Best shocks for cushy ride in half ton truck

[SubieRubyRoo]

Actually ride quality is exceptional. I think it is perfect compromise between comfort and firm.

I’m getting the B8 5100 series for my ‘19 F-150 soon. I’m hoping for a firm ride, but something that softens the impacts from potholes and edges. The factory Hankooks had very soft impact reactions, but the Michelin LTXs for some reason are BRUTAL. I’m hoping new Bilsteins will tame that response but also be slightly more controlled.

 

[gfh77665]

Your problem is that it's a pickup. The suspension is designed to handle the maximum payload not provide a cush ride

Its not a problem. We are realistic. We don't expect the 1997 C1500 to ride like my cushy 2019 RAM, or a Cadillac sedan. What we want is to replace the shocks with the best choice, since they are nearly 30 years old and need to be replaced regardless. Clearly some shocks are softer, some are firmer.

 

[edyvw]

I’m getting the B8 5100 series for my ‘19 F-150 soon. I’m hoping for a firm ride, but something that softens the impacts from potholes and edges. The factory Hankooks had very soft impact reactions, but the Michelin LTXs for some reason are BRUTAL. I’m hoping new Bilsteins will tame that response but also be slightly more controlled.

B6 would be better I think. B8 on cars is for lowered vehicles. Not sure how on trucks they designate. B6 is same stiffness but for stock height.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

B6 would be better I think. B8 on cars is for lowered vehicles. Not sure how on trucks they designate. B6 is same stiffness but for stock height.

These B8s are for stock height.

 

[gfh77665]

Does replacing shocks require a new front end alignment? Or does bolting on a new set not affect it? Thanks.

 

[John105]

I doubt one can go wrong with Bilstein. Doesn’t have to be a sporty one like B6. Could be a more standard like B4. We got the B6 on our Buick Enclave after OE leaked twice between 50-60k. They were great on stock springs.

 

[factorytuned2012]

Does replacing shocks require a new front end alignment? Or does bolting on a new set not affect it? Thanks.

I would

 

[Oey12]

Bilstein’s (truck offerings) are great if you consistently tow or go off-roading (not some gravel trail going to a cabin…). They are very firm in ALL applications. I had them on a 4Runner, multiple Tacomas, and currently my RAV4. I have also ridden in Bilstein equipped cars as well. They are built for performance NOT comfort. Comfortable is a word I personally would never use in the same sentence as Bilstein.

Eibach makes a far better shock for daily drivers HOWEVER if comfort is your goal OP stay away from any “offroad” capable shocks. It’s always a given and take relationship between comfort and performance.

 

[Hohn]

I love Beilstein and that's what I'll put on my GX but they have a "German" ride quality more focused on handling and strong rebound vs cushy.

Agreed, cushy is the last thing I'd use to describe them.

It's the digressive valving. The have higher initial damping and then get softer as they travel. It's a good way to keep sporty handling with the ability to absorb larger impacts, but they are certainly not "cushy."

The key to a "cushy" ride is little to compression damping and a bit of rebound. But there's little sense in tuning ride quality with shock valving when you have sway bars and other items that matter so much too. If you have a brutally stiff sway bar, then even completely removing the shocks will not give you a "cushy" ride.

Sad to say, the only way to a "cushy ride" like a 1970s Buick is to have handling like a 1970s Buick. Best you can hope for in most trucks is to drop down the the lower spring rates from a lower trim or smaller engine model. The OP however already has the V6 1500, so there's nowhere to go. If he had a 2500 diesel, you could use the gas engine or 1500 springs sometimes.


OP, the best way to get good ride quality honestly is use good quality shocks (Bilstein 4300, KYB, etc) and put about 300# of plywood or tube sand in the back. Your truck's suspension is tuned for loaded conditions and unloaded the spring rates are way too high.

 

[Hohn]

I’m getting the B8 5100 series for my ‘19 F-150 soon. I’m hoping for a firm ride, but something that softens the impacts from potholes and edges. The factory Hankooks had very soft impact reactions, but the Michelin LTXs for some reason are BRUTAL. I’m hoping new Bilsteins will tame that response but also be slightly more controlled.

How did the 5100s work out for you?

