'nother shock absorber thread
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Nov 2005
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From: Upstate NY
'nother shock absorber thread
At about 36K I put the 5100 series Bilstein's on my F350 V10 CC. The truck just turned 83K and it's 5 years later. Over the weekend I took the lightly loaded truck to the great roads in Pennsylvania. I think the fillings in my teeth are now loose from crashing through the bumps. I do have the stock size 18" tires at 5 psig over the Ford recommendation to maintain the 3042 load capacity, but even at the recommended pressure, no real difference This truck either has little load or it has a 12,000 pound, 2500 pound pin weight, 35 foot 5th wheel trailer hooked to it so it's the ol' feast or famine' situation. I've done a search here and it looks like a set of the adjustable Rancho 9000 series might be a better choice then the Bilsteins - or am I again wrong, need to suck up the pain and stay with what I have on the truck? Help
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2012
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What really helped the ride on rough roads in my truck is running the tires at 50 psi when I'm not hauling a load. I found a pressure/load chart for my tires (265/70-17) and 50 psi is over the axle weights when I am at the truck's GVWR anyway, so I don't feel bad about doing this. Tires don't seem to mind at all. One thing is that Ford does recommend the 75 psi for when there is a wobble situation, but I fixed my wobble.
Brian
Brian
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jan 2007
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Shocks are not permanent items.
They're wear items, just like brake pads. 50K is about the end of their useful lives.
If you can handle the downtime, send 'em back to Bilstein and they'll rebuild (at least I THINK they still do that.) Otherwise, buy a new set.
And you only need to run the tire pressures that high when loaded. Anything over 70 in the rears turns the rear tires to concrete. I run 55 rear/65 front in mine.
-blaine
They're wear items, just like brake pads. 50K is about the end of their useful lives.
If you can handle the downtime, send 'em back to Bilstein and they'll rebuild (at least I THINK they still do that.) Otherwise, buy a new set.
And you only need to run the tire pressures that high when loaded. Anything over 70 in the rears turns the rear tires to concrete. I run 55 rear/65 front in mine.
-blaine
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