Duramax 2500HD Shocks & Torison Question

[LJ]

I just purchased my first Duramax- an '05 2500HD 4WD. I expected a stiffer ride, but it seemed bouncy. When I looked underneath, it looked like the torison bars were set as low as they would go. In fact, the yellow rubber bounce-pads on the lower control arms were in contact- meaning there was no room for the wheel to go up if I hit a bump. It was as far as it could travel (prevented the torison bar from flexing, or loading).

I talked with the service guy at the dealership, and he said that 99% of folks cranked the bars up- but they could not since it was too long to go on their lineup machine (crew cab). He said go to a local guy who could do it.

I had it raised almost level, where the bumper pads weren't in contact and it would allow some travel up. Now, however, I find another problem.

The bars being cranked up allow the torison bars to load as they should when you hit a bump- but apparently the stock shocks are so weak, they allow them to unload with such force that it bounces worse than before- in fact, it can unload with such force that they allow the wheel to travel down so fast that it allows a "clunk" when it reaches the max travel.

What can I do? Am I the only one with this problem, or is it common? Are the stock shocks so weak that they must be replaced, or extended? What's up?? Help!!!

[DmaxMaverick]

OEM shocks are junk. You hit that nail right on the head. I replaced mine with Bilsteins and the difference is night and day. Others have replaced them with Rancho RS9000's with positive results. www.kennedydiesel.com (http://www.kennedydiesel.com) has Bilstein shocks at a good price, and shipping was free.

The "bump stops" are supposed to, by design, be in full contact with the control arms. The are not a limit stop, like what we have seen in previous models. They are actually part of the suspension and not just a cushion for ocasional full suspension travel.

[Buck]

Actually, the OEM shocks are to short after cranking the torsion bars! On mine with the torsion bars cranked, the shocks were fully extended just sitting on level ground. Which lead me to the Cognito Leveling kit. www.cognitomotorsports.com (http://www.cognitomotorsports.com)

[BarryD]

I ordered Bilsteins from Kennedy Diesel...The difference is night and day.

I had around 33K miles on the OEM shocks. The bounce your experiencing will be gone if you switch them out with Bilsteins.

John had the shocks in stock and delivered to me in Ontario, Canada in 7 days.

[iljusin]

Originally posted by BarryD:
I ordered Bilsteins from Kennedy Diesel...The difference is night and day.

I had around 33K miles on the OEM shocks. The bounce your experiencing will be gone if you switch them out with Bilsteins.

John had the shocks in stock and delivered to me in Ontario, Canada in 7 days. I did replace mine at 10k. I wish I had seen huge improvment. On I-25 in Colorado I got small improvment: mostly when I was towing.

[jbplock]

I changed out the OEM shocks on my 03 for Bilstiens at 5k miles because I had experienced a big improvement with them on my 98 K3500 (including towing). The main difference I notice with the Bilstiens is increased stability. If I hit a dip in the highway going 65-70 mph, the truck doesn't keep bouncing after the dip like it did with the OE shocks. Handling is also better in turns and on uneven pavement. IMHO, the Bilstiens provide better overall control and stability than you get with OE shocks and they do it with out making the ride "hard".

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[bobo]

You might want to go to your local AutoZone store and see what their price is on Bilsteins. I think they are a special order item for around $60 per shock and no shipping, just sales tax. You should be able to get them within three days. Kennedy might match or beat Autozone. He is very cooperative about matching prices and has super fast shipping.

[lowgraber]

Ditto on the Autozone deal. I just ordered 4 Bilsteins for my '03 and they are the cheapest place on the internet.
$60.00 Autozone
$65.00 Any where else.
Got them FedEx in less then a week.

[Woodsworth]

I changed to Bilsteins on my 2002 2500HD after just a couple of thousand km. There was a noticeable improvement, though not "night and day".

The most striking thing to me was the that there was no resistance in the OEM shocks on extension (i.e. when you pull them longer) - just on compression.

The most expensive vehicle I ever owned came with the worst shocks!

[mark45678]

I took the RS 9000 off my 2001 with 57K on them , installed them on my 2004.5 crew cab the day I got it ! on the test drive I noticed there was a big differance from my 01 to the new truck . the RS 9000 to date have just over 103000 miles on them! Yes 103K and there still better then my Dads 2001 crew cab with 40K and OEM shocks... I think the next time I may try set of bils , not that I am not happy with the ranchos ... I just think a high pressure gas shock will work better!