My experience with them was "okish" and I don't think I'd get a monotube like those again. Ride was firm to choppy over rough stuff like railroad tracks, and they lasted about a winter before getting all rusted on the outside. Functionally, the lasted a long time, but the digressive valving isn't such a great for my a heavy diesel truck that is massively oversprung in the rear. Nowhere near enough rebound damping.

My experiences with LTX was likewise that ride quality was brutal. They are rock hard and may as well be train wheels. These were the tires that made me realize that 75k mile durability isn't a good thing if you spend every mile wishing those tires were other tires. I got rid of my LTX as only 35k miles and they probably had 20k left in them or more. This was despite running them on a modded Cummins that put 850lb ft to the wheels uncorrected in atltitude (Greeley CO dyno).

IN today's market, I'll be buying the IronMan Foam Cell Pro shocks. Because there are twin tube (vs monotube) they run at very low pressure and have much better, smoother ride on smaller bumps and such where the 5100s weren't so good.

The FCP shocks should work brilliantly on my GX460 paired with the Defender MS2s and the great KDSS system.

Search youtube for the channel "tinkerer's design" and find his video on Foam Cell Pro shocks. He's an engineer like me and persuaded me of the FCP design being superior for my mostly-street uses.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

How did the 5100s work out for you?

My experience with them was "okish" and I don't think I'd get a monotube like those again. Ride was firm to choppy over rough stuff like railroad tracks, and they lasted about a winter before getting all rusted on the outside. Functionally, the lasted a long time, but the digressive valving isn't such a great for my a heavy diesel truck that is massively oversprung in the rear. Nowhere near enough rebound damping.

My experiences with LTX was likewise that ride quality was brutal. They are rock hard and may as well be train wheels. These were the tires that made me realize that 75k mile durability isn't a good thing if you spend every mile wishing those tires were other tires. I got rid of my LTX as only 35k miles and they probably had 20k left in them or more. This was despite running them on a modded Cummins that put 850lb ft to the wheels uncorrected in atltitude (Greeley CO dyno).

IN today's market, I'll be buying the IronMan Foam Cell Pro shocks. Because there are twin tube (vs monotube) they run at very low pressure and have much better, smoother ride on smaller bumps and such where the 5100s weren't so good.

The FCP shocks should work brilliantly on my GX460 paired with the Defender MS2s and the great KDSS system.

Search youtube for the channel "tinkerer's design" and find his video on Foam Cell Pro shocks. He's an engineer like me and persuaded me of the FCP design being superior for my mostly-street uses.

IronMan doesn't make any shocks for the F-150, so any benefits of them are moot for literally the largest single market they could expand into. Millions upon millions of potential customers without any product available seems like a big miss, IMO.

 

[Hohn]

IronMan doesn't make any shocks for the F-150, so any benefits of them are moot for literally the largest single market they could expand into. Millions upon millions of potential customers without any product available seems like a big miss, IMO.

Certainly is. In their defense, I suspect the F150 isn't super popular in Australia, and as an Aussie company just coming to the US, it's understandable that their product line hasn't yet expanded to something more suitable for the US market.

Still, it's seems a massive miss. It's like going into the holster business and not offering a holster for Glock pistols, literally the most popular pistols on earth.

SO here they are offering shocks for Toyotas, Nissans and Mitsubishis, but not for Fords. Huh? Ford only sells about half a million F150s a year, how hard is it to see this is a fitment you REALLY need to offer?


Maybe next time.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Certainly is. In their defense, I suspect the F150 isn't super popular in Australia, and as an Aussie company just coming to the US, it's understandable that their product line hasn't yet expanded to something more suitable for the US market.

Still, it's seems a massive miss. It's like going into the holster business and not offering a holster for Glock pistols, literally the most popular pistols on earth.

SO here they are offering shocks for Toyotas, Nissans and Mitsubishis, but not for Fords. Huh? Ford only sells about half a million F150s a year, how hard is it to see this is a fitment you REALLY need to offer?


Maybe next time.

And yet on the flipside, they offer a complete suspension lift for THREE different Subaru models, which combined sell about 1/5th of the F-150’s yearly total. Once you toss in the current BroDozer fad, the actual market for the F150 vs 3 Subaru models is probably 10X in favor of the Fords… Right now, if they offered one for my year Subie (at 40% off!!) I’d be tempted to buy it. But alas… their marketing team is barking up the wrong product line….

