About 8 months ago, I installed a set of Bilstein 5100 shocks on my '17 gas F-250. These were replacing a set of Rancho 5000X shocks I installed to replace the stock shocks. I have to tell you, my truck has never ridden so harshly. I thought I could get used to it but sometimes it just beats the hell out of me. Not sure if the 5100's are a good fit for gas trucks that weigh a lot less than their diesel counterparts. I'm thinking of replacing them with the Rancho RS7MT shocks because I want to stay with a monotube shock. Somewhere on this forum I remember reading that the Bilstein's have a compression rate of 200lbs vs the Rancho's 150lbs. My truck is all stock with 99% highway miles and a Fox steering stabilizer. I know the ride quality in these trucks is subjective but now I feel every nook and cranny the road has to offer. Worse than before. If I decide to do this I will sell the 5100's at a really good price. Any thoughts?

 

What was wrong with the Rancho's you had on it?
Still have them?
I bought a set months ago and have yet to install them, but I sure need to, stock shocks have 205K on them now and they are really starting to hurt me.

 

IMHO, you are correct about the 5100s. I had them on a truck this past year and took them off after a few months. They made the ride abnormally rough, even for a 1-ton, unloaded. They are good shocks if you are always working the truck. However, if you do a bit of unloaded driving, they're rough. I replaced them with the adjustable Rancho RS9000XL and it was a huge difference.

 

I thought 5100s were for lifted/leveled and not stock height?

 

They have different lengths, depending on need.

 

I spoke with both Fox and Bilstein before I put shocks on my 22 F350- Direct from Bilstein- 4600’s are designed/intended for pavement use- the valving is different on the 5100’s as they are oriented for more off road use.
If you want a soft squishy ride look to the Fox line but they do allow more body roll than any Bilstein.

I went with the Bilstein 4600’s- it may be a little choppy now & then but the truck is absolutely planted and corners like it is on rails and tows flat & smooth.

I never considered Rancho as I have never cared for them since I had a set on a CJ-7.
They were garbage IMO.

 

For the 17+ Super Duty application, the 4600's and 5100's have the exact same valving. That has been reiterated by Bilstein reps to more than one owner, including myself.

Here is a qoute from a Bilstein tech support email reply I received when inquiring about any valving and/or gas charge differences between the 4600 and 5100 shocks for the 17 and up Super Duty.

"For this particular application I can see that the valving profiles for the front and rear 4600 and 5100 are exactly the same.The gas charge is also the same."

 

I had Rancho 9000 on my 2011, 2015 and 2017 trucks
I had Bilstein on my 2020 and they only lasted 60,000 miles and started to leak, Replaced them with GYB since I was on the road and it's what I could get.
My current 2023 truck has the Falcon shocks. Currently at 39,000 miles and I think they have been great for my use

 

I replaced my OE shocks with Bilstein 4600s all the way around at roughly 85,000 miles and the ride quality did not change enough to really even notice it. Truck rode like pure trash before and rides like pure trash now. At least it didn't get worse. But the point is, unless you've got a blown shock that is clearly leaking there is zero reason to change shocks on these trucks.

 

Interesting- quite to the contrary of what I was told in August when I contacted them🤷‍♂️

 

I wanted more control and less fade than my 2022 gas, base spring, F250 FX4 shocks had on and off pavement. I didn’t want a stiffer firmer shock but I wanted to get rid of those twintube FX4 shocks and get monotubes.

I installed Bilsteins on a couple of vehicles in the past that I WANTED a firmer ride on. 2004 Silverado 2500 LD with torsion bars cranked up and on a lowered on stock bolts 2017 base model Corvette. The Bilsteins were great on those vehicles, they firmed the soft, floaty ride up nicely.

I emailed my go to for shocks (Bilstein) hoping that the roomers I read about that the 4600s were softer valved and not as firm as the 5100s. But Bilstein said “THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME” the only difference is the exterior finish and the lengths.

So I read and watched videos about different monotube shocks and ended up going with the Rancho RS7MTs on my F250 because they weren’t supposed to be as firm as the Bilsteins. I think it rides firmer now with the Rancho RS7MTs than it did with the FX4 shocks but it’s more controlled. Dropping the air pressure to 50 front and 45 rear has made the biggest ride improvement for me.

Those Rancho 5000 that you had are probably softer than the RS7MTs. But the 5000s are twintubes which are probably more than adequate if you don’t go off pavement. I think you’ll probably be happier with the 9000s (which are also twintubes) switched to the softer settings.

 

The Rancho 5000X shocks that replaced the stock shocks lasted around 45K before one of the rears sprang a leak so I replaced them all with the 5100"s. Ride quality was good while they lasted.

 

The only differences between 4600 and 5100 are the length of stroke on the 5100 to accommodate lifts, and the body materials. Ride will be the same between them. What shocks do is keep the tires in contact with the ground on bumpy roads, thats how the 5100 improve handling over FX4 shocks that allowed the rear axle to hop on rough corners. Ride quality really comes from the tires themselves. Stiff side wall tires, like the 20's on King Ranch and the like will have a firmer ride than 17" like on my DRW. The more sidewall on the tire, the more they can absorb road impacts.

What happens when you remove the shocks? The truck goes bounce crazy, and can be nearly uncontrollable. Worn shocks increase instability, cause more side roll, nose dives on stops, tires leaving the pavement. Stiff shocks push the tire to the ground so that over bumps it maintains grip. Softer shocks allow for some movement off pavement, but also affect how it handles. Personally I prefer a truck that handles well, ride comes secondary, and to improve ride I lower the air pressure in the tires. When I had the 450 I put 5100 on it even though not lifted, 4600 were unobtainium at that time. The ride actually improved a bit because the tires were tight to the pavement, reducing some of the bounce. Could not smooth the ride any further due to the heavy steel belted sidewalls of the commercial tires.

SO if its ride quality, there really aren't many choices for shocks to improve it. The main improvement with new shocks, any new shocks, will be in in improving handling and reducing secondary tire bounce. That will be the most ride improvement you can expect from shocks, that second or third tire hop over a hump or crack in the road. If you want to soften the trucks ride, you need different tires.

Why do cars ride better? Passenger tires have soft sidewalls and treads compared to LT tires that have strong stiff treads and thick sidewalls. It's like the same model car, but one with 18" wheels and one with 20" wheels. The ride in the one with 18" wheels will be so much smoother and softer than the one with 20" wheels, but the latter will handle a lot better, especially on curves and turns. Want better handling, sacrifice ride quality, want a softer ride, sacrifice handling.

 

Maybe this is all in my head but it does seem to ride more harsh than it did pre 5100's. I'm trying to wrap my head around how a softer sprung shock wouldn't provide better ride. I guess what I'm saying is that it seems like a stiff shock would transfer any kind of road imperfection directly to the seat of my pants vs. a softer shock that would absorb the imperfections better no matter what tires you had.

 

My experience with Bilstein's as well.