Power Wagon Registry

There have been a few threads lately about shocks, I think it would be a good idea have a sticky about it.

Like other I am also looking into new shock, my stockers are 7 years old with 34K miles and the bodies have some rust scale.
Need to keep the hauling towing capacity and would like a better on road ride (more control on bumps and such). Looked at the Thuren Fox 2.0's however I don't think I need something that crazy as I am not offroad that often and its typically not high speed (also worried about winter corrosion). So that leaves the Bilstiens 5160 or 7100's unless I am missing something.

To kick off the sticky here is some great info by posted by Coder in a different thread.

I have progressed up through various levels of shocks in my PW and here is what I noticed:

OEM Bilstein's PW specific valving:
- compliant and absorbent but not overly soft
- some noticeable side to side sway
- when pushed hard they go right to the bump-stops
- they fade when pushed hard for a long period

Bilstein 5100's:
- somewhat stiffer than the OEM's
- a more controlled feel than the OEM's not as much side to side sway
- when pushed hard they go right to the bump-stops
- they fade when pushed hard for a long period

Bilstein 7100's with Carli Performance 2.0 PW valving:
- slightly stiffer than the 5100's
- the more you push them the better they feel
- when pushed hard they don't go right to the bump-stops but resist
- they don't noticeable fade when pushed hard for a long period

King 2.5" Pin-Tops with Carli Hemi valving:.
- like driving a high-end sports car around town
- its like being glued to the road, but you feel every imperfection
- no sway in the corners, the more you push them the better they like it
- I can do 45-50 mph down a dirt road and hit fairly sizable ruts and bumps comfortably
- on rough roads I find myself waiting for the "wam bam" on big bumps but nothing happens, just a soft thump
- no fading when pushed hard for a long period

I can tell you the 7100s don't like -30. They seem to get better when they warmed up after driving for a bit but they do not perform like in summer. I have 2 that I have managed to blow the main seal on. Carli is helping me out as did George but I haven't done anything about it. Still too cold to remove em. Im also debating just rebuilding then and changing the fluid to a slightly lighter weight and lightning the valving. But I have been happy with the performance

nts007 wrote:I can tell you the 7100s don't like -30. They seem to get better when they warmed up after driving for a bit but they do not perform like in summer. I have 2 that I have managed to blow the main seal on. Carli is helping me out as did George but I haven't done anything about it. Still too cold to remove em. Im also debating just rebuilding then and changing the fluid to a slightly lighter weight and lightning the valving. But I have been happy with the performance

Neil,
I think that your situation is pretty random as I have quite a few guys running those shocks a lot further north than you are at without issues for years. Plus there are a handful of guys running them on here with no issues either.

My truck hates nice things. And I don't have any major complaints about the shocks George. You and carli have been awesome to deal with.

I have the 7100's with the Carli Hemi valving. I've been happy with them so far. No issues. Towed a 10,000 lbs camper with them too.

Lets see about adding more to the mix.

I have been looking at shocks as im at 75k on the pw and the ride feels a bit rougher than i remember when i purchased it.

I have been looking around and read as much as i can find regarding the suggestions made earlier in the thread. FYI the guys at my local 4wheel parts store were very interested in your summarry on the shocks.

That being said what are there comments or experiences any one has had with the following options.,

im looking at either of the following.

Rancho 9000xl shocks on all 4 corners
or
Fox 2.0 IFP ( non res)

I have not seen Fox or Rancho mentioned before so i thought i would ask.

2.65 acv's from Carli are firmmmmmmm. When paired with a soft Thuren coil and leaf they are reasonable but cracked up roads in colder weather are annoying. Big dips and high speeds really accent Carli valving to where they shine. Diesel valving they don't really ever want to bottom. Not something you want for someone wanted an even softer plusher ride compared to factory. More like a motorcross style suspension system.
Also shock bushings are very loud in colder weather. They seem to get better when they warm up but the heims top and bottom make for more road noise and you can hear extension/ compression on quick pot holes when the shocks are cold and oil is thicker. Also the rod end bushings/ heims are alittle small for trucks if our size (1/2") compared to the kings (5/8") Ps not sure if I did this right lol

Sent from somewhere your not

While I need to make more progress and do more updates... this link shows my experience with my choice of King 2.5" shocks.

http://forum.powerwagonregistry.org/vie ... 549#p33389



.

Does anyone have experience with these Bilstein 8125's

http://www.bilsteinus.com/fileadmin/use ... 15_WEB.pdf

http://www.bilsteinus.com/products/truc ... -coilover/

Just a word of warning regarding bilsteins....they are a royal pain in the ass to find parts/tech support for

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

adeluca73 wrote:Does anyone have experience with these Bilstein 8125's

http://www.bilsteinus.com/fileadmin/use ... 15_WEB.pdf

http://www.bilsteinus.com/products/truc ... -coilover/

no man but I had 9100's with anti cavitation valves and they worked great and added a lot of travel. However. The bushings on them were loud and didn't last long. I would recommend kings as their slow speed piston movement is better for wagon stuff.


