I have to advise the forum of my new Bilsteins. I had installed the fronts only about 4 months back and only just got around to the rears yesterday. The fronts made an improvement in nose dive and better wheel hop control over our wonderful BC roads. The rears are where I saw the biggest improvement whereby bumps that would make me groan are now bearable and wheel hop in the rear of my 3500 is virtually uunder control. I can honestly say now that I am pretty happy with the ride of the truck.
One thing to note for others contemplating this - if you live where they salt the roads you will need to heat the top shock nut with a propane torch first. I heat the nut until the rust changes color then spray a good penetrating oil (not WD40) on to it when it is fairly hot. Soaks in and makes the nut turn. There is a capturing piece of steel attached to the nut so that it does not spin when loosening or tightening the thread. You can then undo from the outside. Watch the diff vent hose on the left side and remove the spare tire to do this as well as the left rear inner splash shield. This took about 1-1/2 hours on my hoist though. Groaned a bit lifting this heavy beast though.
Now for the steering stab, Carli sway bar, rebuildable ball joints, solid bushings and hubs.

 

I have them on my truck and I love them.

 

Same here!

 

^^^^^
This little piece of information would have saved me about 20 minutes worth of cussing and looking for bigger cheater bars when I couldn't get the #$&(*% nut to move!

Still one of the easiest, quickest and most noticeable improvements I've made.

 

What did those shocks cost ya and who'd you get them through?

 

Put my back ones on 2 weeks ago and got the front done today. Ready for a road trip to check the ride. Just having the back ones on made a significant difference. I got mine from Genos in Oct. when they had 10% off deal goin.

 

I ran the 5100's for the first 5 years, they were a great upgrade over the stock shocks. I just recently upgraded to the 5165 reservoirs, even better than the 5100's.


CD

 

Geno's Garage, and I think they were right at $320 delivered.

 

I am currently looking for new shocks and the Bilstein 5165 sounds like the best option for me. Anyone have a recommendation, as far as where to purchase this model?

 

Heard too many good things about the diffrence that these shocks make. Looks like I'll be looking to purchase them from Geno's here shortly!

When I had death wobble a few years ago (before knowing what I know now) I had replaced my front shocks with Pro Comp 9000s. What JUNK!...should have know better

Can't wait to feel the difference in ride with these....

 

CD IN NM,

Could you provide a brief review of the 5165 series shocks over the 5100 series? What do you like about them over the 5100 series? Do you recommend them for a stock setup and where can I purchase them? Thanks for your help with this matter.

 

Call Lary in the DTR store. He got me some great prices on 5100's about a year ago.

 

Cincy,

I ordered an exhaust system from the DTR store last week and should have it together on Friday. Lary also provided me with a great price on this system and look forward to doing business with him again. I will reach out to Lary for the 5165 reservoir shocks and appreciate your reply.

 

Same here also, a must have after my Timberen install.

 

Sure can, although, I am no expert, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

I live on a dirt/gravel mostly washboard road. With the stock suspension you could not travel at a speed greater than about 5-10 mph, the truck would literally bounce off the surface, no traction, and when it grabbed you went sideways sometimes, driving on my road meant a lot of bounce and jarring that was just unbelievable, rock tumbler came to mind

The day I bought my truck and brought it home and started down my road I was blown away at how horrible the stock suspension was, and with less than a couple hundred miles on a brand new truck I was already thinking that my first mod was def going to be decent shocks, and it was going to get ordered as soon as I was done with the next 1.5 miles. I live rural, my place has some acreage, I have livestock, and need the 4x4 to do chores sometimes, the stock suspension was equally as bad when it came to off road conditions as well.

At that time there were not many aftermarket suspension products available for our trucks like there are today. I got a KORE leveling kit, it came with the Bilstein 5100 shocks for the front. I also ordered the 5100's for the rear at the same time. Three days later I was tearing apart my new truck and installing the kit. After I installed the 5100's, the road became travelable at around 20-25 mph and there was no more of that 'loosing traction' stuff, no more going sideways stuff, and the ride in the cab was smooth, no more feeling like I was driving a rock tumbler. It def put a smile on my face, I was much more comfortable driving and the truck was not experiencing the beating it had been taking.

Recently I made some changes to my truck, and one of those changes was going to 19.5 wheels/tires. The harder tires brought back a little of the rough bumpy ride that goes with my road. I knew I might experience it when going to the 19.5's, but I wanted the higher load capacity, and also the better tire longevity.

I knew that the 5100's are primarily a 'street' shock, they are a little better in the 'off road' stuff, but they are primarily made/valved for a pavement queen. I also knew how they dramatically changed things with regard to my horrible road and stock suspension. So, I decided to go to the 5165 reservoirs because they are valved a little more in the 'off road' direction but are still more of a pavement valving, not a fully 'off road' shock. Also, by having the additional fluid capacity, they would be able to dissipate the heat generated with bouncy off road type conditions that decrease the performance of a shock - heat causes shock fade. While I had never felt that shock fade was an issue with the 5100's, I am betting that it probably did happen ever so slightly because the raods here in New Mexico are all bumpy, full of cracks and small potholes, the conditions are tough on shocks.

Probably the best way to describe the way my truck travels on my road today with the 5165's, is that I can take my road at 40-45 mph and the ride is smooth, very smooth, just a completely different truck. I no longer 'feel' the road cracks and every bumpy hole traveling down the equally horrible New Mexico roads. I was up to Albuquerque a few days ago, the freeways have a lot of those suspension cracks (I believe that is what you call them). Here our speed limits are 75 mph, but truthfully, I usually traveled 65 mph because the cracks were just too bumpy. This latest trip, I traveled the freeway at the 75 mph posted speed limit, and my ride was smooth, very smooth.

I would have not thought that the addition of reservoir shocks would have tamed the stiff 3500 suspension so much. I expected to still have some of the roughness just because it IS a 1-ton hd suspension, and to expect a CAdillac ride, well, that would be crazy. Much to my suprise, the 5165's rose to the occasion, are giving me a great ride, close to that caddy ride, no more being jarred by road conditions, no more driver fatigue traveling long distances that truck suspensions seem to alway cause. I think that if I had known reservoirs would be this good, I would have done them day one. I certainly will never go back to non-reservoir shocks.


I am very pleased with them, back to that happy and smiling stuff again, enjoying the ride, loving it.



CD