Bilstein revalve

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

I had an awesome week on Moreton Island last week, but one thing that came to light was that my almost brand new Bilstein shocks are under-damped at the rear (Bilstein B461004LT) - while the front was composed most of the time, a sequence of undulations would have the rear bouncing all over the place. Can these be rebuilt / re-valved? And is there anyone in/near Brisbane that does this kind of work?

[Turtle60 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Turtle60]

Fridayman, I have bilstiens lovells and don't profess to no much on the subject except I was told to go light springs on the back with airbags. It may be springs to harsh. Anyway I have spoken to john from zordas 4wd in brissy a few times and he is always willing to give qualified advice. Regards Turtle

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

I already have airbags in the back, which I deflate when I'm offroad and not towing. The problem is that a series of undulations will have them progressively bounce higher and higher as if the shocks aren't damping the compression and rebound. The front seems OK over the same undulations though. I have a feeling that if I could increase the rebound damping, I would still have a supple ride but the rear wouldn't bounce up into the air like it does.

I'll give John a call.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

If your shocks are "near new", I'd be going back to my supplier and talk to them about their lack of performance Fridayman. ( that's if you purchased them over here?) Are they still under warranty?


Sent from my iPhone thingy

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

I checked my service log and they have actually done 4000km, all on road except for a weekend at Teewah and this past weekend at Moreton. I bought them online over here from 4wd Direct, so will give them a call tomorrow and see what they say.

[maxjj Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close maxjj]

I would be complaining, I got Bilsteins from Quadrant Suspension in Berwick, they come with 5 year and 100000km warranty. Car has nearly 60000km on it and they still feel like new.

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

I've had an interesting afternoon trying to get this sorted out. Jason (Wholesale Suspension on this forum) has pointed out that the shocks that I have fitted to the rear were designed for the front of a leaf sprung 75 series. It seems that the rear shock designed specifically for this vehicle is actually a BE5-2451M but that they are too short for a 50mm lift like I have, so people fit the 75 series front shock B461004LT. I imagine that this shock has been designed to carry a lot of load (heavy engine) so probably has a lot less rebound damping (this is also what Jason has advised) - seems strange that they would recommend this shock then... When I spoke to Paul at 4wd Direct he told me that he has never had a problem with these... he told me this 6 or 7 times, and was less helpful than I had hoped, eventually (reluctantly) giving me his address so that I can send them back to have them tested. Separately I was able to find out that he probably buys them from Sydney Shock Absrobers and would be sending them back there to be tested. So I spoke to Steve at Sydney shock Absorbers who was considerably more helpful and has asked that I send them directly to him to see if they need to be revalved. He did sound surprised when I described the problem, but sounded like he wanted to help me get this sorted out. So I'll whip them out and then send them over this weekend and we'll see what happens next.

[Leethal Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leethal]

I have a vague memory of an old member here who used to get sell Bilstiens revalved specifically to suit the 90 series as he believed the standard valving was too soft.
From memory is was Darren Mcrae (?) and the kit was called Platinum I think, he charged a price premium but the suspension worked well and did not have the issue you appear to have.
It may be possible to contact him for advice on valving.

Lee

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

Some of you might be interested in the outcome of this. I sent the 2 dampers off to Sydney Shock Absorbers who tested them and said that they were still 100% as per the spec for this model of shock. So we had a little chat where I described my mods and what gear I carry, what type of springs I'm running and the chap agreed to revalve them for me (he even rang King Springs to make sure of the spring rate on the model of coils that I have fitted). When they were done the dampers were returned to me by next day delivery. The service was as good as it gets, I am very impressed. A very big thank to Steve and Paul. Even though I live in Brisbane I will be doing my suspension shopping with them from now on.

And the result... well I haven't had a chance to go offroad yet (if driving on the verge doesn't count), but on the road I would say that there has been as much of an improvement as there was when I went from my shagged out Ironman setup to the Kings/Bilstein combo. The suspension definitely feels more controlled over bumps and rises (it settles very quickly) but isn't harsh. The car also sits much flatter through the bends. This is very noticeable coming up the very steep road where I live which has a very annoying kink in it where I lose at least 10kph if I get the line right, but today I didn't lose any speed and it didn't feel like I was being thrown around either. I can't wait to try them offroad.

They also gave me a print out - does anyone read Suspensionese?

[mickmac_42 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mickmac_42]

How much did it cost to do the re-valving? I've previously asked this question of suppliers who tout the rebuild option as a Bilstein advantage, and they indicated that it would actually be cheaper to buy new shocks than have them rebuilt (unless you've got really high end stuff).

Mike

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

How much did it cost to do the re-valving? I've previously asked this question of suppliers who tout the rebuild option as a Bilstein advantage, and they indicated that it would actually be cheaper to buy new shocks than have them rebuilt (unless you've got really high end stuff).

Mike

Usually $250 a pair, so significantly cheaper than new shocks (well new Bilsteins...).

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

One would think that when you pay the amount of money that you pay for bilsteins , that you should not have to mess with anything after installation of the recommended product . Unless of course you are going to run the Finke desert race in your prado .

[TurboD4D Member Find all posts View Profile Close TurboD4D]

They also gave me a print out - does anyone read Suspensionese?

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I worked in QA for Monroe for quite some time. Our performance charts were slightly different than these ones. Looks like you have 300kg at 1/2m/s. So if you wheel was moving up and down at 1/2 a meter a sec it would take 300kg of force to move the wheel. The slower it moves (up and down not around) the less force it takes. So at .1 m/s it only takes 50kg of force. Looks like about a 10kg difference at .1m/s and about 100kg differnace at 1/2ms. There is no starvation of oil in compression. They look fine. But as the guy said they were fine to start with. Just not suitable. Hope this helps.

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

I worked in QA for Monroe for quite some time. Our performance charts were slightly different than these ones. Looks like you have 300kg at 1/2m/s. So if you wheel was moving up and down at 1/2 a meter a sec it would take 300kg of force to move the wheel. The slower it moves (up and down not around) the less force it takes. So at .1 m/s it only takes 50kg of force. Looks like about a 10kg difference at .1m/s and about 100kg differnace at 1/2ms. There is no starvation of oil in compression. They look fine. But as the guy said they were fine to start with. Just not suitable. Hope this helps.

Is the top compression and the bottom rebound?

[TurboD4D Member Find all posts View Profile Close TurboD4D]

Sorry about the delay I thought I responded to this already. As I said our charts are slightly different. Ours were in a circle with the rebound at the top and the compression at the bottom. Rebound was typically higher than compression so at a guess I would say that on this chart Compression is on the TOP and rebound at the bottom.