howdy; just wondering a ball park number of miles until needing to replace the stock bilstiens. my friend's 02 has about 26k and he's thinking he may need new shocks. (he has a 2" rear drop) His truck will hop pretty bad on a hard launch and was just wondering if worn out shocks would contribute to that. thanks!

peace

 

If you've dropped your truck at all, the bilstein's wear out really quickly. 26K doesn't sound to low for them to be worn out. Look into getting some better dampners (QA1s) for longer life.

Coldie

 

if your getting wheel hop then its time for a set of traction bars, with out them you risk breaking your drive shaft, or worse.

 

I've had very good luck with Bilstiens and would not expect them to wear out in less than 50k miles. As far as wheel ho[ is concerned, the shocks don't play a major role in controlling it, especially when they are mounted as far inboard as they are on the Lightning. Spring "windup" is the big problem. When the tires bite, the whole rear end tries to rotate instead. The pinon nose goes up and the springs go "S" shaped. Then the tires slip and the pinion nose goes downward, so the tires grip again and so on. It gets worse when the axle starts doing it side to side as well. Stiff springs mean less wheel hop and a worse ride as well as lack of compliance - which means when you hit a bump in a turn, the rear of the truck looses contact with the ground and around you go. Soft springs offer better compliance and a smooth ride, but less traction because of more wheel hop. Traction bars are pretty good at patching the problem, but the real solution is a four link air bag suspension like what Ford put on the Lincoln Blackwood truck.

 

thanks for the replies guys.
all that makes sense, especially since he went to the dealer the other day and had to fix something about the pinion seal. i bet it was from all the wheel hop. thanks again