, all lift kit standard shocks). I don't think I will run a cellular gas shock again. By nature, Cellular gas shocks are meant to dampen in a 'passive' role. They compress and dampen shock from the road, but rely on the spring to return the shock to it's rebound state. They do not 'actively' rebound to keep a firm and controlling feel on the road. This is easy to understand. If you press in a cellular gas shock, it doesn't rebound on it's own. It stays compressed. If you press in a nitro charged gas shock, it rebounds quickly. So a nitro shock not only responds in a compression state, it responds in a rebound state with specific valving as well to keep the tires planted on the road.

That left a nitro gas shock. I again did more research. While some seemed to like the Procomp MX-6 and RS-9000 shocks and their adjustability, the resounding theme amongst respondents and local 4wd shops were the superiority of the Bilsteins. Some argued that the single tube Bilsteins are far superior to the twin tube designs, due to better heat dissipation, larger shaft, larger piston and all around better manufacturing and design. A downfall might be, that if the tube gets dented, the shock may not perform as well, whereas the dual tube shocks have an outer tube to protect them.

I have never seen a bad review, ill thought or general unhappiness with Bilsteins. To top it off, the Bilstein's were $10-20 cheaper then the RS-9000 or MX-6.

On they went to the tune of $75 a piece, self installed of course. You aren't going to find any 73-87 lifted truck shocks on Bilstein's ap guide. You need to get the extended/compressed numbers for your current shock and then cross reference it to Bilstein's universal ap guide for the 5125 offroad shock. They even provide a guide for valving based on truck type, and for a single shock on leaf sprung trucks, they recommend the 255/70 valving. So, I found 255/70 valved front and rear shocks using the BDS shocks extended/compressed measurements as my guide. My local 4wd shop provided me with the 7/8 sleeves needed to mount the rear shocks to the lower mounts! (These don't come with the universal Bilstein shocks) Otherwise, the Bilsteins come with the necessary sleeves for the rest of the mounts.

The truck felt 100% different. I have a few sharp turns (30-35mph) on the way to work. Instead of the normal lazy body sway, I felt resistance and the truck planted itself around the turn. It felt solid. The ride felt a little stiffer driving on rough roads and uneven surfaces, but it felt more responsive, and I got what I wanted- more control. I now feel that I have control of the truck, and I have much higher confidence in it's behavior in tricky situations. Bonuses- The front doesn't dip under heavy braking and the body sway and roll is all but gone.

Next time your shocks are due for replacing, do yourself a favor and pony up a little more. These shocks are known to go more then 100,000 miles, so by the time you have replaced two average sets, you are even.

If anyone has a 6" lift on their 1/2 ton 73-87, I can provide exact part numbers and the extended/compressed #s as well, since I did all of that research already.