Anyone having trouble with Bilstein shocks on their stock Ranger? I have a 95 XLT 2wd 4.0 with 150k miles on it. Bought a full set of Bilsteins 3 years ago. Fronts went bouncy after 5k. Persevered and finally bought a new set of fronts in Oct. Bouncy from the day installed. Emailed Bilstein and ended up sending all 6 shocks in for testing. 2 weeks later received 6 new replacement shocks. Was told all new replacement had been tested and were in mid specs. Fronts are bouncy. Bouncy like worn out shocks. Went to reputable suspension mechanic and had problem verified. Bilstein are their top of the line product. He was somewhat perplexed. This is stock suspension, highway use, Standard height. Now I'm getting the run around from Bilstein. I'm driving with reduced handling and braking. I definitely didn't get the performance I paid for.

 

Weird. I've never heard anything bad about Bilsteins.

Keep us updated.

 

What Bilsteins? They've got a few different model lines of shocks. Part numbers?

I've never had an issue back when I was stock running the 4600 series (yellow and blue) for 40k until I was lifted...or currently running their 5125 series in the rear of my truck for the last 60k. The 4600 was a Ford factory equipped shock for '02-08 Fx4 Level II Rangers and numerous folks convert over to Bilstein 4600 when their stockers are junk and report no adverse effects. Reports are quite the opposite of yours.

I understand a suspension tech has looked it over, but I suspect other things are at play. Things such as beam bushings or radius arm bushings or even improper shock installation or 4x4 shocks on a 2wd. NOT bad mouthing your mechanic, just voicing some potential issue areas.

Keep us updated.

 

My first guess is that the shock bushings are loose. Did you drop the truck back down, and let the shocks compress BEFORE you tightened the upper shock bolts?

 

very weird, havent heard this before.

i replaced my original 4600's a few months ago with brand new ones. rides amazing.
hell even the old ones with 110k miles on them rode good, not the best, but werent bouncy by any means. and everyone knows im not nice to my truck lol

 

Bilstein has been my 'go to' shock for many years for any vehicle that they make shocks for. The original Bilsteins on my 02 FX4 started to get soft around 100K miles. I replaced them with Bilsteins replacement for that application. They were a little firmer than the Ford OEM Bilstein shocks when new. I always thought the original shocks needed to be a little more firm. I guess Ford had them tuned primarily for street use and minimal off-road usage. I feel Bilstein got the tuning right for off-road usage.

I find it hard to believe your Bilstein shocks are causing your problem.

 

I am opposite you. I put factory Bilsein's on my 03 and put around 200k miles on them. Ford could not provide facotry replacements so I bought the standard ones. They are firmer that the OEMs for sure but I liked the OEMS a bit better.

I have the oppostie problem now. In the last few weeks my truck has started to ride considerably rougher..........no clue why......I am getting ready to replace upper/lower control arms ect and will have to see if I can figure it out.............its crazy rough now though

 

I have an 08 FX4, and took the Ranchos that came from the factory off at about 40k and replaced them with Bilsteins and still have them on at 76k. I've not had any handling problems with the Bilsteins.