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Old 11-17-2020, 12:26 PM   #1
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Tow Vehicle Shock Absorbers

Throwing this out there, need your opinions on shock absorbers for my Tow Vehicle. 2003 Chevy Duramax. I've been running Bilstein's for the last 10 or so years. Pleased with the ride, but had some problems with the rubber bushings failing on the lower part of the front shocks. Doesn't help that I have 7 miles of dirt road to the pavement, but I haven't had that happen on anything else. I was able to get bushings off of other shocks and press them in which took care of the problem, but I think it's time for new. What have others here gone to when changing out the shocks on your tow vehicle, and why did you make that choice?
One other detail is I also run an Air Lift air bag setup on the rear. My truck is an Extended cab, short box, and I tow a Fifth Wheel.
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Old 11-17-2020, 01:35 PM   #2
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Shocks are tough to recommend.

It's kind of like asking for tire recommendations...because it's on the recommender's truck and work for their application, those tires are simply the absolute best.....FOR THEM, not necessarily for you.

I just put the Bilstein 5100's on my F250 and honestly, I'm not overly impressed. The truck has 51k and the stock "Rancho" FX4 shocks were replaced. The reviewers stating how much they will change the ride and performance must have a better calibrated butt-o-meter than me. They did improve the ride on the highway but around town and on country roads, I don't notice much of a difference. My piece of mind is that I replaced the old shocks before they were totally shot...maybe that's why my experience was lackluster.

In all seriousness, if you're running that much on dirt roads and off pavement driving, you may just want to stick to a cheaper stock replacement and know that your expected shock life will be less. That will likely maintain a smooth ride as well. I know the Fox 2.0 are supposed to be the cream of the crop and they are rebuildable; however, what do you do when your truck is down because the shocks are being rebuilt?

It sounds like your air system works well for handling the towing needs. That is helpful for sure.
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Old 11-17-2020, 02:06 PM   #3
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I always run the Bilstein 4600 on my Duramax. Dramatically helped the porpoising while towing. For normal ride, they are like any other heavy duty shock. For dirt roads, you just have to replace them more often
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Old 11-17-2020, 02:35 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by Comanchecreek View Post
Throwing this out there, need your opinions on shock absorbers for my Tow Vehicle. 2003 Chevy Duramax. I've been running Bilstein's for the last 10 or so years. Pleased with the ride, but had some problems with the rubber bushings failing on the lower part of the front shocks. Doesn't help that I have 7 miles of dirt road to the pavement, but I haven't had that happen on anything else. I was able to get bushings off of other shocks and press them in which took care of the problem, but I think it's time for new. What have others here gone to when changing out the shocks on your tow vehicle, and why did you make that choice?
One other detail is I also run an Air Lift air bag setup on the rear. My truck is an Extended cab, short box, and I tow a Fifth Wheel.
My 03 chevy 2500 gasser , did the same thing with front shock bushings . don't know if it was a design error or what but every ranchro 9000 shock i installed . got 3 sets under the life time warranty did the same thing until i over tightened the lower mounting bolt on the last set . seems there was to much movement unless it was really cranked down . running the bilstein 5100 on the new chevy . can't say i have any complaints yet . I don't miss having to crawl arounf under the truck to adjust the 9000's . The ranchro 9000 are not pressurized gas like the bilsteins .
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Old 11-18-2020, 05:27 PM   #5
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Back in the day I was a Rancho guy. Had to replace the OEM (AC-Delco) shocks on my wife's '87 Jimmy in 1991. Decided to replace with Bilsteins. Took it for a ride and couldn't believe the difference in stability and handling. Told the wife about it and she just rolled her eyes. Then she took it out that afternoon and saw for herself. Since then, every rig we've owned has gotten Bilsteins installed when shock/struts were replaced. My 2004 Silverado 3500 had Bilsteins installed in 2009. I sold that truck to my son, and those Bilsteins are still hanging in there!
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Old 11-18-2020, 07:27 PM   #6
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Back in the day I was a Rancho guy. Had to replace the OEM (AC-Delco) shocks on my wife's '87 Jimmy in 1991. Decided to replace with Bilsteins. Took it for a ride and couldn't believe the difference in stability and handling. Told the wife about it and she just rolled her eyes. Then she took it out that afternoon and saw for herself. Since then, every rig we've owned has gotten Bilsteins installed when shock/struts were replaced. My 2004 Silverado 3500 had Bilsteins installed in 2009. I sold that truck to my son, and those Bilsteins are still hanging in there!
Shocks are one of those items that everyone has their own preference. Some influenced by various car/truck forums, some like this forum, but a lot of it is based on advertising hype by the manufacturers.