 

[I<3oil]

How did the 5100s work out for you?

My experience with them was "okish" and I don't think I'd get a monotube like those again. Ride was firm to choppy over rough stuff like railroad tracks, and they lasted about a winter before getting all rusted on the outside. Functionally, the lasted a long time, but the digressive valving isn't such a great for my a heavy diesel truck that is massively oversprung in the rear. Nowhere near enough rebound damping.

My experiences with LTX was likewise that ride quality was brutal. They are rock hard and may as well be train wheels. These were the tires that made me realize that 75k mile durability isn't a good thing if you spend every mile wishing those tires were other tires. I got rid of my LTX as only 35k miles and they probably had 20k left in them or more. This was despite running them on a modded Cummins that put 850lb ft to the wheels uncorrected in atltitude (Greeley CO dyno).

IN today's market, I'll be buying the IronMan Foam Cell Pro shocks. Because there are twin tube (vs monotube) they run at very low pressure and have much better, smoother ride on smaller bumps and such where the 5100s weren't so good.

The FCP shocks should work brilliantly on my GX460 paired with the Defender MS2s and the great KDSS system.

Search youtube for the channel "tinkerer's design" and find his video on Foam Cell Pro shocks. He's an engineer like me and persuaded me of the FCP design being superior for my mostly-street uses.

I’ve got 4600s (which are extremely similar to the 5100s) on my 2500 and it is a HD truck of course but the ride is firm. But its primary use is towing and it tows our 9000lb camper beautifully.

 

[super20dan]

i replaced the oem shocks on my 99 silverado with monroe magnum. love the ride

 

[BHopkins]

@gfh77665, did you get the new shocks on your truck? If yes, are you and the wife happy with the ride?

 

[meep]

How did the 5100s work out for you?

My experience with them was "okish" and I don't think I'd get a monotube like those again. Ride was firm to choppy over rough stuff like railroad tracks, and they lasted about a winter before getting all rusted on the outside. Functionally, the lasted a long time, but the digressive valving isn't such a great for my a heavy diesel truck that is massively oversprung in the rear. Nowhere near enough rebound damping.

My experiences with LTX was likewise that ride quality was brutal. They are rock hard and may as well be train wheels. These were the tires that made me realize that 75k mile durability isn't a good thing if you spend every mile wishing those tires were other tires. I got rid of my LTX as only 35k miles and they probably had 20k left in them or more. This was despite running them on a modded Cummins that put 850lb ft to the wheels uncorrected in atltitude (Greeley CO dyno).

IN today's market, I'll be buying the IronMan Foam Cell Pro shocks. Because there are twin tube (vs monotube) they run at very low pressure and have much better, smoother ride on smaller bumps and such where the 5100s weren't so good.

The FCP shocks should work brilliantly on my GX460 paired with the Defender MS2s and the great KDSS system.

Search youtube for the channel "tinkerer's design" and find his video on Foam Cell Pro shocks. He's an engineer like me and persuaded me of the FCP design being superior for my mostly-street uses.

I’ve had a couple of sets of 5100s. I’ll give some detail here.

2006 tundra, front and rear. Rear had a 200 lb fiberglass shell. Front, I dialed in half of the available lift, about a 1” rise. Truck ran stiff before, and stiffer after. The front shocks did demonstrate digressive valving well, however, because they would “let go” during a hard hit and stiffen back up once neutral again. The control overall with the 5100s in this truck was superb. It had a LS diff in it, and was easy as cake to drift in the rain, all day and every day.

2018 F150. I towed back then and the oem shocks were done at 18k. Put 5100s on the rear, no lift. *I think these would be much better with a lift, will explain.” First, the compression and rebound are notably different. They have more compression damping than rebound. They were ok new but 30-40k in, the rebound damping, which was low to begin with, went to nothing. If you drive over chop, it pops the truck up in the air quickly and then it kind floats its way down. The effect on concrete interstate is nauseating floaty pogo stick. It was exacerbated by an additional feature - about 2” from the bottom of travel something internal changes and the shock gets much firmer, like an additional damping factor prior to bump stops. It made it feel like the truck was regularly contacting and pressing off the bump stops, when in actuality it wasnt. This added extra oomf to kicking the tail up in the air. Had the truck had a 2” lift in the rear, I doubt it would have been apparent. Anyway, the two characteristics combined gave the tail end a weird personality. It may very well be that it would be a fine riding shock, perhaps one of the best, if it didn’t kick the back end up so readily.

