96vettelt4

95 pu 4x4..22.re..just took off Rancho 5000 and put new Bilstein 5100 all the way around and truck front still bottoms out on medium bumps...these shocks were supposed to be top notch but im not sure.. i was told the 5100 have automatic adjusters built inside..there are no external adjustments..what else would allow truck to bottom out....thanx....G

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

You got the wrong length shocks or you got too much load for the valving.

:wabbit2:

96vettelt4

4 wheel off road gave me the stock shocks with no lift as i have no lift on the truck..i went back and doubled checked they gave me the right ones and part # is right..i ll double check again...thanx....G

xxxtreme22r

are you running low profile bump stops?

96vettelt4

no..standard bumpstops...

96vettelt4

do lower bumpstops cause a vehicle to bottom out more? i thought it was the opposite...

BMcEL

Low profile bump stops will allow the suspension to compress further before they touch. So no, they don't make it bottom out more. Your torsion bars may be fatigued...measure from rim to fender in the front and report back, along with your rim size.

xxxtreme22r

Low profile bump stops make the suspension travel more which affects the shocks. So if the shocks are on a little on the longer side on the collapsed length they will bottom out more with low profile stops in there. Key word in the above statement is compress further meaning the overall collapsed length of the shock has to be shorter for it to bottom out the low profile stop before the shock bottoms itself. Bottom out more maybe not. But you will feel a shock bottom out more then you would hitting the bump stops. So it would feel like your bottoming out more.

BMcEL

Good point on the shock length. I've never heard of stock length shocks bottoming out (or topping out) from the use of low profile bump stops, but that's not saying much.

I'm interested in the OPs rim to fender measurement up front. I know the torsion bars on my '90 are on their last leg...they won't crank any tighter and they're at stock height (with a bracket lift). Severely fatigued (or improperly adjusted) torsion bars can ride lower than stock making the truck prone to hitting the bump stops on small bumps.

Edit - a quick way to see if you're at stock height is by looking at the lower control arms...they should be parallel to the center section or angled slightly downward (correct me if I'm wrong on that). If the control arms are pointing up, you're sagging.