Yesterday I installed 2489's in front and 2490's in the rear of my 2001 4X4 Off Road. The rear install was somewhat of a hassle due to the well known top mount access problem. I quickly decided to start cutting. While many would cringe at the thought of cutting a crossmember I must say I've been a welder/fabricator/machinist for 30 years and have successfully modified and built numerous vehicles. That said, I plasma-cut a window directly behind the upper shock mount, ensuring there was adequate width to get one pawls-worth of rotation on a ratcheting box end wrench. Next I fabricated a doubler plate to surround the new access hole and welded it in place. A few nuts and bolts later and the rear was done. The front was simple, straight wrenching, no special tolls required-well maybe one, the upper stud on the 'steins seems a bit short for the supplied donuts, SOOO, off to the bandsaw for a "reduction". I took ~1/16" off the flat side of each and dressed them on the belt sander to return a radius to the outer edge. If anyone wants to try this I would advise you to fixture the donut with a wooden dowel thru the center that is a tight fit for 2 reasons, First the saw will try to grab the rubber very aggressively and this gives you adequate control, and Second, you can rotate as you cut to ensure you get a straight cut. You could also do a nice job with a hand hacksaw and a vise.
The results: Overall I would have to say Very Good for a stock replacement. I wasn't expecting Prerunner quality suspension from a bolt-on shock. The dampening is set rather stiff on compression in the interest of better road control and to preserve what little wheel travel the suspension has in stock form for the big bumps, not a bad thing but some will complain that the loss of compliance on small bumps is annoying- like the square edge of a manhole cover that sticks up 3" above the pavement-to them I say go buy a cadillac. Gone are the second and third bounce you used to get when hitting a rolling bump on the highway such as a bridge transition (hooray!).
I must address a post I read about shocks controlling body roll verses a sway bar. Do shocks control body roll? Well yes and no. The Bilsteins stiffer dampening on compression and rebound does eliminate the rapid side to side fluctuations in roll that occur as you tighten or widen your line through a corner, giving you much better control and cofidence in the handling of the vehicle, But they DO NOT lessen the degree of body roll for a given G load in steady state such as on a skid pad or a long turn like an on or off ramp of a highway. These shocks do allow you to drive through corners considerably faster with complete confidence. So in summation I feel Bilstein lived up to their reputation and hit a good compromise with the valving on these units. I would recommend them to anyone except those who want their truck to ride like a mini van. I will also say I've had Bilsteins on other vehicles and they performed well and they do go the distance. I hope this is helpful, Good Day.

 

Thank you, that was cool of you to take the time to give sucj a thorough review. Awesome detail. Makes me want to buy those shocks... You don't work for Bilstein do you?

 

Guess it does kinda sound like an add for 'Steins...sorry 'bout that

 

yea i put in a slightly used set and i couldnt be happier. I also did a 3-4 drop in the process, but still talk about confidence on the road, almost no noticable body roll from 0-40

-Patrick