Any long term feedback on QA1?

[N2BRK]

I've gone through both the offerings from Bilstein and Rancho. I'm looking to do better. I like the idea of the QA1 but I haven't seen long term results. How long are they lasting with day to day street use? Better or worse than Fox? Others?

Thanks!
Wally

 

[Chevy1925]

I've gone through both the offerings from Bilstein and Rancho. I'm looking to do better. I like the idea of the QA1 but I haven't seen long term results. How long are they lasting with day to day street use? Better or worse than Fox? Others?

Thanks!
Wally

depends on how much compression and rebound you crank up into them. they will not outlast a set of fox shocks, i can tell you that with confidence.

 

[N2BRK]

I'm just looking for ride quality on the street. The Bils have too much compression, the ranchos don't have a setting that works any better than Bil, unless you're a dedicated drag racer and want full hard. The adjustability of the qa1 or fox are appealing.

 

[Chevy1925]

the problem is the amount of spring you have under the truck with the torsion bar. there will be very minimal valving for compression and a whole lot of valving for rebound to get a nice riding dmax. most of these off the shelf shocks like you mentioned made some adjustment to this but not enough to those that want the best ride.

a replacement fox shock for a stock dmax wont even have the amount of valving i would like to see but its better than whats out there. ill be experimenting with custom valved fox shocks for torsion bar trucks here soon. id like to see just how well i can make a torsion bar setup work on and off road with my own custom valving.

 

[N2BRK]

Nick tried doing that to a certain degree. I bought his front bilsteins back around '09 and they went to shit pretty fast. Imagine my surprise when Bil told me that even though they are 5100, they are not warrantied because they are not approved for our trucks.

I have done a lot of suspension setup on motorcycles and think that given enough knobs I could dial in something with a decent stack inside. I'm just not looking to burn through them too often, lol.

 

[Chevy1925]

Nick tried doing that to a certain degree. I bought his front bilsteins back around '09 and they went to shit pretty fast. Imagine my surprise when Bil told me that even though they are 5100, they are not warrantied because they are not approved for our trucks.

I have done a lot of suspension setup on motorcycles and think that given enough knobs I could dial in something with a decent stack inside. I'm just not looking to burn through them too often, lol.

Nick and I talked a whole heck of a lot when he was coming up with his fox shock setup. Many things I talked with him about made it into those shocks but he never went as far as I'm planning to go, mainly for fear of shock fade and what fox talked him into. He also told me coilovers on these trucks isn't need for a great ride.... yeah well I proved that wrong lol. Bilsteins again still won't be anywhere near what I'm planning to do nor what a fox shock will be.

Again, this is why I say they will last depending on your setting. The more you crank up rebound or compression, the shorter their life's. This is a lot of weight and spring to control with such a little shock and no resi

 

[N2BRK]

The only setup that looks like it has the best shot of King... And I'm NOT that angry at my money.

 

[Chevy1925]

King isn't any better than fox.

 

[N2BRK]

They look a hell of a lot more stout, but if the don't have the valving then I guess it doesn't matter. I committed herasy once and replaced my Ohlins with a Fox on a race bike I built. That thing was bad assed

So for the DD guy that is looking to best Bilstein without spending the whole mortgage payment, what do you recommend?

 

[Chevy1925]

Well that's cause you didn't look at the comparable size. Kings are a 2.5" body vs the 2.0 fox im sure you were looking at.

I'd recommend fox in a heart beat but I can't say that the valving will be what you want. The nice part is you can have them pulled down and tweaked to your liking. I'd suggest removing the jouced bump stop if you want a nicer ride as well

 

[N2BRK]

Thanks :thumb:

 

[Josh154]

James would you say the fox shocks are better than a 5100 for racing? I use the truck as a dd and would love to do qa1s but not sure how they would hold up.

 

[Chevy1925]

The best racing shock will be qa1's double adjustable. Unless you set the fox shocks up for racing, they will be setup up for dding. you will have to pull the shock apart and revalve every time you want to go to the track and get the best out of the shock you can.

 

[N2BRK]

What's opinion on the best bang for the buck on Fox? IFP 2.0? Worth it for the compression adjuster upgrade? Etc? Thanks!

 

[Chevy1925]

Ifp 2.0 is just what any 2.0 resi shock uses. There is a balancer between the nitrogen and oil in the resi that keeps the two separate unlike emulsion shocks where the nitrogen mixes with the oil. It's better than emulsion for sure.

Compression adjuster is dependent on how the valving is set up. All fox is doing with the adjuster is limiting the amount of oil that can return to the resi making the shock valving work harder or softer. If the valving is the same as it was without the adjuster. All you will feel is a stiffer ride over a shock without the adjustment. In reality, the valving should be lighter on the compression side a bit so you can be softer or harder than the non adjustable shock. So I would call them and ask what they do there. They are pretty good about explaining their setups.

If they made rebound adjustment external, it would certainly make a fox shock workable for drag racing and dding

 

[N2BRK]

it's so funny how almost every bike has adjustable suspension, or can be cheaply upgraded to have high and low speed adjustments etc and yet on cars/trucks notsomuch. lol. I can kind of see where the adjustable compression can get you by for street stip, since you can crank the hell out of the compression out back to stop squat, but very limited use for me if it's set up well from jump street, since I'm not a track guy.

 

[NC-smokinlmm]

I just added Fox 2.0's on my 16. The ride is light years ahead of the ranchos I had on the 15. I wouldn't hesitate on them at all.

 

[N2BRK]

Cool. Which ones did you go with, and how did you ask them to valve? How do you use the truck? Thanks for the feedback.

 

[NC-smokinlmm]

I DD with it, 2.0 for 6"to 4" lift no reservoir. They were valved for a daily driver, I can ask about them tomorrow if you need info. I was hesitant to buy them but now I'm glad I did.

 

[N2BRK]

Which end made the most improvement? I might have to spread out my purchase in two buys. Start front or rear?