David K - 9-9-2012 at 11:26 PM
On my 2005 Tacoma I upgraded the TRD stock yellow Bilsteins to the (silver & blue) 5100s and thought they were great.
woody with a view - 9-10-2012 at 04:23 AM
me too.
[Edited on 9-10-2012 by woody with a view]
dizzyspots - 9-10-2012 at 06:00 AM
go to www.rockauto.com and search for struts/shocks
get a good brand name shock, but for your part-time Baja use..
IMHO stay away from the "ooh-ahhh" shocks that you see in the off road and hot rod books MOST will do nothing different than a good brand name
aftermarket shock except LIGHTEN your wallet...
I have had TRD/Bilsteins on my FJ Cruiser and now on my Tundra and made 6 trips to Baj on the FJ (including x 2 on "that road")..the factory
Bilsteins worked great...the one set of "ooh-ahh" shocks blew out after the first "old road" hill
(NOW imagine completing that trip from just south of Puertecitos to Gonzaga and back and then home from Yuma to Tucson with essentially NO front
shocks yee haaa!
willyAirstream - 9-10-2012 at 07:03 AM
Ditto on the 5100`s, super shocks. I had Rancho adjustables before and they were useless on Baja roads.
woody with a view - 9-10-2012 at 08:57 AM
www.AJUSA.com is local to manila mesa, i mean mira mesa and will ship free if you can't pick them up. they also run in the baja 1000. ask for
Chas.
dizzyspots - 9-10-2012 at 05:39 PM
They weren"t Bilsteins......trying to forget..the top "washer" blew out...looked like they sourced it out of an old beer can ?Skyjacker??? just
dont recall I say ooh-ahhh...because when we went to Ouray and climbed all those 12-13000 foot Rocky Mtn passes..we came back down to the
hotel...vendors galore selling all manner of suspension goodies (my 07 FJ was bone stock except for the TRD Bilsteins)...the sales guy was trying to
sell me $4k worth of suspension goodies until I asked him if he was the FJ that was behind me as we crested the 13,800 ft summit? and I need the
$4000 suspension ...why exactly??...didnt I just take all the same trails that you did? 
2003 4WD Ranger.....
Baja Bucko - 9-10-2012 at 08:27 PM
I suspect it is abt time I get new shocks on my Ranger.....I don't notice anything wrong but was told thru the years that shocks"die"...I only use my
truck driving the 1000 miles to the border on highway then another 1200 or so in Baja-plenty of dirt roads etc but driven CAREFULLY. I do this 2-3
times a year-the rest of the time it sits except for a few days of ice and snow driving.
Is Bilstein a good sound brand? Hay, I know about mules, not trucks......
The truck now has 76,000 miles on it-65,000 are go to, in Baja, and back home north to work to make more money to go back to Baja. (It had 11,000 on
it when I bought it) Man, I love my truck!!! 
David K - 9-10-2012 at 08:35 PM
Yes Teddi. The 5100 is one level up from factory Off Road equipped shocks. Reasonable price.
landyacht318 - 9-10-2012 at 09:15 PM
I like my KYB gas a justs a lot.
In '03 I had a shop install some on the front of my full size Van.
In '08 one of the shocks lower tabs sheared off. I found out later that the shock was the incorrect one. Too long, and the shock was bottoming out
before the suspension would hit the bump stops.
Never lost any dampening despite hundreds of miles of Baja washboard and plenty of bottoming out.
Shocks were replaced for free by the shop and they later said KYB re imbursed them, even though it was a parts store mix up.
chippy - 9-11-2012 at 01:57 PM
The KYB Monomax shocks work great for me.
wessongroup - 9-11-2012 at 07:01 PM
Ditto's on RockAuto and the KYB .. .
landyacht318 - 9-11-2012 at 09:00 PM
Amazon lists the KYB Gas a Justs for my Van for 2 cents cheaper for the fronts and 3+$ cheaper for the rears than Rock Auto, and they have free
shipping.
I like R/A for acquiring the part numbers, and I do not trust Amazon's 'Make sure it fits' database when it says certain parts will not fit.
MikeYounghusband - 9-12-2012 at 01:13 PM
Aren't Bilstiens guarnteed for life?
tripledigitken - 9-12-2012 at 01:36 PM
I blew out a KYB on my F250 while in Baja. Was replaced under warantee when I returned home.
I appreciated the warantee, but given my use it shouldn't have failed!
TMW - 9-12-2012 at 03:01 PM
Most shocks do have something like a lifetime warranty. Bilstein warranties the shock against defects for as long as you own the vehicle. I think race
shocks are another matter, Whistler would know more about them. The thing is I doubt most people replace shocks under a warranty unless it only lasted
a short time. Frankly I have never replaced a shock under warranty. Now my oldest brother would, he's just that way. I have never replaced a shock on
my wifes car or cars. They never see the dirt and never wear out or at least not yet and her Acura is now 14 years old but only 85,000 miles.