Sent from Canada

When I dropped my Superlift non-pw specific lift kit, I originally had planned on going with the Bilstein 5125's at all four corners, however, I was only able to get the rear ones on, as the front ones with the eyelet/stem was very heavily backordered with Germany with every company I tried. I waited for awhile, but got tired of waiting so cancelled the fronts and put Rancho 9000XL Adjustables on there. I am not liking them that much though. I have tried different settings with them, but can't find that sweet spot. I somewhat wonder if it is just a different valving issue with the rear Bilsteins. The back end of my truck feels good, just not the front. So, I will be soon dropping the Rancho's and match my rear Bilsteins as far as model and valving. However, it is very likely if you put the Rancho's at all four corners, you might be happy. I will someday upgrade to the Fox's, because I do still enjoy the occasional high-speed dirt road, and I do a lot of highway and back road sprints with very rough roads so I believe the Fox's would benefit me enough to warrant the price.

I have the Rancho 9000's mainly because I needed shocks bad and didn't have a fat pocket at the time. I doubt I will use them again though. In the beginning, I liked them a lot but looking back, I think anything would have been better than the factory ones at the time. I had 93K on the factory ones and it felt like I was dribbling 4 basketballs everywhere I went.

I currently have almost 40K miles on the Ranchos and have (ironically) begun to notice things. I've started having the shock and the tire fighting each other and had to really play with the tire pressure and the adjustments on the shock to get it back to where it should be, this tells me they are about to go. When the tire wall would compress, the shock doesn't know what to do and pushes back too much or something, I'm not real sure (not really shock savvy) but I felt short bounces and watched my rear tire in the mirror and noticed it was a direct correlation to the side wall flex.

As for the steering damper, it is done, and I replaced it two days ago with the factory OEM and it is much better than the Rancho one ever was. The OEM doesn't have any pressure and controls left and right equally so unless you're running Toyo's or something that is notorious to pull, I suggest the OEM damper as a replacement. I learned this from Don Thuren, he's tried them all and likes the OEM better as well so I gave it a shot.

For information purposes, these are the Rancho part numbers with their travel lengths, I haven't had any articulation issues at all with them.

Rear RS999058
Compressed 18.240"
Extended 29.740"
Travel 11.500"

Front RS999044
Compressed 15.950"
Extended 24.600"
Travel 8.650"

Thanks for the review. I was about to purchase a set but decided to check on here to see if anyone else thought poorly about the Rancho's. Guess I will be holding off.

2011TXPowerWagon wrote:Thanks for the review. I was about to purchase a set but decided to check on here to see if anyone else thought poorly about the Rancho's. Guess I will be holding off.

I'll never buy them again. The bushings and seals never lasted for any length of time.

Just do overlands if you can get them for your lift height (factory height to +1") their cheap and they work awsome!


Sent from Canada

i agree with Lee I'm running the Thuren 3" with OverLands and i love them they defenitly ran better then expected and paired well with my boogie bumps

X3 on Overlands

I'm thinking about trying the Overlands, you speak of a certain height? I see only one option and assume that be the one?

I do believe there is only one model Overland Shock.

http://www.straptperformance.com/THUREN ... n-olsp.htm

I did speak with Don about the ones above and he said they would work great with my stock 2005 Power Wagon

Yeah, I think so too. Don must be busy today. Anyways, I can't decide on the Overland or go on up to the Fox or Kings. I sent him an email explaining as much as I could on how I typically drive and he knows my truck so I'll wait to see what he says.

leo72987 wrote:I do believe there is only one model Overland Shock.

http://www.straptperformance.com/THUREN ... n-olsp.htm

I did speak with Don about the ones above and he said they would work great with my stock 2005 Power Wagon

Would these shocks work with the Thuren 3" Hemi coils and control arms?

Wait i just looked at the website and they have a package all together.

2011TXPowerWagon wrote:

leo72987 wrote:I do believe there is only one model Overland Shock.

http://www.straptperformance.com/THUREN ... n-olsp.htm

I did speak with Don about the ones above and he said they would work great with my stock 2005 Power Wagon

Would these shocks work with the Thuren 3" Hemi coils and control arms?

Wait i just looked at the website and they have a package all together.

Haha no worries!! Thurens arms are perfect for coils up to 3 inches!! I believe his coils give 4 inches though dont they? As to his shocks they should work just fine!

I think his coils give about 4" but i think thats on a stock 2500. On a pw it would give us about an increase of 2".

leo72987 wrote:I do believe there is only one model Overland Shock.

http://www.straptperformance.com/THUREN ... n-olsp.htm

I did speak with Don about the ones above and he said they would work great with my stock 2005 Power Wagon

That's odd, when I asked him about them for my 2013 he said they're really not that much better than OEM, so I just went with some 5100s, but did get the boogie rated bumps for the front. Truck no longer bounces around like crazy going over the speed tables in/out of work. One day I'll pony up for some nicer shocks, but so far I'm happy. And on a side note, straptperformance will never see a cent from me due to their piss-poor customer service