Not referring to the piston size. Before I continue, I am not knocking on them but folks should know, Dobinsons are designed in Aus, but for the past few years all their shocks have been made in Asia. The IMS kit is worth it for the price point but when it comes to quality, Bilsteins and Koni - have been in the shock industry for decades and are still made in Europe.
- Zero shock fade in all terrains with full load - Any shock is subject to shock fade after an extended period of time (even kings) just because it has a remote reservoir does not mean you will not experience shock fade - https://www.crawlpedia.com/shock_valving.htm
- Enormous Oil Capacity - Define enormous - I am pretty sure the Koni Raid 90s hold way more shock oil as its a 70MM body. (Again not knocking Dobs, I just think folks need to make an informed decision and look outside the box with anything they buy, including Koni and Bilsteins as well)
- Race inspired hi-flow CNC 6061 Billet alloy piston – for the ultimate in offroad handling - A bigger piston is always good but the difference between a 46 to 50mm piston is 0.157480315 inches. When choosing a higher end shock take into account build quality, shim stacks and position and valving. -https://accutuneoffroad.com/articles/digressive-vs-linear-vs-progressive-pistons-shock-valving/
For the price its a good kit, that will show when off-road. I just wanted to point out what I meant by "Clever marketing" The Old Man Emu BP-51s have the same clever marketing as well. Btw - we can fix Fox Shocks on the rears of our trucks. just a heads up!
This analysis isn't technically correct. The first bulletin is technically right- But that said for an oe replacement application, they are not driven the same as say a $1 million dollar trophy truck. We are now going across the desert at 100 mph for hours on end in a production car. A monotube shock is much less likely to cavitate and fade, esp an IFP monotube than a twin tube or emulsion style monotube is. The konis are twin tubes. Bilsteins are monotubes for the most part the parts available for these trucks are lower end, designed to hit a price point models. Bils does make higher end, better tuned and built shocks- but they are not what people are buying for these trucks. Shocks like the 5100 are prone to breaking when put under the stresses of going offroad, they aren't made very well and shouldn't be compared even to koni in my opinion.
The oil capacity in a twin tube is a much lower volume, for one we have a secondary inner steel tube that takes up a large portion of the available volume and then we still need room for the nitrogen. Some brands like ironman in their foam cell shock do not even have a nitrogen charge. Nitro is added to assist in preventing cavitation from occurring, with higher pressure charges greatly reducing cavitation. Twins are usually charged in the 30-35 psi range, monotubes generally in the 130-200 PSI range- depending on the application and other factors such as friction levels created by the seals and wear bands.
I wouldn't recommend a twintube shock for any application that will see any sort of speed on a non paved surface. Speed generates heat that twintubes cannot dissipate fast enough. But also due to the smaller piston (located inside the inner tube,) lack of higher pressures, etc- the shock cant react as consistently or quickly as a performance monotube can and handling is affected greatly.
Valving wise- Koni, Dobs, fox, king, radflo, use Linear valving- Bilstein is digressive.
The BP51 was designed in part by an ex fox engineer, this shock is made in Thailand. Early on it did experience leakage issues, i believe thats been resolved. These are internal by pass shocks, which means they are technically still a twin tube, but with bleed holes to help in tuning the shock. Similar in part to those used for example by Toyota in the trd pro 4runners (fox)- with no adjusters of course.)
As for Manufacturing.
Dobinsons shocks are described as engineered and designed in Australia, but made in PRC/China. Its listed this way for customs, as its hard to put a value (for customs reasons) on each component inside the shock. Their shocks have all of the important parts made in USA, Germany, Japan, and Australia. Some of the things like the body threading, paint etc is done in china. Given the factories they use have been well vetted, are highly overseen, and are used mainly because of labor availability issues in their home country- Australia. Dobinsons pistons are machined by tsugami in JAPAN for example. The internals in their shocks are made very well, and this is why we see next to no warranty issues out of them.
Pretty much all of the Australian Suspension Manufacturers have to rely on Asia in some form or fashion because they do not have the population numbers needed in AU for the labor needed in that industry.
Bilstein's for the most part are now listed as ASSEMBLED in Mexico, or USA, with the majority of shocks coming in labeled as Mexico. Quite a few brands have plants in Mexico- like the Tenneco brands for example. There have been some ($5000+ ) Bilstein shocks we have ordered that are shipping from Germany- havent gotten them yet- so i cant vouch for where they are making the higher end- i presume in that region.
Fox and King are both using some components that come from china. OME has shocks made in various places as well some in monroe factories, some in Thailand.
