1320

I called afriend of mine since Im looking for shocks for my 3500. He has always been very much into offroading and his family is well into rock crawling with what seems like substantial experience. In about 1 minute he brought me up to speed a lot on shocks.

First, the ads for "twin tube shocks" should read, dont buy me Im pretty bad..

Second, rancho does not make shocks, neither does sky jacker, or monroe really. Monroe did produce ranchos, (same thing as monroes) but have since been bught by another company, so the parent company makes monroes, ranchos etc....just different boxes and paint.

Bilstiens are considered pretty good, the 5100's are pretty much get you in the door most generic .

He said at the very least I d want a monotube , which are 5100's, and kyb monomaxes.....and after some searching it also seems edelbrocks ias performaers are also 46 mm monotubes. Edelbrock claims the biggest at 46 mm but no one else I have found published the diameter number. My friend said I should look for the largest monotube shock for the best ride and control.

I hope I understood him correctly as I had the kids going at me at the time. Can or does anyone else in the know agree or disagree with this information?

jughead

kyb shocks are the best i have ever owned bar none.

RowJ

I have Bilsteins on the front.. very nice!
I love the adjustability of my rear Rancho 9000's. Never heard they were made by Monroe.... if so they are top end for that company...IMO.

RJ

Cowhand

All true....but I'd suggest staying away from the Edlebrocks. I know several folks that had 'em and didn't like 'em.

Depends on how much you want to spend....the 5100's would probably be your best bet unless you're willing to pony up for a custom valved shock.

HOHN

Agreed. For an off-the shelf shock, the 5100 is about as good as it gets, and the digressive valving works VERY well over a broad range of conditions.

As you get more specialized in shock applications, you can get shocks dialed in more specifically.

But we want all kinds of opposites in these trucks-- ride well empty, good control and ride comfort towing heavy, and be good off-road! You can't design a shock to perform well under conditions that demand opposite things from the shocks.

The 5100 is a good all-around compromise. I love mine. Killed my death wobble (that and a better track bar).

RowJ

FYI - I tried the Bilstein 5100's (BE5 2549... yellow & Blue) when I added 2" leveling lift kit. They worked very poorly, because of the lift. Other shocks report no problems with stock lengths when lifting up to 2".... and I've seen Rancho's handle it well! I believe the superior design of the Bilstein's caused the problem.They were very mushy and my CTD swayed badly and bounced a lot on rough roads.

I recently replaced those with Bilstein's BE5-6681-H5's (nickle plated and designed for 2-3" lift). These shocks are spectacular; the best I've ever used!

So anyone leveling their 4x4 with 2" front lift kits... and wanting to run Bilstein shocks.... go with the 5100's designed for the additional 2" of travel. IMO, you'll be much happier!

RJ

Note: I sold the BE5-2549's to a non leveled CTD...and they ride beautifully.

HOHN

Thanks for the clarification. I have the be5-6681-h5s (nickel/zinc whatever plated) and THESE are the exact shocks I'm talking about. Handling on and off-road is exceptional. Expansion joints aren't that smooth (digressive valving), but it's worth it for all the other benefits.

For those that don't know, I'll attempt to answer the question: what is "digressive valving?"

Shocks are dampers that resist changes to the RATE of motion. Remember: rate, not motion in general. They resist this change in two directions: compression (makes the shock shorter) and rebound (makes it longer). Often, the shock will not have identical calibrations for both compression and rebound, but OTOH, they often do.

Shock damping is often graphed with FORCE on the Y (vertical) axis and VELOCITY on th X (horizontal) axis. This will tell you how the shock damps; if it "displaces"a lot for a low level of applied force, then you have a very "soft" shock and the graph will be almostly horizontal (small increase in Y makes big change in X). Conversely, and very "stiff" shock with lots of damping will be mostly vertical, with lots of force (Y axis) producing only a small change in X (velocity).

Now, obviously the shock damps in two directions. So the graph will have a negative and positive Y value, depending on direction. You end up with two curves that are symmetrical about the X axis (they look like mirror images of each other, but horizontally), but only if the shock has identical compression and rebound valving.

"Digressive" valving just means that when you graph these curves, they diverge, or get farther apart initally.. The result is a wishbone-shaped curve. I linear shock would have a hard "v" shape, and a progressive shock would have a curving funnel shapeike those charity coin drops that make the coin go around in circles before it falls into the hole in the middle.

What this all means is that a digressive shock starts out stiff, but as more force is applied, it gets "softer".

I can give you examples of how this plays out in reality, but this post is already way too long..... let me know if anyone wants the examples.

jh

Oh, and use the Yellow b'steins on a lifted truck at your own risk.

BigBlue

HOHN, you truly have a gift to be able to explain something as dynamic as rebound and compression of a shock in terms easy enough for a simple man like me to understand.

Gotlift01

I give HOHN credit for being able to type that much and have it all make sense. I get a couple paragraphs in of typing and I either run out of things to say or it sounds so retarded I should be kicked in the head.......



~Nick

BigBlue

I just got a new pair of steel toes that I need to break in.