I'm gonna be throwning my green keys in here real soon and I'm gonna buy some bilstein's as well, what I'm curious about is this. I'm wondering if the 7100 series is worth the extra $$$ over the 5100? And do they even make a set for a HD? I don't really off-road or really tow that much, basically it's just my diesel race truck in the making. I'm just looking for a better ride quality, that's pretty much it. Also curious if I need a different length as well for the extra ride height? Thanks!

ill let u know when i finish the same thing this weekend.

alright heres the low down on my project. 2 rear shocks=maybe 1 hour, lf shock 4 hours, rf 1/2 hour. i got the longer shocks with a leveling kit, the studs are shorter than stock. "metal sleeves come in various sizes" so says company i bought kit from. measure your lower front mounts for inside width, cut down if u need to. with the torsion keys i guess i learned the hard way, get a torsion bar unloading tool. i bent/broke 4 c clamps, & used a whole can of pb blaster.

chebby:
I don't think that the 7100's are available for a stock set up. The 7100's come with eyelet mounting positions and for ours, the top mount is a stem. There is a mount you can buy that will convert the stem mount to an eyelet but that decreases the shock length a bit. The stock travel of our trucks is about 6.75 inches and the 7100's shortest travel is an 8 inch set up. If you put those in, I think you will over compress the shock and it may malfunction. If you have figured something else out, let me know. I have been thinking how I can get some 7100's in there but don't know how. Hope it helps.

LA DMAX

alright heres the low down on my project. 2 rear shocks=maybe 1 hour, lf shock 4 hours, rf 1/2 hour. i got the longer shocks with a leveling kit, the studs are shorter than stock. "metal sleeves come in various sizes" so says company i bought kit from. measure your lower front mounts for inside width, cut down if u need to. with the torsion keys i guess i learned the hard way, get a torsion bar unloading tool. i bent/broke 4 c clamps, & used a whole can of pb blaster.
Which leveling kit are you using? Well I will actually be letting a local shop do the keys and front shocks for that reason. Do you have a P/N on the shocks? I keep running into dead ends trying to find out if I need longer shocks or not?!?!

Thanks again!

chebby:
I don't think that the 7100's are available for a stock set up. The 7100's come with eyelet mounting positions and for ours, the top mount is a stem. There is a mount you can buy that will convert the stem mount to an eyelet but that decreases the shock length a bit. The stock travel of our trucks is about 6.75 inches and the 7100's shortest travel is an 8 inch set up. If you put those in, I think you will over compress the shock and it may malfunction. If you have figured something else out, let me know. I have been thinking how I can get some 7100's in there but don't know how. Hope it helps.

LA DMAX
Well I wasn't really sure if there was a 7100 series for our trucks or not, and if it would even be beneifical or not. But from the sounds of it you've been looking at this quite a bit more in depth than myself. I think I'll just stick with the 5100's though.

Thanks!

did the offroad unlimited, my advise go with the cognito. ill be doing that soon, from what ive read the ride is better than loading up torsion bars. if u do the cognito u dont have to get longer shocks, they have longer shock mounts. probably cheaper than longer shocks. then u can use the regular bilsteins.

did the offroad unlimited, my advise go with the cognito. ill be doing that soon, from what ive read the ride is better than loading up torsion bars. if u do the cognito u dont have to get longer shocks, they have longer shock mounts. probably cheaper than longer shocks. then u can use the regular bilsteins.Funny you should mention the Cognito lift, I was going to do that until he told me I couldn't run it with the rims I have. :mad: To much BS'ing on them.

Chebby,
Look on Kennedy Diesel's web site. He sells a Bilstein kit that says its for stock ride height or lifted with green keys. Dont know if this is what you want, but might provide some info.

7100 are designed to be used for off-road use. If you want to upgrade from the 5100 go to the 5150's they are about $100 per shock and they will handle anything you can throw at them. 7100 really should be only used for off road...don't waste your money on them for on road use.

Thanks for the info guys! I just don't know what I would do without this place!:ro)

You guys ever use Rnachos???
I had Bilstiens on my '94 K2500HD.
Then went with Rancho RS5000s on my '00 K3500 Crew Dually.

I don't think the Bilstiens were really any better. Ranchos will certainly be less expensive.

I too am in the same boat. I have a '04.5 that needs the front to come up a bit...
I'd like to have the Cognito setup, but we're talking $1000 by the time you get it, have a chassis guy bolt it up, and allign it.

I've been thinking about cranking the T-bars up a bit to get an inch or so...
Do you have to get an allignment after you just crank up the torsion bars??????????

dont have to but will wear tires unevenly, & how do u figure 1000 to install. kit is 375 if im not mistaken, couple hours labor & alignment.

dont have to but will wear tires unevenly, & how do u figure 1000 to install. kit is 375 if im not mistaken, couple hours labor & alignment.
I believe the kit is $500.
3 hours labor would be cheap... Thats at least $275.
Then there's the allignment..Probably $100.
So there's $875
Oh, and we had to ship the Cognito... $50+

i checked the site the other day, i was talking about the a arms being 375. 275 for 3 hours labor, thats kinda steep. 50-70 around here. im sure different around the country. i wasnt trying to give u h*ll about price, just didnt sound right.

Definetly get an alignment, will save wear and tear on the steering and tires. Get the new torsion keys, just had mine done like 2,000 miles ago and there have been no ill effects on ride quality at all. Actually I think it has improved. As for getting Rancho's vs. Bilsteins, the main reason to get Bilsteins is they have a higher quality product, Rancho's are pretty much the same as everyone else.

doh rechecked site, a arms are 475 not 375. i must have been thinking of something else with a 3. my bad.