OEM Rear Shock Wear

[bigredaggie]

I removed my rear shocks today to install Gen 1 Raptor shocks and after I cleaned them up for storage I noticed some significant wear on the shock body of each one. I think it’s from the plastic rod sleeve/dust cover chafing against the body while actuating. Cycling the shock with my hands the plastic sleeve glides across the body and makes a gritty noise. At this point (18k miles) I think it’s just cosmetic. But it is removing the paint and causing some surface rust. I have no idea after 60-80k miles how much more it will eat into the body.

Also, in cycling the shocks by hand I noticed one of them is significantly easier to compress than the other. I don’t really have a way to measure but I’d say it takes approx. half the force to compress, or it compresses almost twice as fast given the same amount of force.

FWIW the passenger side rear shock Is the one that is easier to compress. The driver side rear shock is the one with the most wear.

 

[Escape Hatch]

I had a similar experience when I removed the rear shocks at 13k miles.

 

[DeaconNyte]

I removed my rear shocks today to install Gen 1 Raptor shocks and after I cleaned them up for storage I noticed some significant wear on the shock body of each one. I think it’s from the plastic rod sleeve/dust cover chafing against the body while actuating. Cycling the shock with my hands the plastic sleeve glides across the body and makes a gritty noise. At this point (18k miles) I think it’s just cosmetic. But it is removing the paint and causing some surface rust. I have no idea after 60-80k miles how much more it will eat into the body.

Also, in cycling the shocks by hand I noticed one of them is significantly easier to compress than the other. I don’t really have a way to measure but I’d say it takes approx. half the force to compress, or it compresses almost twice as fast given the same amount of force.

FWIW the passenger side rear shock Is the one that is easier to compress. The driver side rear shock is the one with the most wear.

So how are you liking the rear shocks so far compared to the stock rear shocks ?
Where did you purchase the Gen 1 Raptor shocks from ? Can you point me to a link, thanks in advance

 

[bigredaggie]

So how are you liking the rear shocks so far compared to the stock rear shocks ?
Where did you purchase the Gen 1 Raptor shocks from ? Can you point me to a link, thanks in advance

So far so good. They are a tiny bit firmer but have better rebound control. I don’t know that I notice much difference in body roll. Seem to recover faster from bumps that might have otherwise upset the stock shocks. But everything I’ve done with them so far has been super mild on pavement. I haven’t had a chance to take them off road or tow with them yet.

I bought from Summit Racing, mainly because there was one down the street. I also google searched and found a $60 coupon, which basically just took care of tax.

Motorcraft BL3Z18125K Motorcraft Shocks and Struts | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Motorcraft Shocks and Struts with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Shocks and Struts at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

 

[DeaconNyte]

So far so good. They are a tiny bit firmer but have better rebound control. I don’t know that I notice much difference in body roll. Seem to recover faster from bumps that might have otherwise upset the stock shocks. But everything I’ve done with them so far has been super mild on pavement. I haven’t had a chance to take them off road or tow with them yet.

I bought from Summit Racing, mainly because there was one down the street. I also google searched and found a $60 coupon, which basically just took care of tax.

Motorcraft BL3Z18125K Motorcraft Shocks and Struts | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Motorcraft Shocks and Struts with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Shocks and Struts at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

Thanks for the reply and the tip on coupon code should I go this route.

For the rear shocks I am considering
Bilstein 5100 (33-318950) $110.00 x 2 = $220 / pair
Halolifts Boss Aluma 2.0 $424.90 for a pair
Motorcraft Shocks (Raptor Gen 1 SVT) BL3Z18125K $395.99 x2 = $791.98

Did you consider any of these when purchasing?
I understand the Motorcraft Shocks are 2.5 and have the external reservoir , but just curious if the upgrade is better for daily driving vs the other 2 I listed ?
Ive went down this rabbit hole before on my last Jeep build, starting with Ranchos then switching to Metal Cloaks then to Kings then to King Coilovers.... chasing that perfect ride

 

[bigredaggie]

Thanks for the reply and the tip on coupon code should I go this route.

For the rear shocks I am considering
Bilstein 5100 (33-318950) $110.00 x 2 = $220 / pair
Halolifts Boss Aluma 2.0 $424.90 for a pair
Motorcraft Shocks (Raptor Gen 1 SVT) BL3Z18125K $395.99 x2 = $791.98

Did you consider any of these when purchasing?
I understand the Motorcraft Shocks are 2.5 and have the external reservoir , but just curious if the upgrade is better for daily driving vs the other 2 I listed ?
Ive went down this rabbit hole before on my last Jeep build, starting with Ranchos then switching to Metal Cloaks then to Kings then to King Coilovers.... chasing that perfect ride

This is my first shock upgrade so I’m prolly not the best person to be giving advice. I have 2.5” live valve foxes on my RZR and they are fantastic, so I was prolly chasing those vibes when selecting these rears for the tremor. But I never really get to push those unless I’m off-road in some gnarly stuff. And even then those have almost twice the travel on a 2000lb rig. Different animal.

Realistically you’d prolly be happy with the billsteins if you’re just looking to firm things up a bit, because I don’t know that you’re gonna notice much difference on pavement between the options. I was very close to getting the 5160s as some have done on here and I’m sure I would have been pretty happy with them, especially on pavement. These foxes just seemed like they would be in a different league for not a whole lot more money.

Now that I’ve verified that going with the foxes didn’t hurt the ride quality I think the only real downside with them is the lack of a matching 2.5” res front coilover option. Very easy to see myself wanting to do the front next, and I don’t have a viable product from Fox for the Tremor yet. Others like halo and icon have matching sets ready to order.

 

[DeaconNyte]

This is my first shock upgrade so I’m prolly not the best person to be giving advice. I have 2.5” live valve foxes on my RZR and they are fantastic, so I was prolly chasing those vibes when selecting these rears for the tremor. But I never really get to push those unless I’m off-road in some gnarly stuff. And even then those have almost twice the travel on a 2000lb rig. Different animal.

Realistically you’d prolly be happy with the billsteins if you’re just looking to firm things up a bit, because I don’t know that you’re gonna notice much difference on pavement between the options. I was very close to getting the 5160s as some have done on here and I’m sure I would have been pretty happy with them, especially on pavement. These foxes just seemed like they would be in a different league for not a whole lot more money.

Now that I’ve verified that going with the foxes didn’t hurt the ride quality I think the only real downside with them is the lack of a matching 2.5” res front coilover option. Very easy to see myself wanting to do the front next, and I don’t have a viable product from Fox for the Tremor yet. Others like halo and icon have matching sets ready to order.

Would adding the Halo front coil overs be a problem with these in the rear ? Thats the direction , I think Im heading as after reading about the Raptor SVT coils , I think Im going to pull the trigger ... by chance do you remember the Promo code you entered to save just a bit more?

 

[bigredaggie]

“RACE” was the promo code. I can’t comment on the Halos. If you’re going Halo in the front why not buy a matching set of rears? I get that they cost more but still

BTW, Here’s your 5100s beating out all the competition in an entertaining blind test, including 2.5 foxes…