Shock Surplus News and Events RSS

bilstein, silverado -

Bilstein 5100 Shocks Install & Review - 2020 Silverado 1500 Z71

Baseline Vehicle Behavior If you’re wondering if it's normal when your truck is boaty off the lot - you’re not alone. Both Jeff and others here at Shock Surplus had similar impressions with the new 2020 Silverado 1500 RST Z71. While the public is sold that these trucks are premium bumper to bumper, that's not the case when it comes to the suspension, there’s a lot left to be desired from people that know the space. There are many vehicles across GM, Ford, and Jeep that feature a Rancho twin tube shock. In all our test drives, the factory Rancho...

Read more


bilstein, desert, King of the Hammers, KOH, ranger, review -

Ride Review - Fox 2.0 IFP on a 2020 Ranger FX4

This is our Stage 2 for the 2019+ Ford Ranger. We’ll be diving into many different suspension combinations; changing out the shocks, control arms, leaf springs, and other parts. If you want to check out the first upgrade we did to the stock Ranger, see our Stage 1 writeup and Video. Shop your shock options: 2019+ Ford Ranger Shock Buying Guide Stage 1 Findings Going from stock shocks with a spacer to an entry-level performance shock like the Bilstein 5100 gave a great baseline on what kind of changes we can expect to see with future shock changes. Truthfully, some...

Read more


2.0, 5100, bilstein, Buying Guide, ford, fox, Hauling, off-road, ranger, Towing -

Ride Review - Bilstein 5100 on a 2020 Ranger FX4

This is our stage 1 for the 2019+ Ford Ranger, we’ll be diving into many different suspension combinations; changing out the shocks, control arms, leaf springs, and other parts. Shop your shock options: 2019+ Ford Ranger Shock Buying Guide Backstory As of this writing, most big brands have made something for the new Ranger; Bilstein, Fox, Icon, King, Rancho, Radflo, Eibach all have coilovers and shocks in varying feature-sets. The 2020 Ranger FX4 that we’ll be working with will eventually see some of these options, we’re aiming to compare similarly-classed shocks and coilovers against one another. In other words, we...

Read more


4x4, 8100, adjustable, Bilstein, Jeep, JLU, new, new release, off-road, overland, overlanding, performance, Rancho, review, rock crawl, RS7MT, suspension, trail, Wrangler -

Ride Review - Rancho RS7000MT - Jeep Wrangler JLU Rubicon

The Shock Surplus team decided to mix things up on the Wrangler JLU Rubicon. You might be wondering, why take off the Bilstein 8100s with External Bypass and Ride Adjustment? Lets dive in and get reacquainted with our mission. Its not always about running the best, otherwise our rigs would all have 2.5 or 3.0 shocks with kitted-out suspensions. That’s not the case though, we take the upgrade journey seriously, and know there’s a huge range of budgets and use-cases. With Rancho’s latest redesign of their 7000 series, we had to take a look. Rancho had a previous model of...

Read more


8100, 8112, adjustable, bilstein, eastern sierras, frequently asked questions, off-road, overland, overlanding, performance, review, shock guide, suspension, toyota, trail, tundra -

Bilstein 8112 Shocks Review

If there’s one 2nd gen Tundra that needs the beefiest suspension on the market, it could be Buzz’s Tundra. Buzz can be seen around all the socal desert spots, Big Bear, and of course Mammoth Lakes, his stomping grounds when the winter hits and the fresh powder dumps. First day was a dream, exactly what i expected, super soft... but stiff in the right places Suspension Journey The Tundra reportedly wasn’t stock for long, the first suspension upgrade the Tundra saw was a spacer lift on the stock strut. But spacers dont improve performance. Needing more damping required a real...

Read more