Slee4+1 w/ Bilstein 7100s

[Darwood]

James, Mike,

I'm jealous. If you happen to be around anymore equipment anytime soon I and happen to make extra adapters, I wouldn't mind taking them off your hands.

Also James do you still need a steering wheel and shifter?

 

[FirstToy]

Ali,
I'm pretty happy so far but no offroad yet. I have to mess w/ protecting the hose a bit and some other stuff before I take it for a real offroad test.
I'm curious how you will like the 130 valving. Rick had it offroad and seemed favorable about it- altho w/ all the weight he's carrying, the 130 might be even better....

Derek,
Don't need the wheel anymore- that company is out of the recovering biz. thanks tho


If someone wants to start petty, internet crap- here's an idea, start your own thread on crapping on Ken.

I am proud of anything Ken Hanna makes or develops and feel lucky to have it on my truck. Same goes for Slee Offroad. I'm sure I'll feel the same after I install Luke Porter's HD tie rod and relay rod w/ 1 ton tre's- those go on next!

 

[alia176]

Ali,
I'm pretty happy so far but no offroad yet. I have to mess w/ protecting the hose a bit and some other stuff before I take it for a real offroad test.

Good idea on protecting the hose since I blew the left rear one on Gold Bar rim last weekend Talk about lot of oil!

 

[FirstToy]

ali, details!

 

[84runner]

Yes Ali please... do tell...

 

[450 DUDE]

Strange things are afoot @ the DUDE household.
The 7100's are on the garage floor, I repeat the 7100's are in the building!


Firstoy, I hope you guys don't mind me biting your style.





Question:
Have you tried messing with your pressure? Can you tell the difference?
Thanks,

ken

 

[Darwood]

That was actually agreed to by both parties, maybe Christo agreed to Ken copying his, I don't know.

From what I can tell from OZ off road magazines is that everyone and their mother makes those caster correction brackets out there. I wouldn't say any one manufacturer has a monopoly on those things.

 

[Jason Andrews]

LOL


almost forgot to mention we are running Hanna Quality 1.0 beta version Caster Correction Plates

Anyone know if you can run those with Slee Arms? How many * correction do they give?

 

[alia176]

ali, details!

The hose on the Driver rear was rubbing on the frame (spring bucket, chamfered edge no less!) and finally rubbed through on the trail Every time the suspension cycled, oil spewed out of the hose. New hose was made up 4" longer and a 90* flare elbow was installed on one end of the hose to improve routing. Waiting for 1 gallon shock oil from Bilstein and 400/135 valving.

400/135 valving: this is yet another experiment in my quest to find the optimum balance. 360/80 is a little soft for my 6700lb vehicle. This is not a DD so I wanted a little slower downtravel (compression) and a little slower uptravel (rebound). Right now, I have managed to tweak with the shims to attain 360/125ish. I'm hoping that 400/135 will satisfy my needs. One thing is for sure, when the rear Bilsteins were replaced (due to hole in the hose) in Moab with OME N74E shocks, the vehicle handled quite pitifully. The rear kept wanting to bottom out after departing ledges and larger rocks and the body just wouldn't settle down.

Pics:

Hose with the hole (toward the right)

Hole close up

New hose with 90* elbow

 

[450 DUDE]

The hose on the Driver rear was rubbing on the frame and finally rubbed through on the trail Every time the suspension cycled, oil spewed out of the hose. New hose was made up 4" longer and a 90* flare elbow was installed on one end of the hose to improve routing. Waiting for 1 gallon shock oil from Bilstein and 400/135 valving. Pics to come....

Waiting for pics.

400/135... Do tell.

Thanks,
ken

 

[FirstToy]

Firstoy, I hope you guys don't mind me biting your style.

Question:
Have you tried messing with your pressure? Can you tell the difference?
Thanks,

ken

Not at all! Rick, Mike and I post this info to help people skip the growing pains we had and also maybe see if you guys can improve it too. We tried to be as detailed as possible so hopefully it can be of reference for your truck.
Ali has done some cool things as well so it looks like there is some nice progress w/ these 7100s fitting.

Jason Andrews,
Last time I was in Ken's shop, he had a few of those caster plates laying around. I asked him to run a couple sets for Rick and I. I think they are 5 degrees of correction.. Rick measured it up and laid it out on his computer when we installed them so I'll double check later

Ali,
thanks for the pics! that 90 degree might be useful at the top of the shock too. That might help clear the body ...
I am going to protect the hose and sharp edges for now- I'll post pics when I do.


