Anyone had a Bilstein failure?

M

mike5

Member
I'm in the middle of an amazing road trip / camping / overland trip in the Southwest and had a Bilstein in the rear break*. Specifically it seems like shaft came loose and then ground itself down once it was out. Being in the middle of nowhere I've been able to get a local welder weld them back (everything was straight...just some grinding to clean things up). I'm working with the vendor now to figure out how we can resolve this issue. Has anyone seen this?

First the good pic and then the carnage.
 

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Interesting... It looks like maybe the shock ended up acting as a limit strap too much? It was mentioned in the other thread as well.
 
I've seen the exact same failure on a 3rd gen. The 5100s are just not that beefy in that spot. It won't see much pulling force there in road use. It's only going to happen fully articulated.... which most people don't do very often.
 
wfo9 said:
I've seen the exact same failure on a 3rd gen. The 5100s are just not that beefy in that spot. It won't see much pulling force there in road use. It's only going to happen fully articulated.... which most people don't do very often.
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But is that because the shocks themselves are maybe too short or not valved well to dampen that sudden droop or because they're just that weak? The factory units are a bit "lesser" than 5100's and the 5100's should be better valved and slightly longer. But it seems like this failure is from the shock maxing out at full droop too regularly and too violently, which shouldn't be the case.

Like I said above I haven't seen this failure of the rear shocks in a factory unit being used (even with say a spacer lift) but I have seen it with aftermarket shocks that should be stronger than factory.
 
I saw this exact thing on my buddies 2007 TRD (W/ the Bilstein) Taco. Driver side rear sheared in the exact same way. It was actually much cleaner - and looked to me like some type of over-extension. They have a lifetime warranty against defects and this could easily be one. Assuming you were not abusing the vehicle, a replacement should be warranted. If the vendor will not help, hit up Bilstein.
 
FrontRange4Runner said:
I saw this exact thing on my buddies 2007 TRD (W/ the Bilstein) Taco. Driver side rear sheared in the exact same way. It was actually much cleaner - and looked to me like some type of over-extension. They have a lifetime warranty against defects and this could easily be one. Assuming you were not abusing the vehicle, a replacement should be warranted. If the vendor will not help, hit up Bilstein.
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I would hit up bilstein and not the vendor. This is the reason why I recorded not to go bilstein.
 
I've been thinking of doing a 5100 or 6112 upgrade but there seem to be a bunch of Bilstein failure threads around here lately.

It would appear that staying stock is more reliable than going Bilstein.
 
Throwback said:
I've been thinking of doing a 5100 or 6112 upgrade but there seem to be a bunch of Bilstein failure threads around here lately.

It would appear that staying stock is more reliable than going Bilstein.
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I would disagree here.

The stock suspension is Bilstein.

The 6112 is completely different and most definitely an upgrade in all departments. The 5100 is similar to the stock shock but still an upgrade.

The real issue here is the use case of the product. Why do people lift something? To do that trail they can't or won't do with the stock suspension. If one doesn't lift the truck and knows not to do that 'hard' trail, the suspension will most likely not fail.

The flip side of that is, someone that lifted the truck is more likely to but the harder trail. After all isn't that what they spent the money to do. Pushing the 4Runner harder can result in breakage.

From the info here you can't fault the driver or the suspension. Did it break... Yes. The shock abused... Maybe. Did the extra weight of the camping/overland supplies a factor.... Maybe.

All shocks will break at some point. If a shock is stressed or pushed it will break sooner. If it's not, it won't. The moral here is make sure you understand the limits and respect them.

Sent from my SM-G930U using Tapatalk
 
i've seen this exact failure in many cars with many different shocks.
At times it was an overextension, but - most of the time - it was due to an incorrect install (but it was in slammed vehicles)
 
Throwback said:
I've been thinking of doing a 5100 or 6112 upgrade but there seem to be a bunch of Bilstein failure threads around here lately.

It would appear that staying stock is more reliable than going Bilstein.
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Define a bunch. I've seen 2 (maybe 3) on this forum lately. Keep in mind that there are thousands running this shock spanning across many vehicles and manufacturers. I doubt that there's some big issue. If you want reliability then stick with OEM. No aftermarket part is as reliable as OEM and that goes without saying.
 
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Since I'm in the middle of my trip and loving every second I'll keep this brief. As previously stated you buy these parts to reach a certain end goal. And that's certainly how they're marketed. Having said this nothing is impervious and certainly abuse can destroy anything. In my case you can argue both ways depending on your optics. But I will say car has 110lbs worth of sliders, maybe 120lbs of cargo evenly placed behind the front row. No passengers, bumpers, roof rack...etc. the roads traveled are back country roads, mostly graded but with the typical surprises. Also had one or two technical and somewhat difficult roads that required very slow speeds and constant spotting.

The failure here I think could be prevented if that joint was welded instead of screwed. Since welding I've put about 70 miles on it. Maybe 45 on highway and 25 graded dirt. No problems yet and frankly I don't expect any. I have a bunch more driving to do so we'll see.

At the end of the day I'll get my utility out of these shocks and switch to something else. Maybe I'll go adjustable as I'm not a big fan of damping or rebound.

And I leave you with my camp site tonight.
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Had the same thing happen. In my case I agree with Foques. I was dogging it in my 2011 Trail and I know I over extened way past the ability for that shock. Don't mean to hijack your thread but Replaced with another set of 5100's and ended up blowing one side on the back. Not a happy camper with 5100's. Then again, what are you looking for in a shock? Guess I can't live in both worlds, off road vs Highway. Easy fix, For me , 2018 Runner with Kings
 
You guys are making me question my recent purchase of 5100s. Haven't installed them yet. Should I be looking at something else? Old Man Emu shocks?

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Raptor008v2 said:
You guys are making me question my recent purchase of 5100s. Haven't installed them yet. Should I be looking at something else? Old Man Emu shocks?

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As of now I wouldn't use these to go to the ends of the earth and back.
 
It has been my poor experiences with Bilstein that has led me to use OME and now Dobinson. Both have been fantastic
 
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