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trying to decide on what shocks to buy...

How hard is it to re-valve 7100's? it looks like I will be going with those for the front, but the guy has no idea what the valving is

Click on Drew's corner at the top and then Bilstein 7100 revalving on the left.
http://www.rovertym.com/


*edit there 360/80 12" short bodies, will that be to stiff?

I ran that valving and liked it alot. It kept body roll down on the streets (withno sway bar) and in the fast stuff it did better than it should have.
 
wow! i cant believe this thread is still growing. good info on here. thanks guys! im broke so i havent gotten around to buying anything. maybe after tax season i may be able to.
:)
 
Yeah, lots of good info. All 4 of my RE shocks are bad so I'm looking to buy new shocks coming up in the next month or two. I'd heard about the problems with FOAs, but also heard that they had supposedly fixed the problems as well. Anybody else heard anything? I figure a set of Bilstein 5150s at least for me, maybe going with remote reservoirs. Between me and my brother in law is a lot of open desert and I'd like to be able to take the back way across the desert faster than 15-20 mph.
 
Ive had Bilstien 5125 Fox 2.0 with resi and now KING 2.5 with Resi, The bilstiens lasted me a good while and did great for mostly for what I did, DD and mild offroad. The Foxs were nice but I wouldnt say they are amazing or anything definetaly stiffer than the 5125. The KINGs I have now are really nice I havent gotten the chance to do any offroading in them but the speedbumps in the local highscool parking lot seem way nice I will update when I get a chance to take them on a real test.
 
Yeah, lots of good info. All 4 of my RE shocks are bad so I'm looking to buy new shocks coming up in the next month or two. I'd heard about the problems with FOAs, but also heard that they had supposedly fixed the problems as well. Anybody else heard anything? I figure a set of Bilstein 5150s at least for me, maybe going with remote reservoirs. Between me and my brother in law is a lot of open desert and I'd like to be able to take the back way across the desert faster than 15-20 mph.


Well, as you found out, shocks don't last forever. Thats why you should pick up (at least) 7100's so you can rebuild them. Last shocks you will ever have to buy. Just rebuild as needed.

The thing with cutomer service is you have to NEED to use it to find out if it's good. FOA customers HAVE to use customer service. I'd rather never know if Bilsteins customer service is good (although I know there tech guys service is hard to beat).
 
That's completely and solely based on valving and nothing else.


x 1000...... JIm and I have been fortunate enough to work with one of the guys that does valving for Bilstein. We have seen first hand how he can make improvements. There is one comment he made that really stick out to me, a 2" shock such as the 7100 can perform exactly like a 2.5"shock such as a 9100. The difference is one will heat up sooner. The valving is what makes them perform. The 7100 will heat up sooner... and then start to fade.

Well, as you found out, shocks don't last forever. Thats why you should pick up (at least) 7100's so you can rebuild them. Last shocks you will ever have to buy. Just rebuild as needed.

The thing with cutomer service is you have to NEED to use it to find out if it's good. FOA customers HAVE to use customer service. I'd rather never know if Bilsteins customer service is good (although I know there tech guys service is hard to beat).

Definitely....
 
my work just pulled some 7100's off an Fj cruiser and my boss it gonna sell them for $200 for the pair. not sure the measurements but ill check that and post it up tomorrow for those who are interested. they would have to be picked up locally in Corona, CA.
 
After dealing with Bilstein out at the races, and seeing them out there working on their racers shocks, I would hands down recommend Bilstein. I can also finally recommend them as I'm running a set of 7100's on the MJ. They performed flawlessly.


Just don't call them "Bil-steen's" in front of Joel :D
 
My REs lasted about a year or so. I know many have said the Cross Enterprises hoop angles the shocks too much, I have a JKS cross over mount that I have yet to install, would that be the same problem? I came up running trails and playing on the rocks, but since moving out here, I have found that high speed in the desert is quite fun as well...:D And based on Richard, Tony, Andy and Jim's words here, it sounds like I'll want to focus more on making it handle th fast stuff and let the rocks fall into place, so to speak...
 
id like to know if anyone recomends a rear hoop and whos to get aswell. thanks.
 
If you are going to push hard in the dirt and don't mind losing some space, I'd recommend going through the floor and keeping shocks more vertical.
 
Im going to be running Cross's hoop in about a month. But Im going to add a mounting hole between stock and there first hole. But if you are going to do a hoop buy a revalvable shock and be sure to send it in to be valved stiff with a good sized flutter stack or you will hate the crossover shock setup..reverse progression..very hard landing from a fully drooped suspension and get way soft by the time the shock if fully collapsed
 
Im going to be running Cross's hoop in about a month. But Im going to add a mounting hole between stock and there first hole. But if you are going to do a hoop buy a revalvable shock and be sure to send it in to be valved stiff with a good sized flutter stack or you will hate the crossover shock setup..reverse progression..very hard landing from a fully drooped suspension and get way soft by the time the shock if fully collapsed
changing valving is pretty simple, no need to send them in as if you are a stickler, chances are you will be doing it more than once:). Either way you are going to be sacrificing something with the angle(and lack of space) no matter what valving you run.
 
Yeah I could do the valving but when it came to doing the flutter stack it gets complicated and since I didnt want to do it more than once I sent them to DSM because sonny said he deals with it all the time and could more than likely get it good to go the first try
 
Yeah I could do the valving but when it came to doing the flutter stack it gets complicated and since I didnt want to do it more than once I sent them to DSM because sonny said he deals with it all the time and could more than likely get it good to go the first try

ride on, if you can have him list the shim thicknesses/configuration for further reference and how you like it, I'm sure it could help somebody with a similar set-up.
Cheers
 
there any strong way to go through the floor with out having a bar go across? i need the trunk space for storage.... thanks.
 
there any strong way to go through the floor with out having a bar go across? i need the trunk space for storage.... thanks.
That's what I'm thinking about. I'm totally new to this JeepSpeed thing so I have no idea. Basically I was thinking of running a shock hoop that doesn't go into the floor like that shock hoop from T&J that was posted, but people have said that it wouldn't be good for valving and whatnot.
My basic purpose for this whole thing is to soften up the rear. My front coils are RE 4.5" and are a bit on the soft side. The rears are RE 3.5" packs with Skyjacker greaseable shackles, netting it up to 5.5" of lift in the rear. It is stiff as heck. I have crappy shocks all the way around too (free).
I also like the fact that the good shocks can be revalved and rebuilt instead of completely replaced.
 
i've narrowed my shock choice to the bilstein 5100's, now my delimma is trying to decide on what i can get away with. im looking for the most droop and still not sacrificing compression... i have a put together suspension consisting of RE 4" lift coils tomken LCA's and dakota leafs in the rear but i plan on going stock length shocks or 2" lift shocks for the rear because i plan on relocating my lower shock mount to mid axle. anyway to deciding which front shock length to buy.

because i have a 4" lift up front can i get away with running 5" lift shocks with proper bump stopping for 4 inches? or will the shock body max out before im fully compressed? right now im running my old pro comp es3000 3" lift shocks from my previous lift with 33x10.50's and i want more extension. i have approx 6" of compression but only 4 inches of droop. should i stick with what i have and just run them and or maybe get BPE's for the bottom front and call it good. i feel like if i get BPE's up front it will lift the bottom of the shock almost an inch up and give me a 5"/5" compression/droop. what would you do if you were in my position?
 
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