HELP!!! Bilstein 7100's shocks

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

LandBruiser69

LandBruiser69

It feels good to be lost in the right direction.
15 Year 10 Year
Joined
Aug 25, 2009
Threads
61
Messages
855
Location
Westminster, MD
Question for the pro's!!! So my rig has 6" iron man lift. I want to drive it regularly on the road so I want to set it up for the best on road performance. Off road I will be crawling slowly. So really not as important to me. So... What should I valve my shocks to? Anyone been through this yet??? PO has front set at 400/100. It's def. not right. So where should I start? What is best for standard country road driving??

Lastly, what Nitrogen charge do the shocks need?? Can anyone help on this???
 
Anyone have any ideas? I called bilstein they said to go with 255/70. And if I was driving it with a heavy load maybe run 255/78... Anyone else have any input on this?
 
ive heard around 380/90 in the back and lighter in the front, if you search 7100's in ih8mud there are a few threads. but 400/100 is way to stiff for the front, all the weight in the 80 is in the ass end...well alot of it.
 
Yea I searched threads on mud. Funny enough. The threads that came up were from the PO of my rig asking the same questions. And no answers. I can't believe all the tech guys on here don't know the answer to this. I really want to here from someone who has worked through this issue and is happy with their results.
 
Also, your saying all the weight on this truck is in the ass end??? Really?? I mean I could understand that if you had a fully packed cargo area with drawers etc... And a 300lb bumper hanging off the back with a 100lb spare. But really I would have thought to valve the rear if anything on the lighter side. I will most likely stick with the 255/70 in the rear. Maybe thinking of going 255/78 in the front or maybe 300/80 at the heaviest up front. I'm not sure. I really just want to hear from someone who is not guessing and has actually done it... No offense or anything but this can be a shot in the dark if you haven't actually done it with this shock and the iron man 6" springs I am running. All springs have different compression rates and react differently with various loads/vehicles.
 
DHwreckage said:
ive heard around 380/90 in the back and lighter in the front, if you search 7100's in ih8mud there are a few threads. but 400/100 is way to stiff for the front, all the weight in the 80 is in the ass end...well alot of it.
Click to expand...
Oh by the way. I do appreciate your input and anyone else's I can get. Maybe with everyone's input I can make an educated guess and go from there.
 
DHwreckage said:
check these out : https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/slee4-1-w-bilstein-7100s.157677/ and https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/bilstein-7100-size-and-lift-with-35s.498423/ hopefully that helps some. and its not that there is more weight in the back its just mnore top heavy and prone to leaning vs. the front. or i could be totally wrong...
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the reply man! I don't know how I missed the one thread but I started reding through it and it looks like it will have a good bit of info I need! Thanks again bro!
 
no worries man im thinking of going to a re-valvable shock absorber in the future if i pick up some slinkie coils from autocraft in Aus!

P.S. there was a guy from CO that was going the 7100 route but ended up going fox and has his specs on here somewhere too...i cant think of the name of the guy right now. but he was running a relatively light rig setup.
 
LandCruiserPhil said:
If valving is in question I would start with Shane in the offroad department at Bilstein, that what he is there for. Nitrogen charge should be between 180 -220
Click to expand...

Im pretty sure that's who I talked to. He suggested 255/70 all 4 corners... thats what I have decided to go with for now..
 
LandBruiser69 said:
Im pretty sure that's who I talked to. He suggested 255/70 all 4 corners... thats what I have decided to go with for now..
Click to expand...

PM ali176 he went through a lot of valving on the 7100 a few years back
 
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/fox-shox-2-0s-are-on.245970/ Bikeman is the guy i was talking about heres his thread on fox's. if you can convert the valving that might work.

P.S. ive heard alot of people that are unhappy with that valving (255/70) as that is the generic one they use. might want to reasearch a little more to try and get it a little closer.

P.S.S what coils are you using the OME and Slee coils are a bit stiffer so higher valving is recomended
 
Im using Ironman 6" lift coils...
DHwreckage said:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/fox-shox-2-0s-are-on.245970/ Bikeman is the guy i was talking about heres his thread on fox's. if you can convert the valving that might work.

