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Let's talk shocks

Hodgiemoto

Hodgiemoto

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 16, 2020
Member Number
2950
Messages
173
So I've got your typical solid axle Toyota build, 4" All Pro springs, Bilstein 5100s, 38" Pats, bla bla. I'm thinking I want to make it a little more go fast capable.

Been looking at the Fox 2.0s, Bilstein 7100s and a couple others. Kings seem like overkill for this application. The Bilsteins seem like a pretty good bang for the buck compared to others and their quality has always been great.

Some people I've talked to said it's like a night and day difference but others not so much.

I wanna be able to pound the whoops at hammers this year:dustin:

Any real world advice out there?
 
fox, radflo, king are the order i would consider. any other brand parts are too much of a PITA to get.

how much uptravel do you have? bumpstop?
 
Your gonna have a hard time pounding whoops with leaf springs all around but some decent shocks would help. I've run Bilstein and Fox, currently have Fox on my rig. I like their 2.0 stuff cause its rebuildable and fairly decently priced. Fox and King are very similar as far as quality goes, Fox has better shafts and higher heat tolerance in the oil vs King
 
Go 2.5's, pounding on single 2.0's for any length of time will make them fade.
 
mobil1syn said:
fox, radflo, king are the order i would consider. any other brand parts are too much of a PITA to get.

how much uptravel do you have? bumpstop?
Click to expand...
3-4" of uptravel. I'm currently using poly bumpstops off a Ford Excursion which work suprpisingly well. Probably go to air bumps at some point.

I'm acually kind of torn on which would be a better upgrade, shocks or bumps?
 
bdkw1 said:
Go 2.5's, pounding on single 2.0's for any length of time will make them fade.
Click to expand...
Even with remote resis? Most of my pounding probably won't be for all that long. Like bombing from Hammertown out to the trails. Plus I like to crawl at a little faster than most..
 
Yes even with resi's. Piggybacks cool better than remotes. Unless you shaft displacement is greater than hose volume, the resi doesn't do much for cooling.
 
Hodgiemoto said:
3-4" of uptravel. I'm currently using poly bumpstops off a Ford Excursion which work suprpisingly well. Probably go to air bumps at some point.

I'm acually kind of torn on which would be a better upgrade, shocks or bumps?
Click to expand...

how much up travel before you touch your bumps?

bdkw1 said:
Yes even with resi's. Piggybacks cool better than remotes. Unless you shaft displacement is greater than hose volume, the resi doesn't do much for cooling.
Click to expand...

shh ... you are going to hurt a lot of guys with kings feelings with facts about their fancy reservoirs
 
2.5 Radflo remote adjustable at the resiviour seem to work well for what you're intentions are... For me anyway (intentions were the same)..I'm running tall custom Deaver springs (3.5) and about as much uptravel before I get into the bumps.
Tuning is everything.
 
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mobil1syn said:
let me help ya out … sarcasm
Click to expand...
I actually have no idea if kings came with piggy backed finned resi's in a 2.5. There website is now very uninformative. They no long list options. It looks like they do based on the parts page.
 
20190603_174807.jpg

I like my oe ford raptor shocks for the rear of my 4runner. They killed it in Baja and that's when I was sold on "cheaper" 3.0 bypass shocks. Now I just need to find a 2.0 c/o that will stay cool in the front.
 
The gen2 raptor rears are great shocks for the price. You can swap the shaft ends out for regular spherical bearing ones. Add a Schrader valve and it's good to go.
 
another vote for going to a 2.5 shock. my 4Runner does fairly well for being on leaf springs with 2.5 RR smooth bodies and a 2.0 air bump up front
 
One advantage of the 7100’s is the short body. You can fit more shock travel without having to cut holes through your floor/bed.

255/70 seems to be the valving that's been recommended for them. Would something like the 180/75 work on a leaf spring truck to help the wheel drop out? Slightly higher compression but about 2/3’s of the rebound damping.
 
For what it's worth. My setup is 14" Fox 2.0 5/8 shaft in the front with Fox 2.0 2" air bumps. It has about 3" up travel before it hits the bump pad with a total of about 5"s of up travel including the bump stop. Yes, the shocks have the resi's and they look cool lol. The springs in the front are custom leafs from Alcan. The rear is set up with 16" fox 2.0 7/8 shaft(yes with resi) and a 4" fox bump stop. springs are set up spring under with alcans and orbit eyes. Uptravel in the rear is about 4.5" before it hits the bump stop. I purchased the shocks and bumps "pretuned" from Accutune. The truck drives on the highway at speed fine and handles great when either crawling or going fast. It almost seems to handle high speeds offroad better than crawling in the rocks. It will jump and land pretty smooth as well. For reference, It is an 84 Toyota pickup regular cab short bed, 3rz, r151f with single case, toy axles with 37's. Weight is 4260 lbs loaded with gear fuel and two people. Although i love my set up i think it could use some tweaking to get it perfect. There's really no one local that tunes shocks so i am torn on what to tell Accutune when i send them in to get tuned. The other bonus is the folks at Accutune tune your shit for free at least one time after you purchase their stuff. Only changes i would consider from start to finish would be don't buy FOA bump stops. I quickly took them out as they leaked within two trips and lost pressure. Absolute junk. Cheap mistake on my part.
 
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I run Bilstein 7100 series both smooth body and remotes. been in a couple different leaf sprung toys over the last 10 yrs. I found no problem getting parts or support. I would actually say the support was quite good. I called them, told them what I was doing, model of truck, suspension, they sent me the stacks, they were spot on. They apparently keep record of different applications and setups from what it seemed on the phone.
The difference between a 5100 and a custom valved 7100 is night and day and you won't be disappointed.

Not sure who else this applies to but the same guy that does my snowmobile shocks, also did my Bilstein's and some Fabtech coil over stuff for me. It is very inexpensive (like $35 plus parts) he just doesn't know the stacks for full size stuff out of the box. He is able to tune to " I need more rebound" type of input on full size rigs though.

My point being, there may not be a need to go to the manufacturer or a place like Accutune, for me that was not an option as I live in Northern Mn. All shocks are the same on the inside until you get to custom bypass type stuff.
 
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Great info guys, I really appreciate the input. I'm leaning towards the 7100s mainly because of price and the above mentioned support.

I would love to throw on some 2.5s but I don't think I can justify the expense. May have to wait tho, just blew a ring and pinion....
 
I have been happy with my 7100s front and rear, I also probably don't know any better. Also running air bumps on all 4 corners. I'm mostly highway driving it and slow speed southern park trail riding/crawling so no experience going double digit speeds offroad for any length of time:laughing:
 
I was asking a bunch of 7100 valving questions here a few months back, I didn't ever come back and give updates... But I started chatting with Ian at Wheel Every Weekend about 7100s (Awesome customer service and super cheap shipping to Alaska), he got me setup for rebuilding my 8 year old 7100s and revalving them at the same time for my setup and usage. I have run 100s of trail miles since and it does significantly better at speed and in my case with a load.

I am running the short bodies so I didn't have to cut holes in my floor. I have been pretty stoked on them.

I think most rebuildable shocks would work fine for your application, I think the key would be putting in the effort to valve them for your needs.
 
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