Pot hole-1 Bilstein 5100-0

So on my way out of work today I caught a pretty nasty pothole at about 25mph and my left front coil over failed the test miserably. This wasn't the expense I was looking for in the middle of a 4X4 swap but i'm gonna need new coil overs. Funny part is I was just about to bump these shocks up to the middle setting from the bottom setting. Somehow I feel like if it failed on the bottom setting it never would have stood a chance moving it up a notch.

Oh well, looks like it is time to research coil overs for something that will stand up to the abuse my truck gets at work.

 

What do you do for work? Desert pre-running?

For anything other than that, 5100's generally hold up pretty well.

How old were your shocks? How did they "fail"? Did you just not see the pot hole?

 

Shocks have maybe 10k miles on em. I work on a 1000 acre property with a combination of gravel roads and dirt trails which stays pretty wet year round. I am regularly pushing, pulling, towing and otherwise moving equipment out of different areas on the property. My truck works its ass off.
As far as the failure... Immediately after the pothole I heard the familiar jingle of a shock washer loose on the top of the shock. The nut is still in the same spot on the threads but the shaft itself is sitting almost an inch higher, It failed internally and I am sure when I get it off the shaft will probably just drop down into the shock body. I'm pretty sure I am in need of something a little tougher than these shocks have proven to be.

 

Indeed they do... I have mid-travel Kings and they do quite nicely.

First time I had them in the dirt I was with my friend with a nearly identical truck except he has 5100's (my old ones, lol). I was leading on several trails and was rippin through the woods. I didn't think I was going all that fast and didn't seem like I was stressing the suspension at all, but then I'd stop and wait, and wait, and wait a bit more. When my friend rolls up he starts telling me about all the times he found the bump stops. There was definately dust which kept him back a bit, but I was certainly faster than him, and my Kings hardly noticed.

Speed bumps, pot holes, and the normal crappy roads in Sacramento suddenly smoothed out once I got the Kings, too... Not a lot of body roll either (took my swaybar off).

 

pics? I gotta see this

 

Do the 5100's not come with a lifetime warranty of sorts? Hell even if they don't, with only 10K it may be worth contacting them and asking..

In for pics also!

 

Which should probably include the shock failing from a pothole with 10K on them... although we don't know the history of purchase/ownership

 

I did not purchase them. They were installed by the previous owner about a month before I got the truck. Not sure what warranty options I would even have.

 

Likely none, but it certainly couldn't hurt to call Bilstien anyway.

What's the worst possible thing that happens? They say no, and you go about your replacement plan anyway.

They may even offer you some sort of discount on new shocks just to keep your business, which would then have a clearer warranty with them.

For the money, though, you really can't beat these shocks. You'd have to replace 5 sets of them before you even approach the price from something like Kings (a grand a pair).

 

Top 2 pics are right side for reference. Bottom 2 are the screwed up left side.

 

Looks like the ledge that the lower washer bushing rides on widened and slipped down.

 

I really wont know for sure what the hell happened until I get the shock off tomorrow and get a better look at it. I will pop the spring loose and pull it apart.

 

So. I tore them down and it appears to be installer error. The aluminum bushing on the bottom was fine but next they installed the rubber bushing with no washer to support it. When I hit the pot hole the rubber opened up and slid down onto the aluminum bushing creating the extra space at the top. I added a steel washer to support the rubber bushing and that will hold for now. Ordering a complete top bushing and washer set from Bilstein if it is available. The guys that put this together obviously didn't know what they were doing. I'm going to give the billies a pass on this one. I also bumped them up to the middle setting to level out the truck. I have 881's currently and am ordering 882's so I can set them back to the bottom setting and still have the height I am looking for. All in all a less expensive repair than I was expecting.

 

How long have you had the truck? I'm surprised they lasted any amount of time with just the rubber holding it up...

You should be good to go now.

I've taken some pretty hard hits with my 5100s, so it was odd to see such an issue. Now we know why...

 

I always joked that every hit was a hard hit when I had 5100s :/

 

Meh, I took that thing on 2500 mile road trips with those shocks, and never once did I (or more importantly, my wife) complain about the ride.

It's a truck, though, it's not supposed to ride like a Cadillac.

My Kings are certainly smoother, but they also cost more than 3x as much.

 

Mine got me through a tough time but really I should have just gotten Monroes or something. The were rough and bouncy on dirt, fine on pavement provided there were no potholes or bumps. My truck rides like a Cadillac now with retuned Icons and 2.5" King resi rears now. But damn, for the price point of Billy 5100s you can have lift and some comfort wit OME or RoughCountry N2.0s, there are better options.

 

Oh I meant just the shocks, I could have put my stock springs on them, they were only a year old (got new stockers from a friend who took them off new)

 

This is literally the first I've heard about anything purchased from O'Riley's being "better" than Bilstien. But I guess it depends on your criteria for what is "better". Like I said, it's a truck, I wasn't looking for a "softer" ride.

However the main advantage of the 5100's is not to provide a stock-height "plush" ride. It's their adjustability and the fact that you can lift your truck without getting new springs or using stupid spacers. I used them as a bandaid fix for my sagging coils for 6 years (set them on the middle clip), then gave them to my friend when I got my Kings.

If you need new springs, there are of course other options that you might as well look at, like a full OME setup ($1200ish, iirc, but still fairly comparable to the billies), or even better, other (nicer) billstiens, Fox, King, Icon, etc... But now we're starting to talk arm/leg prices... But you get what you pay for...

 

How do the OE spectrums give you lift? Are there different options for shock length or what?