I know I’m not the only one looking to upgrade the suspension etc. so I reached out to Bilstein to see if they’re interested in making an upgraded version of the stock shock. Im hoping if more people inquire and voice the demand we may get somewhere. Here’s a link to email them directly! https://www.bilstein.com/us/en/about-us/locations-and-contact/
Bilstein 3.0 Upgrade
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I'd send them an email but what's wrong with the current setup? Only issue I have is with Ram not letting me customize the drive modes exactly how I want so I can have Baja and sport drive mode hybrid
I think it’s a great starting point but I want to do some fairly serious high speed runs and jumps so I’m looking for just a bit more than what it offers in stock form.
The stock shocks are decent for a chill pace with periodic sprints.
but will get cooked if hammered for any distance. For instance a 2.5 coilover and 2.5 bypass front and 3.0 bypass rear is about minimum for a 4800 lb truck with the same travel numbers.
they get pretty hot out on the trail.
this trx could really use a 3.0 coilover and 3.0 or 3.5 rear.
and now that these are becoming more affordable (no dealer mark ups) more people will be using them hard offroad… and finding the limits of the suspension and frame.
but will get cooked if hammered for any distance. For instance a 2.5 coilover and 2.5 bypass front and 3.0 bypass rear is about minimum for a 4800 lb truck with the same travel numbers.
they get pretty hot out on the trail.
this trx could really use a 3.0 coilover and 3.0 or 3.5 rear.
and now that these are becoming more affordable (no dealer mark ups) more people will be using them hard offroad… and finding the limits of the suspension and frame.
Last edited:
From bilstein:
Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry.
Product management will certainly visit an aftermarket product for the TRX, they are a ways out at this point. Due to the issues associated with the global shortage of goods we are in a struggle to produce current product, all projects have been suspended until resources have rebounded.
Kind Regards,
Junior Africa
Technical Service & Off Road Sales
thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc
Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry.
Product management will certainly visit an aftermarket product for the TRX, they are a ways out at this point. Due to the issues associated with the global shortage of goods we are in a struggle to produce current product, all projects have been suspended until resources have rebounded.
Kind Regards,
Junior Africa
Technical Service & Off Road Sales
thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc
So everyone should email them. They know the truck needs a better shock for harder long continuous use offroad. So get the wheel squeaking so it’s just a matter of building it once the materials issue gets back to normal.
I want to bring this up again. Bilstein, fox, king… ADS (hint hint) all monitor or pay someone to monitor enthusiast forums and other social media… to gauge market interest in potential parts.
for instance on the colorado ZR2, companies wouldn’t touch the truck because a certain manufacturer of oem accessory parts had convinced everyone that the stock arms and shocks were the best thing ever and could never be topped. As people do on the internet, they became hostile in defense of the oem parts.
And cheap. It was argue argue argue over multimatics being the ultimate… followed by infinite mpg posts and posts over which was the cheapest version of some accessory.
so companies wouldn’t touch it and cancelled in progress R&D.
trust me when I say king is watching the reaction of the upcoming release of their shocks. So is fox. If the response is good fox will make soemthing. I doubt they will see if they can get their live valve to work with our computers. It’s only a pwm signal, and the fox sxs uses a similar system. King and icon also have similar systems, But tapping into the oem computer may risk an opening of a lawsuit with bilstein. Maybe not.
anyways, Bilstein will make a larger and better shock if they are inundated with contacts. And if the comments read “look we aren’t some 20 yr old kid who can’t afford new shocks… make them.”
Then it will get bumped up the list.
I guarantee you that bilstein is going to have to make a longer front and rear set up for the next Gen trx. The raptor went to 14/15 travel so ram will have to match it.
If bilstein came out with a threaded perch front allowing a 2 inch lift, and gave an extra inch and a half of travel, and the rear got the same…
and then the front would have to be a 3 inch body and the rear “could” be the actual true blackhawks with the billet aluminum bodies.
All of that is easy to implement their side pistons.
And lastly, they would have the shocks with a more aggressive high frequency valve stack.
but at the end of the day, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. So social media interest and email contact is the way for them to make new stuff.
the only hope is, that Stellantis doesn’t do what gm does. Certain manufacturers of parts are unable to sell the parts they make and they can’t even get a license to sell them nor can they sell upgrades versions.
it didn’t sound like that when I spoke to someone at bilstein offroad,.. so that leaves hope!
and if you don’t want better shocks because it’s your daily driver street machine or drive to the pond for fishing… e-mail anyways for us who want to hammer.
for instance on the colorado ZR2, companies wouldn’t touch the truck because a certain manufacturer of oem accessory parts had convinced everyone that the stock arms and shocks were the best thing ever and could never be topped. As people do on the internet, they became hostile in defense of the oem parts.
And cheap. It was argue argue argue over multimatics being the ultimate… followed by infinite mpg posts and posts over which was the cheapest version of some accessory.
so companies wouldn’t touch it and cancelled in progress R&D.
trust me when I say king is watching the reaction of the upcoming release of their shocks. So is fox. If the response is good fox will make soemthing. I doubt they will see if they can get their live valve to work with our computers. It’s only a pwm signal, and the fox sxs uses a similar system. King and icon also have similar systems, But tapping into the oem computer may risk an opening of a lawsuit with bilstein. Maybe not.
anyways, Bilstein will make a larger and better shock if they are inundated with contacts. And if the comments read “look we aren’t some 20 yr old kid who can’t afford new shocks… make them.”
Then it will get bumped up the list.
I guarantee you that bilstein is going to have to make a longer front and rear set up for the next Gen trx. The raptor went to 14/15 travel so ram will have to match it.