I tried a replacement set of 5100s and they were better but by then I was already kinda sensitive to the weird compression/rebound tuning. It’s while doing the install I realized the difference at the last 2”. I didn’t keep them and went to fox. fox was amazing with a load in the back, and are linearly valved. They were therefore far more predictable. But they were very stiff without a load. Later upgraded to fox shocks valved by accutune and was exceptionally pleased. Rode like an accord on the road, and I could dial the stiffness up a notch or two when loaded for a long distance. Granted, we weren’t talking about 5100 prices at that point, but I was tired of dealing with it. I didn’t regret the fox purchase, and they matched the character of the front OE shocks very well.

 

[gfh77665]

@gfh77665, did you get the new shocks on your truck? If yes, are you and the wife happy with the ride?

Not yet, got some other things going on at the moment. I will soon but its not pressing.

 

[Hohn]

I’ve had a couple of sets of 5100s. I’ll give some detail here.

2006 tundra, front and rear. Rear had a 200 lb fiberglass shell. Front, I dialed in half of the available lift, about a 1” rise. Truck ran stiff before, and stiffer after. The front shocks did demonstrate digressive valving well, however, because they would “let go” during a hard hit and stiffen back up once neutral again. The control overall with the 5100s in this truck was superb. It had a LS diff in it, and was easy as cake to drift in the rain, all day and every day.

2018 F150. I towed back then and the oem shocks were done at 18k. Put 5100s on the rear, no lift. *I think these would be much better with a lift, will explain.” First, the compression and rebound are notably different. They have more compression damping than rebound. They were ok new but 30-40k in, the rebound damping, which was low to begin with, went to nothing. If you drive over chop, it pops the truck up in the air quickly and then it kind floats its way down. The effect on concrete interstate is nauseating floaty pogo stick. It was exacerbated by an additional feature - about 2” from the bottom of travel something internal changes and the shock gets much firmer, like an additional damping factor prior to bump stops. It made it feel like the truck was regularly contacting and pressing off the bump stops, when in actuality it wasnt. This added extra oomf to kicking the tail up in the air. Had the truck had a 2” lift in the rear, I doubt it would have been apparent. Anyway, the two characteristics combined gave the tail end a weird personality. It may very well be that it would be a fine riding shock, perhaps one of the best, if it didn’t kick the back end up so readily.

I tried a replacement set of 5100s and they were better but by then I was already kinda sensitive to the weird compression/rebound tuning. It’s while doing the install I realized the difference at the last 2”. I didn’t keep them and went to fox. fox was amazing with a load in the back, and are linearly valved. They were therefore far more predictable. But they were very stiff without a load. Later upgraded to fox shocks valved by accutune and was exceptionally pleased. Rode like an accord on the road, and I could dial the stiffness up a notch or two when loaded for a long distance. Granted, we weren’t talking about 5100 prices at that point, but I was tired of dealing with it. I didn’t regret the fox purchase, and they matched the character of the front OE shocks very well.

There’s a lot of opportunity in custom valving, but there are very few shops that know what they are doing and own a shock dyno. Many “specialty shops” basicall just look up a valve disc combination from the Bilstein chart and install it with fingers crossed.

Sounds like Accutune really knows their stuff.

 

[meep]

There’s a lot of opportunity in custom valving, but there are very few shops that know what they are doing and own a shock dyno. Many “specialty shops” basicall just look up a valve disc combination from the Bilstein chart and install it with fingers crossed.

Sounds like Accutune really knows their stuff.

They asked me a few questions about my use case and then suggested their “adventure tune” tuning. THEN they started asking me daily dry weight, how much weight I carry sometimes, and trailer questions. At setting 1-2 (of 8) they were just fine for DD, so they had a good model. If I were to buy again, I would have said 0 lbs on bed daily, ignoring the 200lb shell. That may have yielded a slightly softer shock, which I would have been ok with. As it was I told them 200lbs for the shell and 150lbs daily tools/cargo. much softer and a standard shock would have been better. I always liked the Monroe reflex valving, but Monroe itself has been problematic.