Bilstein 4600 or 5100 for stock ride height

[Porpoise Hork]

Looking for some advice.

I have a RWD EB that I have installed lowering shackles on the rear as well as installed the Bilstein 4600 on the rear. Front is still stock at present.

I still have about 1-1/3” rake that I’m trying to get rid of. The 4600 would do me just fine on the front also as my truck is only really used on street roads but I would like the adjustable height to level out the rake.

I looked at installing the Bilstein 5100 with the adjustable height on the front but it seems these are for 4WD only??

Anyone got any recommendations for an alternative?

Not sure why the 5100's available now wouldn't work for the rwd, but the Eibach Pro's should fit just fine. @Stage3Motorsports states they will give slightly more height on a 2wd vs 4wd so may want to take that into account if you go with those.

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[Calson]

The 5100's are good replacement shocks but not much of an upgrade over the factory shocks. I prefer the Rancho XL adjustable shocks so I can easily set exactly how much spring dampening I want at the front wheels and at the rear ones.

Shocks are more accurately referred to by the Brits as dampeners which is what they do. If the springs are not adequate for the load then it is better to add more load support at the springs than to band-air the problem with shocks.

For an empty pickup truck the best modification I have found is an anti-sway bar at the rear axle. It should be a stock item from the factory but we pay more and more to get less and less.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

The 5100's are good replacement shocks but not much of an upgrade over the factory shocks. I prefer the Rancho XL adjustable shocks so I can easily set exactly how much spring dampening I want at the front wheels and at the rear ones.

Shocks are more accurately referred to by the Brits as dampeners which is what they do. If the springs are not adequate for the load then it is better to add more load support at the springs than to band-air the problem with shocks.

For an empty pickup truck the best modification I have found is an anti-sway bar at the rear axle. It should be a stock item from the factory but we pay more and more to get less and less.

True the 5100's will offer ride quality comparable to stock but compared to the FX dampers the 5100's are a huge improvement. The 5100's eliminate the rolling bounce that the bo the FX and non-FX dampers cause due to the OEM's rebound being too soft. For the vast majority of owners the 5100's or comparable brand would be fine. Only those who do extensive off-road driving may find them to underperform and want something else. It's really relative and down to personal preference and what each person wants/needs.

 

[Snakebitten]

While I have outfitted my trucks at one point or another with aftermarket dampers (I'm not British, but now I DO feel more sophisticated lol) that gave results far superior to the Bilstein 5100's, I have also had 5100's on a brand new F150 and they were FAR superior to the OEM.

All this is subjective, of course.

To me the 5100's are an amazing value equation. So much so that I wish Ford just equipped the truck with them, bragged about it in marketing materials, and then added their wholesale co$t to the price of the truck. Nobody would even notice the small bump in price but they couldn't miss how much the F150 improved over bumps. Literally.

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