If bilstein came out with a threaded perch front allowing a 2 inch lift, and gave an extra inch and a half of travel, and the rear got the same…
and then the front would have to be a 3 inch body and the rear “could” be the actual true blackhawks with the billet aluminum bodies.
All of that is easy to implement their side pistons.
And lastly, they would have the shocks with a more aggressive high frequency valve stack.
but at the end of the day, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. So social media interest and email contact is the way for them to make new stuff.
the only hope is, that Stellantis doesn’t do what gm does. Certain manufacturers of parts are unable to sell the parts they make and they can’t even get a license to sell them nor can they sell upgrades versions.
it didn’t sound like that when I spoke to someone at bilstein offroad,.. so that leaves hope!
and if you don’t want better shocks because it’s your daily driver street machine or drive to the pond for fishing… e-mail anyways for us who want to hammer.
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ADS has rumors of coming out with stuff, I know they make a pretty crazy kit for the raptors. They definitely would have what you're looking for.
I use ADS for all the silliness on my current truck. Top notch stuff. They don’t do a cheap series and a race series and a top notch “you have to be someone to get it” series.
those 4 tube are for the front next to a set of their short frame coilovers and the rears are 5 tube made specific for leaf packs.
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I would be genuinely shocked (no pun intended) if Bilstein doesn't release a 3.0 shock, akin to how Fox did the "Factory Pro" option for the Raptor (the difference being that Fox started with 3.0 and left it at that). A part of me would even be open to believing that the part of the reason they opted for 2.5 in the first place was to offer a 3.0 upgrade in the future.
I'm sure Fox and King will release shocks too, but like I mentioned in another thread, I don't see either being compatible with the live valve system. Fox's live valve may be similar, but I am sure both Fox and Bilstein have added proprietary aspects to their tech to stop competitors being able to offer better products without the end user having to sacrifice some kind of usability, in this case the live valve tech.
I'm sure Fox and King will release shocks too, but like I mentioned in another thread, I don't see either being compatible with the live valve system. Fox's live valve may be similar, but I am sure both Fox and Bilstein have added proprietary aspects to their tech to stop competitors being able to offer better products without the end user having to sacrifice some kind of usability, in this case the live valve tech.
Yea. Unless someone like xingeneering does a reverse engineer and conversion,
but the reason bilstein likely did a 2.5 is a) the raptor is really a 2.5 and just an internal bypass. So technically the bilstein will benchmark the fox.
b) 3 inch shocks and you start running into ride smoothness issues. I’d say it can be done just fine. On our travel and weight truck I’d figure a 3.5 is where you are going to have to make sacrifices.
everyone talks about going big to handle heat and repetitive hits etc. but big diameter shocks are hard to tune for the daily driver that the oil never warms up.
if you ever get a chance to ride in a buggy or a truck with some real shocks, see if you can get a ride when the shocks are cold and then when they are at temp.
bilstein again is a company that’s job is to make money. The e2 system would need tuning time and they aren’t going to do that unless a lot of interest is shown.
throwing a generic 5100-6100 shock on a truck is easy for them. But to do something that has to be variable… they need to know they are going to sell a thousand sets.
I bet they are watching the beadlock ring sale numbers
but the reason bilstein likely did a 2.5 is a) the raptor is really a 2.5 and just an internal bypass. So technically the bilstein will benchmark the fox.
b) 3 inch shocks and you start running into ride smoothness issues. I’d say it can be done just fine. On our travel and weight truck I’d figure a 3.5 is where you are going to have to make sacrifices.
everyone talks about going big to handle heat and repetitive hits etc. but big diameter shocks are hard to tune for the daily driver that the oil never warms up.
if you ever get a chance to ride in a buggy or a truck with some real shocks, see if you can get a ride when the shocks are cold and then when they are at temp.
bilstein again is a company that’s job is to make money. The e2 system would need tuning time and they aren’t going to do that unless a lot of interest is shown.
throwing a generic 5100-6100 shock on a truck is easy for them. But to do something that has to be variable… they need to know they are going to sell a thousand sets.
I bet they are watching the beadlock ring sale numbers
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I'm also going to throw noise into the mix for why the didn't go bigger. The noises larger, and more offroad focused shocks, and real long travel components make would never fly on a production vehicle for 99% of people. I've only got to be in one once, but it sounded like everything was loose and broken lol. I was assured that's normal for the setup, but there is a 0% chance I could live with that noise everyday wondering if it was normal, or if something finally did break.
I had the same thing on my Raptor with the Factory Pros. They would have periods where it sounded like something was loose, when it was just the shocks making shock sounds, and it drove me nuts.
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Haha that sound is external bypass shocks. First time I rode in a truck with them really surprised me. Race series Kings with metal check valves sound like a coffee can full of bolts.
Internal bypass shocks don’t have that issue.
Yea. They told me no.
But now the rho is out maybe they will revisit it.
But king has theirs, ads is releasing theirs, carbon will have theirs, and filthy motorsports is going to do a compression adjuster and new reservoir on the stock shock.
So a few options
But now the rho is out maybe they will revisit it.
But king has theirs, ads is releasing theirs, carbon will have theirs, and filthy motorsports is going to do a compression adjuster and new reservoir on the stock shock.
So a few options
Dang was really hoping for something fully integrated/plug and play.
Me too.
The drag guys are ruining it for us. I just called a big industry guy and chatted with him.
“If the rho guys go offroading, maybe 2 years we will start making trx stuff. Really it doesn’t need much, they integrated a lot of the aftermarket raptor market into the oem truck”
The drag guys are ruining it for us. I just called a big industry guy and chatted with him.
“If the rho guys go offroading, maybe 2 years we will start making trx stuff. Really it doesn’t need much, they integrated a lot of the aftermarket raptor market into the oem truck”
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