bilstein 5100s and 5150s ...hmm

[Haziness8]

well comparing these two shocks, the only difference i can see is that the 5150s are basically a nicer looking 5100 with a mini resivoire attached to it, oh, and about 35 bucks more. what do you guys think or know? i guess the actual better thing from the 5150 would be that the shock would remain cooler than the 5100 during offroad abuse resulting in better performance. right?

well now, if im converting to a dual shock setting for my front suspension, that would mean dual 5100s would stay even cooler than a single 5150 on each side, resulting in better performance than the 5150. this is all assuming that the only difference between the shocks is that imfamous piggy-back resovoire.

Now, the real ball buster. are the 5150 even worth paying $100 bucks more for dual shock applications than 5100s. if i had dual 5150s, it would keep shocks cooler than the 5100, but do i really need it? dual 5100 shocks would be more than enough i think. My real question is: is their any actual performance gains from the 5100 compared to the 5150 (besides the resovoire)?

 

[BigDave!!!]

the 5150s arent worth it, if you are debating whether you want a resi shock get the 7100s. that tiny resivoir might keep the shocks cooler an extra 5-10 minutes than 5100s, if that, through hard offroad abuse. i have heard that the dual 5100s up front work really well so i would do that.

the only difference between the two shocks are that little resivoir

 

[Haziness8]

yeah totally. i know that the 7100 and 6100 have a more advanced valving mechanism than the rest, but between the 5100 and 5150 the difference is that little useless resovoire. thanks.
what valving do you think would be best? im thinking of using 255/70 for each shock. reason for is because i was looking over the online catalog at bilstein for the 7100 valving guide. for dual shock applications they preferred 180/75 valving for MINI-TRUCK/SUV (w/ IFS) but 275/78 valving for Fullsize Truck/SUV (w/ IFS). so Im thinking explorers are half way between Mini and fullsize trucks eh? that would leed to a 255/70 valving for dual shocks. what do you think?

 

[BigDave!!!]

do 255/70 for single shock or 180/75 for dual, the front end will be too stiff with two 255/70's

 

[Haziness8]

255/70 i was thinking for duals, it reccomended even stiffer 275/78 for fullsize trucks. so i thought one size down would be just right. obviously i need an actual second hand opinion. at first i was thinking 180/75 for duals as well. idk. im just readin what bilstein says.

it showed for dual shock setup...

Fullsize Truck/SUV (w/ IFS) = 275/78

Explorers maybe? = 255/70

Mini-Truck/SUV (w/ IFS) = 180/75


This is all for the specified for the 7100 or 6100 shocks though. would it be different for 5100?

 

[BigDave!!!]

no do not do those duals that stiff, trust me one of my friends has the camburg 6.0 on his edge with duals at 255 and had to switch , they sucked that stiff

 

[Haziness8]

hmm, i wonder what bilstein was thinking when they wrote up the valving guide. dual 180/75 is just their normal setting for mini-trucks. the race setting says to use dual 255/70 so yeah i think it would be stiff. i was just thinking that explorers had a havier front end since some have V8s and their overall top heavy. i wanted to avoid having soft shocks. but im ganna go with 180/75. anyone else have any other opinions?

 

[BigDave!!!]

well think about it, they normally use 255/70 for single applications and that is plenty stiff, with the lighter valving they will also operate cooler since there will be less pressure on the oil to move through the shock piston. since you will have 4 shocks on the front end it will also most likely have around the same stiffness as just the single 255 shock

 

[Haziness8]

true. hey, u got the camburg 6.0 kit right? what size shock are you using? travel, length, compressed length? im going to be using their dual shock kit so what measurements should i be prepared for? haha you in like half of my posts man hah. thanks for the all the help. wat part of san diego u from?

 

[BigDave!!!]

thats kinda funny your right, i like doing this kinda stuff, yeah i have the 6.0 but im using an 2.5 8" stroke king up front, i think the dual shock kit uses the same length stroke 5100, either an 8" stroke or 6.5" stroke, whichever the kit comes with will work fine because i know i dont use all 8" of stroke in my front shocks. im not sure on the compressed length and im too lazy to find out right now. also right now i moved back to my parents house down by del mar for this semester because i had an ankle surgery and couldnt walk for 11 weeks without crutches, otherwise i live in san marcos where i go to school

 

[Haziness8]

thinking about it, whats the difference between 5100 and 7100, besides the resovoir? if you bought a 5100 10" shock with 250/70 valving and compared it to a 7100 schrader valve shock with same valving and stroke, what would be the difference? besides almost the doubled price.

 

[jimbo74]

um the explorer is a mini-truck/suv

 

[BigDave!!!]

7100s are revalvable and rebuildable but will act the same if you get it with the same valving, also i think the 7100 has a slightly larger body