My company sold shocks made by Monroe, Gabriel, and a couple of "no-name white box companies". The ones that nobody ever complained about were Bilsteins.
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Old 11-19-2020, 09:59 AM   #7
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If I'm not mistaken, Bilsteins have a lifetime warranty. Might try contacting them.
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Old 11-19-2020, 11:34 AM   #8
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I put Bilsteins on our 2010 Tiguan and don't like them - not enough rebound dampening compared to stock. I put adjustable Ranchos on the rear of our 2002 Ram 1500 and found the same, but I really liked the adjustability for towing. HOWEVER, I put adjustable Ranchos on our 2017 Ram 2500 this year and love them. Ultimately I want to get adjustable King shocks but they are extremely pricey.
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Old 11-19-2020, 11:41 AM   #9
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I installed Rancho 9000XL on the rear and Rancho 5000XL on the front of my 05 Chevy 2500HD. It’s been a year now and I have no complaints. I keep the rear set at #9 the highest position because I’m always towing something. It has helped the little bit of bounce I had in the rear. Lifetime Warrenty if they break or quit working!
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Old 11-19-2020, 12:09 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by ddphillips52 View Post
If I'm not mistaken, Bilsteins have a lifetime warranty. Might try contacting them.
Unfortunately, the Bilstein warranty does not cover bushings.

https://www.bilstein.com/us/wp-conte...ca-v.-2020.pdf
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Old 11-22-2020, 08:54 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by NMWildcat View Post
I always run the Bilstein 4600 on my Duramax. Dramatically helped the porpoising while towing. For normal ride, they are like any other heavy duty shock. For dirt roads, you just have to replace them more often

This has been my experience as well on my 2018 Duramax. I installed the 4600 earlier this year and was frankly surprised at how much they helped. In addition to helping with porpoising, they improved the ride when I was not pulling on washboard roads. The rear axle felt much more stable and glued to the road. The valving on 4600s is different than the 5100 shocks and from my research seems more appropriate for my driving needs.
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Old 11-22-2020, 09:17 AM   #12
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This has been my experience as well on my 2018 Duramax. I installed the 4600 earlier this year and was frankly surprised at how much they helped. In addition to helping with porpoising, they improved the ride when I was not pulling on washboard roads. The rear axle felt much more stable and glued to the road. The valving on 4600s is different than the 5100 shocks and from my research seems more appropriate for my driving needs.
The 4600 is an oem/hwy shock while the 5100 is more a hwy/off road shock so the 5100's are firmer . so if you're off road , running washboards , hauling the 5100 is better . if you're mostly hwy city you';; find the 4600 more a stock ride
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Old 11-22-2020, 09:33 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by MR.M View Post
The 4600 is an oem/hwy shock while the 5100 is more a hwy/off road shock so the 5100's are firmer . so if you're off road , running washboards , hauling the 5100 is better . if you're mostly hwy city you';; find the 4600 more a stock ride
This is incorrect and just an internet myth as far as Bilstein and ShockWarehouse are concerned. The only difference is shock piston travel distance. 5100 is for lifted vehicles (also fits stock though). Oh, and the 5100 is silver instead of blue/yellow, and costs more.....
When buying mine I even called Bilstein to confirm.
https://www.bilstein.com/us/en/faq/
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Old 11-22-2020, 10:01 AM   #14
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This is incorrect and just an internet myth as far as Bilstein and ShockWarehouse are concerned. The only difference is shock piston travel distance. 5100 is for lifted vehicles (also fits stock though). Oh, and the 5100 is silver instead of blue/yellow, and costs more.....
When buying mine I even called Bilstein to confirm.
https://www.bilstein.com/us/en/faq/
Correct . having read a couple online 5100 vs 4600 the only difference is really the color internals are the same . the 5100 if you're going to lift your truck seems to be the only real difference plus they look nicer
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Old 11-22-2020, 10:18 AM   #15
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My 03 chevy 2500 gasser , did the same thing with front shock bushings . don't know if it was a design error or what but every ranchro 9000 shock i installed . got 3 sets under the life time warranty did the same thing until i over tightened the lower mounting bolt on the last set . seems there was to much movement unless it was really cranked down . running the bilstein 5100 on the new chevy . can't say i have any complaints yet . I don't miss having to crawl arounf under the truck to adjust the 9000's . The ranchro 9000 are not pressurized gas like the bilsteins .
I found the bushing problem the hard way. Had a clunk in the front end so right away I thought I had a ball joint problem. I did have a bad upper ball joint so not a big deal, but I didn't find the shock problem until the tear down for the replacement of the upper control arm on the right side. The shocks weren't that old at the time so pressed in a new bushing, and it's been fine since. A year or two later, same clunk only this time from the left side. Went right to the shock this time, (I did check my ball joints), and sure enough. While I'm not happy with that problem, the fix was not a big deal, and the ride improvement was very noticeable so I will probably go with the Bilsteins again.
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Old 11-22-2020, 10:32 AM   #16
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Correct . having read a couple online 5100 vs 4600 the only difference is really the color internals are the same . the 5100 if you're going to lift your truck seems to be the only real difference plus they look nicer
I agree, the 5100 is definitely better looking. I don't understand why they stick to the yellow and blue for the 4600. The yellow stands out on my bluish truck, but everybody immediately knows what brand they are and asks how I like them
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Old 11-22-2020, 10:57 AM   #17
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I agree, the 5100 is definitely better looking. I don't understand why they stick to the yellow and blue for the 4600. The yellow stands out on my bluish truck, but everybody immediately knows what brand they are and asks how I like them
I agree that the 5100s are better looking.