P.S. ive heard alot of people that are unhappy with that valving (255/70) as that is the generic one they use. might want to reasearch a little more to try and get it a little closer.

P.S.S what coils are you using the OME and Slee coils are a bit stiffer so higher valving is recomended
Click to expand...
 
Good Stuff... Thanks for the advise!! I have the 5100's on My GMC Crew cab Duramax and I am def. Satisfied with them... They made one heck of a difference over stock. Knowing that, I just can't imagine the 7100's not being enough for our trucks... Shocks are tricky... Ive had cheapo coil spring set-up/monroes that I put on a custom 57 Vette that rode better than a $2000.00 coil over set up. Its really a lot about how you like your truck to ride too... I really think that a lot of guys that complain fail to realize our trucks (any vehicle I have messed with actually) once heavily modified, never ride the same ANYWAY... The other thing I noticed is that everyone went way extreme on valving... from 255/70 to 400/100 ??? That is a really significant! Actually when I mentioned 400/100 to the tech at Bilstein he said no way, It was way too much. Not sure really what to do at this point. Ive always been happy with bilstein products. Also I'm not trying to dune race or fly around curves.. I just want a nice ride... Well, I guess Ill play with it for a bit until I get what I like... might cost a little more money to mess with it but what the heck, Ill give it a shot.. 360/80 seems like a good in between... Event though I mite as well cover my eyes and point to a valving on the valve chart at this point... Also I found this... Dont even see 400/100 on the chart..
r9ey2u.webp
 
one other thing that i dont know if you took into account is that i dont think the 7100s come with the correct ends so you will need little brackets to make em work i.e. convert the through bolt design to and eye attachment and that will add length since you need 2 on the front and 1 in the back. just all things considered. Also if you go the fox route i believe if you get em through downsouth motorsports they will revalve them for you once for free. so you can get them with the 255/70 equivalent in fox and see how they are and send em in for fine tuning. just some things to think about.
 
Yea I got ya... The 7100's are already on my rig.. they came with the truck.. Just trying to get the valving down will be the trick...


DHwreckage said:
one other thing that i dont know if you took into account is that i dont think the 7100s come with the correct ends so you will need little brackets to make em work i.e. convert the through bolt design to and eye attachment and that will add length since you need 2 on the front and 1 in the back. just all things considered. Also if you go the fox route i believe if you get em through downsouth motorsports they will revalve them for you once for free. so you can get them with the 255/70 equivalent in fox and see how they are and send em in for fine tuning. just some things to think about.
Click to expand...
 
LandBruiser69 said:
Good Stuff... Thanks for the advise!! I have the 5100's on My GMC Crew cab Duramax and I am def. Satisfied with them... They made one heck of a difference over stock. Knowing that, I just can't imagine the 7100's not being enough for our trucks... Shocks are tricky... Ive had cheapo coil spring set-up/monroes that I put on a custom 57 Vette that rode better than a $2000.00 coil over set up. Its really a lot about how you like your truck to ride too... I really think that a lot of guys that complain fail to realize our trucks (any vehicle I have messed with actually) once heavily modified, never ride the same ANYWAY... The other thing I noticed is that everyone went way extreme on valving... from 255/70 to 400/100 ??? That is a really significant! Actually when I mentioned 400/100 to the tech at Bilstein he said no way, It was way too much. Not sure really what to do at this point. Ive always been happy with bilstein products. Also I'm not trying to dune race or fly around curves.. I just want a nice ride... Well, I guess Ill play with it for a bit until I get what I like... might cost a little more money to mess with it but what the heck, Ill give it a shot.. 360/80 seems like a good in between... Event though I mite as well cover my eyes and point to a valving on the valve chart at this point... Also I found this... Dont even see 400/100 on the chart..View attachment 893344
Click to expand...

I'm a few years late to this party. But would you by any chance have the rest of the book this chart came from?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

IH8MUD Forum | Toyota, Lexus & Off-Road Community
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2026 XenForo Ltd.

© 2000-2026 Tie Rod Media LLC

Back
Top Bottom