Not cheating at all. Unnecessary if it was just shocks but airbags and a hitch require a lot more time under the truck.

 

I have the Bilstein 5100's on my truck, and had them on my two previous SD's also, all are stock height. They do improve the ride and handling. All of the stock shocks I took off could easily be compressed by hand and took a long time to extend back out. The install is very easy, unless you have the B&W turnover ball. It took me about an hour to do all 4 on my current F250. Just use a pair of ViseGrips on the very top of the shaft on the front shocks to keep them from spinning. I just turn the wheels to limit on the front, no need to take the wheels off. Jack it up front the front on front and the trailer hitch on back to extend the shocks and give yourself more room. The steering stabilzer was a quick swap as well.

 

FWIW....I have the Fox 2.0 and will go another direction as I find the Fox harsh in ride but were improvement over OEM. I most likely will go with the Bilstein

 

It depends on what you're looking for.

Bilstein uses a degressive valving setup. So the low shaft speed valving is on the stiffer side and the high shaft speed valving is tuned toward the softer side. Should help resist body roll and porpoising up and down when going through G-out type bumps or heavy tongue weighted trailer. Might be smother over small, sharp chatter, but more likely to blow through the stroke and have a hard bottom out event on hard hits.

Fox uses a more progressive valving scheme. Lighter at low speed and stiffer at high shaft speed. Maybe get more body roll and "floating" up and down feeling through G-outs. Generally handle bigger bump absorption at the expense of comfort over sharp chop. Talking to the Fox tech he said they try to work around this by putting in a fair amount of "float" to give the shock a small amount of travel with reduced damping before the main high speed damping shims are engaged. He said they also put a pretty stiff rebound stack in the shocks to help tame the kick from the high spring rates on HD pickups. He did say the the cost for them to rebuild was $110/shock so by the time you add shipping both ways it really wasn't saving any money and most people just buy new and replace when the time comes. Being an aluminum tube they should cool a little better than a steel tube like the Bilsteins on a washboard road. Obviously not like a full reservoir shock though.

Personally having a wide track F-450 with really stiff spring rates I wasn't looking for more low speed compression damping, but wanted increased bottoming resistance in the rear when loaded heavy. So I went with the Fox 2.0. I'm please with my choice and don't notice much kick from abrupt bumps in the rear end when it's empty.

 

Shock choice is continuing to be a huge pain point for me. I have put 5100's on past trucks, but to be honest, haven't felt a huge difference over stock. Better on body roll, but nothing really on the comfort side. I'm considering going with Fox 2.0 this time around (no experience with Fox). My main concern is we live on about 8 miles of gravel roads with sometimes considerable washboarding. While it's manageable, but tooth rattling, unload, I have real concerns about pulling loads down the same roads. Any thoughts/experience would be appreciated above what I'm reading above.

 

Are the tremor shocks equally worthless vs the stock non tremor trucks?

 

Going to Sulastic spring shackles in the rear gave the most improvement over the really tooth rattling roads running empty in my dad's and my F-450s. He had Rancho 9000s and I had my Fox installed before adding the shackles and it was a big improvement with both rigs. It's another $460 and they say you have to replace them every 3-10 years depending on use, but they do help without doing a full suspension upgrade or losing payload capacity.

 

Which Bilsteins? 5100 or 4600?

 

I also have a 10 mile stretch of gravel that gets pretty beat up. My tire pressures are low, 57/50 unloaded and I find the Bilsteins really smoothed out the washboard. The bigger bumps are firmer than stock but well controlled. Neither are race shock so "blowing through the stroke" seems highly unlikely for the vast majority of people. I have not hauled anything yet with the new shock, currently on a long road trip and so glad I changed them before we left.

 

5100's on all 3 trucks

 

I have a set of these ready to install. Wanted to try something different for my 2021 F350 (non-Tremor).

 

You'll have to post up what your impressions are after install. Price point looks to be just a little less than FOX 2.0 reservoir shocks. Do they have comp/ext dimensions for those shocks, if not, would you mind posting what you see. Also, are they rebuildable? I didn't see any mention of it on their site.

 

I will definitely posted my feedback after I get them installed. Regarding dimensions, it says "2.3" shock body" and "3/4" induction hardened chrome plated shaft" under the features and benefits, along with "Serviceable and rebuildable (factory serviced)". Here is the complete list:

• Vehicle-specific shock absorbers
• Race-inspired performance for increased vehicle stability
• Improved dynamic roll control and low-speed damping
• Dramatic improvement in on-road comfort and off-road performance
• Optimized fitment for unobstructed suspension travel and articulation
• 2.3" shock body provides optimal performance
• 6061-T6 aluminum alloy shock body resists Impact to protect internal components
• Smooth honed internal shock body surface for long-term performance
• 3/4" induction hardened chrome plated shaft resists rock damage, corrosion, and shaft buckling
• Large shaft diameter provides wide range of adjustment on adjustable shocks
• Hard anodized 6061-T6 aluminum alloy billet piston
• 1-piece Teflon bronze piston wear band w/ O-ring
• VOD (Volume Optimized Damping) features a digressive linear piston
• VOD reduces shock bottoming at full compression or over uneven terrain
• OGS (Oil/Gas Separator) prevents cavitation
• ZRT (Zone Rate Tuning) assists factory spring in the Extension and Compression Zones during aggressive driving – does NOT affect Drive Zone
• Internal Negative-Rate Coil Spring eliminates top out clunk and shock stress during Extension Zone; softens tire landing on impact
• Vehicle tuned microcellular Progressive Bump Stops reduce harsh bottom outs (when applicable)
• High-quality spherical bushings (when applicable)
• Zerk fittings to lube bushing (when applicable)
• Red Line synthetic oil w/ a high Viscosity Index for consistent performance across all temperatures
• Synthetic formula also contains special anti-wear and lubricity agents
• 1,000-hour salt spray corrosion resistance test on all hardware
• Serviceable and rebuildable (factory serviced)
• Designed, engineered, and assembled in-house from domestic and globally sourced components
• Patented design
• 3-year warranty

They are listed for the F250, but I emailed their sales department and they said that as long as the truck isn't leveled more than 2" and it's a SRW, they will fit the F350.

 

Do the Bilstein 5100 front shocks have the clips that allow for them to provide small amounts of lift? The ones on my 4runner did but not sure these for the F250 do. Thank you

NVM. Looks like the Bilstein 5112 is setup to provide 2" lift.

 

The 4runner uses a coil over suspension, Super Duty does not. The coil is seperate from the shock on the Super Duty.