Hi Everyone,

I have a 4.5 inch lifted 2011 Superduty.

I noticed a clanking sound when going over bumps so I started poking around under my truck. I just happened to pull the shock boot back and the lower mounting point on the shock was completely torn (see pic).

2 questions...

1) Can I drive without the shock? The last time I had a truck with no shocks, it was a 79 f150 farm truck that never saw the freeway.

2) I have kind of lost faith in the shock brand. This truck has an easy life and a shock should not self destruct under these easy driving conditions. Does Billstein make a shock specifically for lifted trucks?

I don't want to fling any mud so I am not going to mention the brand.

What brand do you recommend?

Thanks for any insight y'all can give.

 

Wow, that is some serious carnage. Most broken shocks I've ever seen or had have broke the mount, not the mount ring itself.

Good news is, yes, Bilstein makes shocks for lifted vehicles, I run them on my SD (6" lift) and my Jeep (4.5" lift) and LOVE them. They're a bit more expensive than the competition, but IMO well worth it.

A good alternative (again IMHO) is KYB. I ran KYB's on my F150 and had nothing but good things to say about them. They rode smooth, held up nice and were cheaper than the Bilstein's. The only reason I picked KYB's for my 150 is that it never went off road.

 

Thanks for the reply!

The Bilsteins... How do they ride? My friend has them on this Excursion and I think they are pretty rough. Could just be that it has front leafs. He also states that they are frozen solid when its really cold out. I do know that they make a quality product - they just tend to be a stiffer shock. Can you get them with different valving?

As for the KYB... Do they specifically make them for lifted trucks?

Thanks again!

 

The Bilstein HD's (blue and yellow) are a touch softer than the 5100's (silver and black).

The 5100's are stiff, especially on a leaf sprung truck but are made more for offroad. I go to the desert with my TH quite a lot so I run the offroad shocks on it. On coil sprung trucks, they're not quite as bad but still stiff.

If you're more on road than off, I would go with the HD's. And yes, KYB does make shocks for lifted vehicles as well. I'm pretty sure I ran the GY-2's on m y F150. If you visit their site you should be able to figure out what you need and price them up over the internet to get the best price. I do that with the 4WheelParts site all the time.

 

I tried the 5100 Bilsteins and hated them as they were stupid stiff.

 

Fyi. Thanks for everyones help. Since they were so helpful, I am going to state that the company I was working with was Icon. Icon stated that their entry level kit does not include their legendary in house shocks but rather private label Billsteins or Edelbrocks (whoever can keep up with demand). It looks like I just got one with a bad weld. It happens.

Scott at Icon is sending me a replacement shock no questions asked and made me a deal on their in house shocks which seem to be a far superior design.

They are very good to deal with and are quite reasonable there.

Just though I would post my experience.

 

I just ordered the Bil-5100 (zinc coated) my Rancho shocks rusted out and started to leak oil!