There was no comparison between the relatively new GMC OEM shocks I took off my truck and the Bilstein 4600 shocks going on. For one, the Bilsteins are gas charged. They also offered far more damping both in and out.

I found a discussion several months ago documenting the valving differences between these two shocks. Here are the notes I kept for future reference for Durmax trucks. I suppose if there are doubts it would be easy enough to contact Bilstein tech support. I would presume that these statistics would vary by application.

Specific to Duramax - Bilstein valvings are measured in Newtons at a velocity of 0.52 meters/seconds (approximately 20 inches/second). The ratings shown below correspond to those measurements; rebound force is the first number, followed by compression force (rebound / compression). The ratings are written as one tenth the damping force in Newtons.


EXAMPLE: Valve rating: 275 / 78
Rebound force is 2750 Newtons at 0.52 m/s and the Compression force is 780 Newtons at 0.52 m/s

So with that information .....

Bilstein 4600
Front 375/38
Rear 236/59

Bilstein 5100
Front 439/128
Rear 179/78
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Old 11-22-2020, 11:53 AM   #18
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I agree, the 5100 is definitely better looking. I don't understand why they stick to the yellow and blue for the 4600. The yellow stands out on my bluish truck, but everybody immediately knows what brand they are and asks how I like them
I went with the 5100 mostly for that reason . plus if i ever do a leveling kit which i doubt i'll ever do . the silver really stands out and looks like it belongs .
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Old 11-22-2020, 11:56 AM   #19
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I agree that the 5100s are better looking.

There was no comparison between the relatively new GMC OEM shocks I took off my truck and the Bilstein 4600 shocks going on. For one, the Bilsteins are gas charged. They also offered far more damping both in and out.

I found a discussion several months ago documenting the valving differences between these two shocks. Here are the notes I kept for future reference for Durmax trucks. I suppose if there are doubts it would be easy enough to contact Bilstein tech support. I would presume that these statistics would vary by application.

Specific to Duramax - Bilstein valvings are measured in Newtons at a velocity of 0.52 meters/seconds (approximately 20 inches/second). The ratings shown below correspond to those measurements; rebound force is the first number, followed by compression force (rebound / compression). The ratings are written as one tenth the damping force in Newtons.


EXAMPLE: Valve rating: 275 / 78
Rebound force is 2750 Newtons at 0.52 m/s and the Compression force is 780 Newtons at 0.52 m/s

So with that information .....

Bilstein 4600
Front 375/38
Rear 236/59

Bilstein 5100
Front 439/128
Rear 179/78



My 2019 chevy 2500 came with gas charged stock shocks . i did replace them at about 5000 miles and now just have them in storage if i ever need to change out the bilsteins on warranty . it would take some days for them to arrive and need to be able to send the old ones back . I regret not buying them through a auto parts shop instead of on-line
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Old 11-22-2020, 12:05 PM   #20
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My 2019 chevy 2500 came with gas charged stock shocks . i did replace them at about 5000 miles and now just have them in storage if i ever need to change out the bilsteins on warranty . it would take some days for them to arrive and need to be able to send the old ones back . I regret not buying them through a auto parts shop instead of on-line

That is interesting that your 2019 came with gas charged shocks. I suppose it is possible that my 2018 Duramax 2500 did also but had already lost that gas charge. My original shocks felt very close to worthless in terms of compression and rebound resistance.
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