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5150s vs 7100s

J

justin_502

NAXJA Forum User
Location
ACTON, CA
I got my daily driver, wich also sees many trails like john bull calico odessa duran miller jeep trail etc... What would the ride difference be in the 5150s to the 7100s is it worth the extra money? Im at 6.5 inches of lift, with short arm right now going to upgrade to the TNT long arm kit soon. So I was thinking the 12" travel 275/78 valving short bodies so I dont bottom them out. Would that ride better onroad and off road then the 5150s? And when I get the long arm setup will 12" travel be long enough?
 
The ride and handling difference will be in the valving, nothing else. If you got both shocks with the same valving they would ride the same. The 5150's come with set valving (one choice), while the 7100's have a number of different choices in valving. It depends on what you're after, and how much you are trying to improve the handling. If you're not sensitive about it, or sort of know what you're going for, what improvement you want, then you'd probably be happy with the 5150's. Some of us want firmer valving for the front, which you can get in the 7100, but you have to be going for handling improvements to notice.
 
The 7100 is more of a race shock. Valved light, it'll give a smooth street ride. It's revalveable, rebuildable, and probably the last shock you will ever buy for your jeep, unless you decide you need more travel.

The 5150 is valved for the popular jeep setup. It's a "drop in" replacement. The 5150 is good, and everbody running them seems to like them. If you blow it out or break it, you have to replace it.

My opinion, if you have the money, go for the 7100s.
 
I got Rusty $30.00 a shock crap. It is way to soft and they dont ride too good. I would like to stiffen it up a bit so on offcamber I dont have all the lean that I do now. I got Rubicon express coils and leafs. Would their be a difference between the 275/78 and the 5150s or would need to go with the higher numbers? Also sitting at 6.5 lift would I have to get the short body shocks in the 12" of travel? Im worried about bottoming out the shocks. I just added 3" bumpstops as well.
 
Oh and one more is the 7100 shock beefer then the 5150s, would it hold up to more abuse? Or does it have the same size shaft and parts?
 
Goatman said:
The ride and handling difference will be in the valving, nothing else. If you got both shocks with the same valving they would ride the same. The 5150's come with set valving (one choice), while the 7100's have a number of different choices in valving. It depends on what you're after, and how much you are trying to improve the handling. If you're not sensitive about it, or sort of know what you're going for, what improvement you want, then you'd probably be happy with the 5150's. Some of us want firmer valving for the front, which you can get in the 7100, but you have to be going for handling improvements to notice.
Click to expand...

Most of the 5150's have two valving choices, 255/70's or 175/60's, I'm running the stiffer of the two both front and rear, and it rides real nice.

I have the 12in 5150's in the front, and the 14in 5125's in the rear
 
xjjeeper19 said:
Most of the 5150's have two valving choices, 255/70's or 175/60's, I'm running the stiffer of the two both front and rear, and it rides real nice.

I have the 12in 5150's in the front, and the 14in 5125's in the rear
Click to expand...


How much lift are you running and did you leave the stock mounts in the rear?
 
xjjeeper19 said:
Most of the 5150's have two valving choices, 255/70's or 175/60's, I'm running the stiffer of the two both front and rear, and it rides real nice.
Click to expand...

The lighter valving in the 5150 is for dual shock setups, the 175/60 is way too soft for anything by itself.




justin_502 said:
I got Rusty $30.00 a shock crap. It is way to soft and they dont ride too good. I would like to stiffen it up a bit so on offcamber I dont have all the lean that I do now. I got Rubicon express coils and leafs. Would their be a difference between the 275/78 and the 5150s or would need to go with the higher numbers? Also sitting at 6.5 lift would I have to get the short body shocks in the 12" of travel? Im worried about bottoming out the shocks. I just added 3" bumpstops as well.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you want a stiffer spring rate. Soft shocks ride nicely, firmer shocks can be harsh. Leaning on off camber is from soft spring rate, the shock valving will have no effect at the very slow action of shocks in that situation.

You say it's too soft and they don't ride good. Usually, not riding good is too harsh, what do you actually mean? Does it bottom out too often? ??

And yes, the 12" short body 7100 is very good for the front of an XJ. A very good combination, both for fitment and performance, is the firmer valved 275/78 12" short body 7100 for the front and 10" 5150's for the rear. That's what I run, and I've done a lot of tuning work on the suspension. Sounds like you also need stiffer coils......
 
I have 4.5 RE coils, and they were pritty soft. I just put in coil spacers to bring it up to 6.5. And driving around the streets so far it seems to of stiffened it up a bit. I keep reading a bunch of threads and what you have there seems to be a very good setup. 7100s up front and 5150s on the rear. Will the 12" short body shocks have a good amount of travel with the long arm?

I dont usally run with a sway bar on and with the rustys shocks there is a lot of body roll compared to other jeeps I have ridden in with the same coils and different shocks without swaybars.
 
Shocks can have a lot to do with street handling and stability/sway. Adding the spacers does not increase the spring rate, and could decrease the stability because of the higher center of gravity of more lift. But, swaying on the street is different than too floppy on off camber trail situations.

Sounds like you'd be happier with better shocks, and it also sounds like you probably need to hook up that sway bar. RE springs were never stiff enough for me to be comfortable without the sway bar.

Stiffer springs, and stiffer rebound valving are what contribute to less sway and better stability.
 
justin_502 said:
Will the 12" short body shocks have a good amount of travel with the long arm?
Click to expand...

