The road to Chaco Canyon Vs. Bilstien 5100's

It almost comical how they word their warranties. It states that Bilstein will not warranty a shock for offroad use even though the part number I used is for a 2011 F350 with 4WD with 0 to 2 inches of lift. On a better note I called Rancho Shocks and explained my situation with Bilstein and they said they would have warrantied my shocks under those conditions. I will read their warranty statement first if I do decide to buy them.

That's surprising the Bilstein is bailing on their warranty. Well, actually shocking considering how much their shocks are.

This sounds like total BS from the Bilstein folks. Changes my perception of the company.

I have 4600s on my truck with over 70K miles of trouble free service. The vast majority of those miles are with the TC on the truck and many of those miles were on bad roads including the Dalton. I will consider other brands when/if I need to replace them.

....I was considering Bilstein shocks (as a future replacement), however now, will never consider them....ever.

Just got off the phone with one of their sales/tech person. He stated it sounded like a shock defect and it shouldn't have happened but he would have to talk to the warranty department. I was put on hold for a few mins. When he got back to me his whole attidude changed and said they don't make a shock for how I use my truck (carrying a TC offroad) . Total BS. He also said there is nothing they can do for me since I was already denied warranty. He told me to go back to the store I bought it from and see what they can do.

On washboard roads the tire travels on the ridges of the ruts as speed increases therefore decreasing shock travel and heat. This is according to the engineering rep for Fox shocks at the overland expo

Did they explain how going faster would make the shock run cooler, seem wrong to me

Call:
Kevin O’Keefe
Sales and Product Manager
(858) 386-5904
(800) 537-1085
Kevin.okeefe@bilsteinUS.com
I met him at the RVIA show touting his product.
One thing we discussed is that the online application charts, the printed applications and what the dealers reccomend may be 3 different shocks even within a series.

Mello Mike:
I believe you are right. If I had known I would have gone with the 4600s but the salesman at the store I bought the shocks from told me 5100s would be better suited for TC.

Silversand:
I did mention I was asking opinions on a online forum about the failure. They did not comment on that. The phone call went nowhere. I may call back and talk to a tech to see what they say but I need new shocks and I do not have time for bickering and getting pissed off. Its a learning experience. Hell I might go back to OEM shocks. The older I get the less hype I fall for because of experiences like this.

Someone asked what the ambient temp was that day. It was 98. Sorry I missed that question.

RZAR66:

Don't roll over on this one. Tell Blstein that "...your Forum buddies have and are looking over your catastrophic shock melt-down high-resolution color photos on-line, and are saying that this is TOTALLY unacceptable performance from such a supposedly good shock..."

Come on; our cheap Chevy OEM shocks handled 7 x worse than your "prestige Bilsteins" !