Bilstein Drop Shocks?

I'm trying to decide on shocks to run.  I found a lot of offroad and drag shocks of course and the afco pro touring s10 specific shocks, but they're $230 each. The only brand I've heard almost nothing bad about is bilstein. I've also read decent reviews on the belltech street and performance shocks but mostly on s10forum.

I want to run the bilsteins but I have 3" drop leafs. I looked around thinking the zq8 shocks might be close enough but learned the regular height and zq8 height bilstein shocks are the same length. I know I should measure but I'm deployed and hoping to hit a good sale over black Friday, if not I may wait until I get home to measure. I found the belltech SP shock lengths and started looking for bilsteins around the same length. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/bsn-ak1198

SP shocks 3-6" rear drop measure 20.51 ext and 12.99 col
Bilstein 87-93 mustang rear shocks 20.160 ext and 12.640 col

Searching came up with a huge range of weights for an s10 and again I'm not home to measure. A few minutes on google showed a first gen s10 and fox body mustang are roughly the same weight with the mustangs also nose heavy. Ill be running a 8.8, adding a hitch, blazer gas tank and relocating the battery in front of the rear passenger tire so hopefully the front to rear bias is similar. Also the s10 drop shocks are valved stiffer so hopefully it all evens out.

Spring rate for the belltech leafs is 130 ±10lbs
Fox mustangs (86+) rear spring rate 200/300lb progressive

The mustang shocks have a upper stud mount. I've been looking and I might be able to find something to adapt the stud to a Tbar, if not it shouldn't be too hard to make something up. QA1 makes an adapter but I cant find the thread size for the bilstein stud. 

Anybody have any input? I expect it to be stiffer but I don't want it to be miserable. I plan to autox and hopefully some hpde eventually. One day I want to 3 or 4 link the rear so this is a somewhat temporary solution. Does this all make sense and I'm over thinking it? Or should I just go with the belltech shocks.

I'd say just go with Belltech SP shocks. They're made in a bunch of different lengths for lowered trucks. Bilsteins work great for ZQ8 trucks. I have them and couldn't be happier. They were similarly priced to Belltechs, I just chose them by preference.

What brand drop leaves are you running?  And what is your overall drop?

Dropping the rear with leaves while maintaining ride and improving handling can be a pain.  I've never run 3" drop leaves, but the impression I've picked up is they are extremely soft pushing us toward a stiffer shock to prevent over travel and to keep the rear end planted.  The ZQ8 leaves are tuned well, but only gain a 1.5" drop, so adding in blocks becomes necessary to get the ride height most are looking for.  But blocks give the axle more leverage on the spring increasing issues with wheel hop and traction.

Personally, until I can get around to doing a link setup in the rear, I am running ZQ8 leaves with 3" blocks hoping that the higher spring rate will control the axle better and allow me to run the stock Bilsteins; I'm not a fan of aftermarket shocks.  I haven't seen many that can take much of a beating and not wear out quickly.  Even my QA1 shocks didn't last more than 10k before I needed to rebuild them and one of the shock bodies was cracked at that time.  Given, I was running 350lb coils and that is way too soft. It certainly created extra load the absorbers were needing to dissapate.  Myself and others on the forum are finding that front spring rates closer to the stock ZQ8 spring (600lb) are much better for handling and even improve the ride significantly.  With that said, running 3" drop springs that are reportedly soft with aftermarket shocks seems like a situation that will be wearing out the shocks quickly and not producing the results we seek.

Even with the extra 1.5" drop I'd suggest the ZQ8 bilsteins over much else unless you wanted to explore adjustable shocks with the correct height and stroke.

Given, I was running 350lb coils and that is way too soft. It certainly created extra load the absorbers were needing to dissapate.

actually, i think a lower frequency will wear the shocks less than being too highly sprung like i was.
i burned the fluid and there was some bluing of the rod on my qa1s

as for not having enough force (or bumpstops) to prevent bottoming or topping, that's a whole different issue, and will break shocks very quickly.

Absorvers?  What was I talking about. 

Bottomming and topping out certainly weren't helping the situation, but I wasn't able to tune it to handle moderate imperfections either.  From what I've observed I'd say it is a combination of inexperience, on my part, and spring rate.

Are you talking about your rear shocks on the long bed?  When I ran the numbers for the front of the Blazer trying to get a similar ride frequency to the Corvette, 600 lb for the springs seemed to be the ticket.

Are you talking about your rear shocks on the long bed?  When I ran the numbers for the front of the Blazer trying to get a similar ride frequency to the Corvette, 600 lb for the springs seemed to be the ticket.

yea, but remember i didn't have an ideal motion ratio after the redesign.
btw i got a ride in a base c5 around an autoX this season.

it would be a super comfy daily, but it was pretty soft and slow for racing. my co-worker's gti feels stiffer.

Next time I'll run the numbers on the ZO6 


Too bad I'm limited to 550lb with the QA1 springs.  Another reason to rethink the spring/shock mounting on the front end.

I'm running belltech leafs. I considered zq8 leafs but I didn't want drop blocks and the 1.5" wasn't low enough. The leafs are 3" and I have JTR set back plates and alignment shims. They add up to a little over an inch. So I have 4" drop, and it doesn't seem low enough. I might add a 1" block depending how the front sits.

I've read good things about the street part of the belltech shocks but mixed on the performance side. I would prefer the bilsteins. Zq8 and stock shocks are the same length. I'm assuming the length is fine for the 1.5" drop but 3" is probably pushing it. I guess I would have to measure to be sure.  Do you think it would be better to run the possibly too long zq8 bilsteins valved for our trucks over the mustang (which is close in weight) bilsteins that are the correct length?

I find that Bilstein makes a good product for a reasonable price.  I say try out the Mustang shocks.  I'd wager they will perform similar to the ZQ8, but from the sounds of it they have less of a chance to bottom out.  Worst case you're out $100-150 and know better what to buy next.