They should give you plenty of room for up travel. I'm sitting at about 5" and I had to put the lower shock mount a couple inches above the axle tube (as seen HERE) so that I didn't waste up travel. That's with 12" short body's and about 4" of up travel.
Billy
 
Thanks much for all the info, I agree the RE coils are soft. Think im going to go with the 7100 12" 275/78 valving short bodies up front and the 5150s 10" in the rear. The RE leaf springs are pritty firm.
 
Haha now I just found a new bilstein shock the 9100 for rock krawling.


The 9100 Rock Crawler Series bridges the gap between the full race and the recreational application. Utilizing a Baja proven 2" diameter 9100 Series damper, the shock is mated with a new purpose-built, light weight 2.5" x 12" reservoir. These shocks are perfect for coilover or non-coilover, long travel, rock-buggy, jeep and truck applications Since Rockcrawling vehicles perform primarily at slow speeds, shock temperatures should remain low. Bilstein recommends using one, 2" shock per wheel.
rockshockS.jpg

Spring Hardware (see below) and Springs are sold separately. Click here for 2 1/2" Springs.
Digressive Competition Valving
In addition to our four linear valving options, Bilstein RCS is now available with an optional Digressive "Rebound Check Valve" Piston. Designed specifically for Rockcrawling Competition, this valving will greatly enhance vehicle stability while reducing impact harshness. Utilizing the digressive valving, wheel hop, front to rear/side to side weight transfer, erratic spring unload, and sway will greatly be reduced. Suffix: Digressive Front (10) Digressive Rear (11)

Too much damn money for me tho!
 
I have 240lb 4.5" Zone/BDS front coils and 255/70 5150's all a round I love them. I do plan to upgrade my fronts to 275/78 7100's after a few other mods.

dave
 
justin_502 said:
I got my daily driver, wich also sees many trails like john bull calico odessa duran miller jeep trail etc... What would the ride difference be in the 5150s to the 7100s is it worth the extra money? Im at 6.5 inches of lift, with short arm right now going to upgrade to the TNT long arm kit soon. So I was thinking the 12" travel 275/78 valving short bodies so I dont bottom them out. Would that ride better onroad and off road then the 5150s? And when I get the long arm setup will 12" travel be long enough?
Click to expand...

I sit at 6.5" of lift, and run 12" shortbody 7100's. I have 7" uptravel and 5" downtravel, valved 275/78. I broke a shock and put some 'spare' 7100 12" (non shortbody's) valve 255/70, and I think it actually drove a little better; my RE ZJ coils aren't stiff enough for the /78 rebound damping, IMHO.

shock2medium.jpg


IMG_0161%20(Medium).jpg


IMG_0160%20(Medium).jpg
 
cal said:
I sit at 6.5" of lift, and run 12" shortbody 7100's. I have 7" uptravel and 5" downtravel, valved 275/78. I broke a shock and put some 'spare' 7100 12" (non shortbody's) valve 255/70, and I think it actually drove a little better; my RE ZJ coils aren't stiff enough for the /78 rebound damping, IMHO.
Click to expand...


Your's is too soft and you don't know it. :D


Real comfy, and resisting bottoming out, are two different things.
 
Goatman said:
Your's is too soft and you don't know it. :D


Real comfy, and resisting bottoming out, are two different things.
Click to expand...

Oh, I agree with you. That's why I think 275/78 was too much for those soft coils.. it bottoms out easier on these shocks, but rebounds faster so that second and third hit arent as bad.

Its pretty moot, I parked the jeep a couple hours ago and will start stripping it down.. the new jeep will be much, much more firm. :)
 
cal said:
Oh, I agree with you. That's why I think 275/78 was too much for those soft coils.. it bottoms out easier on these shocks, but rebounds faster so that second and third hit arent as bad.

Its pretty moot, I parked the jeep a couple hours ago and will start stripping it down.. the new jeep will be much, much more firm. :)
Click to expand...

BTW, your coilovers weren't too bad on the rear of the buggy for Sat's run. I put 175/150 coils on them and ran them. No fast stuff, but it worked fine for putting around....not harsh like I was afraid of. Thanks. :)
 
justin_502 said:
Haha now I just found a new bilstein shock the 9100 for rock krawling.
Digressive Competition Valving
In addition to our four linear valving options, Bilstein RCS is now available with an optional Digressive "Rebound Check Valve" Piston. Designed specifically for Rockcrawling Competition, this valving will greatly enhance vehicle stability while reducing impact harshness. Utilizing the digressive valving, wheel hop, front to rear/side to side weight transfer, erratic spring unload, and sway will greatly be reduced.
Too much damn money for me tho!
Click to expand...

Bilstein has a 5100 series shock valved for a 6" lifted XJ with 'digressive' valving as mentioned above. It was specifically designed for long arm TJ's and was adapted to the XJ. Their valving is supposedly 161/72. Those numbers seemed to contradict their recommendations(far too soft). Luckily I was able to talk to one of their engineers first hand, the digressive valving numbers can not be measured against the linear valving listed for their other shocks, as it is not linear in nature. Now I'm no expert, but he insisted that this was a tested combination and that I'd be impressed, as my vehicle is an all-around performer in the rocks and desert sand.
Front p/n BE5-A940-H5, rear BE5-F166-H0. The front is an 11" travel, the rear is 10" travel.
I've only had them for a week and driven it on the street. Surprisingly it seems firmer than my previous 255/70 valving. As soon as I dial in the rest of my junk, I'll hit the trails.
 
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