Any/Max Lift with Bilstein 4600 Shocks?

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palmerwmd
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Re: Any/Max Lift with Bilstein 4600 Shocks?

Postby palmerwmd » Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:01 pm

Neenigan,
what a beautiful set up.
Please let me know if I can every get in on that "light offroading" you mentioned in a previous post :D


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Neeginan
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Re: Any/Max Lift with Bilstein 4600 Shocks?

Postby Neeginan » Mon Oct 11, 2021 7:19 am

silverarrow27 wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:43 pm
Same concept as the bushings. Instead of playing with the bushings trying to get the camber to spec, you instead would move the whole control arm via those welded slots instead. If you ever need to replace control arms, you don't need to worry about buying a new set of bushings with new control arms. Any control arm would work.
Yeah, makes total sense now. Thanks for the explanation. Maybe I should have gone that way. But my bushings are going in today, so I am committed now. I will let you guys know how it turns out.

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Neeginan
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Re: Any/Max Lift with Bilstein 4600 Shocks?

Postby Neeginan » Mon Oct 11, 2021 7:29 am

palmerwmd wrote:
Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:01 pm
Neenigan,
what a beautiful set up.
Please let me know if I can every get in on that "light offroading" you mentioned in a previous post :D
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, for sure. If you are in the Western NC area, there are some beautiful areas. Old NC 105 gets busy on weekends but it is a beautiful place to see the Linville Gorge and a lot of free camping. The road is an easy pass for 4x4 Pathfinders. In fact, you probably only need 4wd when it rains. Then it can be a mess.

There are also Trans America Trail sections around Linville, Mortimer and Linville Falls areas. Stunning scenery especially at this time of year. I also want to try Hurricane Creek next year and there are many areas in the Pisgah National Forest. Some of them, you are better to go in group depending on how off road crazy you want to go!

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Neeginan
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Re: Any/Max Lift with Bilstein 4600 Shocks?

Postby Neeginan » Wed Oct 13, 2021 9:36 am

Posted this picture in the general picture thread, but figured I would put it here too. The old logging road up to our hand made, private campsite triggered the desire for a mild lift. There is a specific area where there is a natural flow of water across the road that through erosion over time, has created a significant dip in the road. The departure angle without the lift was not sufficient so I would clip the spare tire and the hitch receiver going over that section. There are also sections where the ruts are deep and I would rub the front skid plate at times. The lift solved both problems. Here is the private campsite that we built.
Pathfinder RTT2.jpg

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Neeginan
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Re: Any/Max Lift with Bilstein 4600 Shocks?

Postby Neeginan » Sun Jul 24, 2022 9:29 am

Forgot about this post from a while back. I figured I should close the loop out with the latest information that I have that was posted in another thread in case someone comes across this thread in a search.

FYI. If you have the Bilstein 4600 part number 24-197434 Rear Shocks.

I reached out to Bilstein to get the collapsed and extended lengths. Several 4x4 parts sites say that they can support up to a 2 inch lift. I have 1 1/2 inch PRG spacer lift front and rear, and Moog 81119 rear springs on mine. In total I think it is about 1 3/4 inches lift in the rear. Anyway, this is the info I got from Bilstein

Bilstein Collapsed Length (IN)10.33
Bilstein Extended Length (IN)14.80

I just had new 4600's installed last week due to a squirrelly rear end. Replaced the old ones. Solved the loose rear end. Anyway, I measured the 'unloaded vehicle at rest' shock length. It is 13 3/4 inches. So I only have about 1 inch of downward travel available until the shock is fully extended. It's hard to tell what that means for downward tire travel (due to the shock mounting point being further inboard and also the tilted angle of the mounted shock), but I think it is ~ 1 1/2 inches of downward travel. I doubt it is 2 inches. I guess I could jack the car up to see but it feels like 100 degrees here today.

Anyway, just wanted to point this out for Bilstein 4600 users - part number 24-197434 rear shocks. If you are looking for more downward articulation after a 1 1/2 to 2 inch lift, you should source longer shocks. I think it is pushing it to use these on anything more than a 1 1/2 inch lift.

The shocks have 4 1/2 inches of articulation. With my 1 3/4 inch lift (PRG 1 1/2 inch spacers + Moog 81119 springs)
in the rear, the shocks are already ~78% extended which doesn't leave a lot of downward extension for bumpy roads.

My humble opinion.
Rear Bilstein 4600.jpg


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