Bilstein 5160 remote reservoir shocks vs all others

[CrazyDrei]

When I lifted my 1500 Suburban I initially used SkyJacker Hydro front and rear shocks, which lasted all of three months. I contacted SkyJacker and they kindly suggested I buy another set or another brand. I switched to Bilstein 5100 shocks and nearly two years of hard abuse later they are showing signs of wear. I have coil overs up front so I need a set or new rear shocks.

Bilstein 5100: $70 shipped
Bilstein 5160: $150 shipped
Fox 2.0: $250 shipped

I know many people that run Fox, King, Icon, but I can not justify spending that much on a pair of shocks, so I am looking at going back to 5100s or upgrading to 5160s. Fox 2.0 are out of the question unless there is a store that sells them with no questions asked lifetime replacement warranty which I will end up using every 1-2 years.

Has anyone used Bilstein 5160s? What vehicle, how long did they last and terrain they were driven on?

 

[Ducky's Dad]

I have 5100s on my GMC 1500 and used to have 5100s on my Power Wagon. Replaced the PW 5100s with Fox 2.0 remotes and there is a very real difference in performance. Time for new shocks on the GMC and I'm trying to decide what to use this time.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

If you are wearing out shocks that often why not get end user rebuildable shocks and rebuild them yourself? Step up to something like the 7100. I am not for sure if the 5160/5165 are user rebuildable.

Contact Accutune Off Road and they will put you on the right track for shocks.
https://accutuneoffroad.com/

 

[Buliwyf]

The only thing that stinks about $$$$ shocks, Is I have to make up my mind what springs and height I'm going to settle on before buying them.

I'll echo the expensive shocks as well. Yeah the pricing is rough, but they're rebuildable, and tune-able, in your own garage. That's worth a lot. You can't setup a shock for every combination of springs on any truck brand. There's always a compromise. With Kings, if you need to remove a shim, you just pop them apart and remove a shim.

You can save a buck by skipping the comp adjusters. They generally aren't very useful. Especially once you have the tools to tear down shocks, and a bucket of fluid.

 

[rruff]

Bilstein 5100: $70 shipped, Bilstein 5160: $150 shipped

When I was looking at these for a Tundra I noticed that 5160s had a 90day warranty while 5100s had a lifetime warranty. Not that the warranty was worth much, but I don't know that the reservoir helps much either. They are the same shock otherwise.

Are you not having problems with the front?

 

[CrazyDrei]

If you are wearing out shocks that often why not get end user rebuildable shocks and rebuild them yourself? Step up to something like the 7100. I am not for sure if the 5160/5165 are user rebuildable.

Contact Accutune Off Road and they will put you on the right track for shocks.
https://accutuneoffroad.com/

Hillbilly Heaven,

5160 are exactly the same as 5100 but with a remote reservoir which should extend the life of the shock by hopefully a year or two in my case. They are not user rebuildable like the 7100. 7100 are $25 more per shock but $45 per shock to rebuild will be worth it in the long run.

 

[CrazyDrei]

Are you not having problems with the front?

Took me six months to destroy the front coilovers. They are back on, I am driving a little less hard now.

Front end coilover carnage write up with lots of pictures.

 

[Superduty]

Based on some of your posts and the speed and terrain which you drive I would think no shock is gonna last more than a few years. A rebuildable shock would be the way to go, but you will have to rebuild them regularly, just as you would have to replace a non rebuildable.

 

[ttengineer]

I cant believe you blow through shocks that quickly and don’t pony up the cost for rebuildable shocks at this point.


(EDITED BY ADMIN - No name-calling please)



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[Explorerinil]

Don’t get the fox 2.0, I got them from carli with their tune on them, they work great with my set up, but in hindsight I should have spent a couple hundred extra bucks on Kings which are rebuildable.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Don’t get the fox 2.0, I got them from carli with their tune on them, they work great with my set up, but in hindsight I should have spent a couple hundred extra bucks on Kings which are rebuildable.

Don't know about the Carli Fox 2.0s, but the Thuren-tuned Fox 2.0 remotes on my Power Wagon are rebuildable. One needs to be careful when buying Fox shocks because their OEM-replacement shocks use aluminum tubes and are not rebuildable. But, the shocks that they sell by specification (compressed length, extended length, mounting style, etc.) use steel tubes and are rebuildable. I know the Foxes that Thuren tunes are on the steel-bodied shocks and I suspect the tuned Carlis are the same, but they may also sell the direct replacement Foxes, as well.

 

[Explorerinil]

Don’t get the fox 2.0, I got them from carli with their tune on them, they work great with my set up, but in hindsight I should have spent a couple hundred extra bucks on Kings which are rebuildable.

Don't know about the Carli Fox 2.0s, but the Thuren-tuned Fox 2.0 remotes on my Power Wagon are rebuildable. One needs to be careful when buying Fox shocks because their OEM-replacement shocks use aluminum tubes and are not rebuildable. But, the shocks that they sell by specification (compressed length, extended length, mounting style, etc.) use steel tubes and are rebuildable. I know the Foxes that Thuren tunes are on the steel-bodied shocks and I suspect the tuned Carlis are the same, but they may also sell the direct replacement Foxes, as well.

If you look at the thuren and carli fox shocks they are different, the carli shocks which I have look like the Oem replacement. Mine are aluminum bodied.

 

[chilliwak]

These are the Bilsteins that I run on the rear of my truck. I thing they are 5160s. They control my huge camper perfectly over may years of hard use.

I think they are a good bang for the buck...

 

[SoTxAg06]

Had 5160s on my 2010 Chevy 2500, that replaced a set of 5100s. I wasn’t planning on keeping the truck long, so I couldn’t justify dropping a bunch of money on higher dollar rebuildable shocks.

Overall, I was pleased with the 5160s for what I did. The truck was noticeably smoother over wash board sections. That being said, if it was something I planned to keep for a while, I would go with Kings .


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[ttengineer]

I feel like I need to point out here that shocks do not make the ride better or worse.

Shocks control the springs, you need shocks tuned to your spring to optimize the ride characteristics you want.


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