Ken,
The valving I have is 400/100. I have had no time to test it out - sorry. Also note that Ali's truck is on the heavily laden side (as is Rick's). Mine runs lighter. That might take up variences between Ali's 135 vs. 100 compression.

 

[clownmidget]

James - man, thought you were dead dude.

One thing this thread could probably use for reference is that modifying the pressure or filling when empty with the nitrogen requires a special adapter. I know someone out there knows how this can be duplicated cheaply but Ali and I couldn't find it. I ended up going the same route as Ali and getting the PolyPerformance one (http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/product.php?productid=286&cat=11&page=1) . Bilstein, and other shock manufacturers, sell their own version but it was $100 or more. By comparison the Poly one was a bargain

I put mine at 250 psi and it seems to behave nicely.

I'm still voting for stainless steel braided lines...

 

[FirstToy]

James - man, thought you were dead dude.

almost but i came back! I hope to join you guys at the shop soon- time is flying by!

I drove across town w/ 500lbs of crates in the back and the Slee4's were great handling the load. The rebound on the shocks seems good, w/ no bouncing or anything. I like the ride.

1 front shock has a stiff heim and needs a little adjustments- otherwise, the big thing is the hose protection.. which I haven't done yet....!

I really like the shocks so far. I think it will make feel more stable too since the body is not moving as much in all conditions... can't wait to get the rest of the mods done and get it offroad.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

James - man, thought you were dead dude.

One thing this thread could probably use for reference is that modifying the pressure or filling when empty with the nitrogen requires a special adapter. I know someone out there knows how this can be duplicated cheaply but Ali and I couldn't find it. I ended up going the same route as Ali and getting the PolyPerformance one (http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/product.php?productid=286&cat=11&page=1) . Bilstein, and other shock manufacturers, sell their own version but it was $100 or more. By comparison the Poly one was a bargain

I put mine at 250 psi and it seems to behave nicely.

I'm still voting for stainless steel braided lines...

Per Bilstein series 7100 Rebuilding Guide

Bilstein recommends using 180 - 220 P.S.I.

 

[alia176]

Phil,

You splitting hairs again....?

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Phil,

You splitting hairs again....?

Not trying to split hairs Alia….

3 yrs ago I started experimenting with shock pressure on the 7100’s when there was no info available on line. I contacted Shane in the off road dept of Bilstein he offered to send me a guide to rebuilding and revalving guide to 7100. His advice was not to go above recommended PSI to avoid seal failure.

This a very informative thread on a great mod that I have enjoyed in the past. My intent was to share info to avoid premature failure on an excellent shock.

 

[clownmidget]

Phil, that's interesting as Jack @ Bilstein actually recommended starting between 220-240 and just staying below 250. We used our booty-fabbed setup set @250 since we knew we were loosing quite a bit from that each time we released the valve. I have yet to actually go check them with the new PolyPerformance doo-hickey to see what they are really set at but I'll bet it's not even 200 psi. Did I mention the rears work really, really well.

 

[clownmidget]

Front lower mount modified for eye-mount.

Thought this might be appropriate for those trying to fit the Bilstein 7100's on less lift or if you just want to have a direct mount for an eye-mount style shock.

This gains a bit more than 2" over the eye-to-pin adapter we made.

This could be done with a drill, hacksaw and a welder and $2 in material (of course I had access to a plasma cutter & a whole shop )

2" x 2" square tubing, 3/16"-walled. Two 3" lengths with the shock bolt hole drilled 1" from one end.

I don't know if this could be done with the axle on the truck but probably. Layed the tubing centered over the existing lower shock mount and traced inside dimensions with a sharpie. Cut out that piece and then weld the square tubing onto the bottom. The stock mount has a nice bend on the circumference and this allows a nice weld all along the outside edge of your new mount. I hedged and kept the mounting hole high as I didn't want the shock shaft to move into the mount but once it was in place it has a lot of clearance. It could likely go another 1" lower (so drill two holes initially if preferred).

 

[84runner]

Brilliant! Fairly simple to do, still protected, and since you can't move the upper mount much higher, (at least on the drivers side), a great idea for an eye conversion and gaining and not loosing travel.

Nice work Mike!

 

[450 DUDE]

Slick man slick!

Only one problem , I now have to crawl under my rig and take another look.
(maybe I need a photo image of the under carriage and project it on my bedroom celling)



Thanks for the info.

ken