Gotcha. Its no where near that. Lots of highway to my spots and then maybe some mild off-road or rutted up muddy access roads.
I have a elk hunt in Oct so I maybe in some rocks.

 

ive had 5150's get warm to the point where you cant hold your hand on it for more than a few seconds from just trailriding/rockcrawling

never really ever bothered to touch my shocks otherwise.

i never heard of how hot is too hot, but FOA shaft seals are rated for up to 250 degrees.

 

Not trying to thread Jack but what would you recommend for my needs?

 

you don't need anything too fancy. a bilstein 5100-5125 sounds like a nice fit for what you do.

 

Which would provide the best ride? 5100, 5125, 5150 emulsion 2.0? 6.5 LA on 33s

 

are bilstiens actually worth the money?

 

yes

 

it really all comes down to valving.

the 5125 and 5150s are valved the same, they are equal, one just has the remote resivoir to keep it a little cooler. the 5100 is also comparable to them, although they are valved differently, and usually vehicle specific.

a 2.0 (be it fox, foa, bilsteins 7100, or whatever) gives you even more valving options, and a larger body and shaft. these are stronger and will stay cooler longer. these are also rebuidable if you ever choose to play with your valving.

if you are looking at bilstein, most people like the 255/70 valving for a multipurpose, street driven xj.

if you wheel often and beat on your rig fairly hard (not just speed, playing in the rocks). i would look into 2.0's for the stiffer valving options.

I never cared to put decent shocks on mine until i was finally talked into it and went for a pair of foa 2.0s and had them valved fairly harsh. much less bottoming out and a nicer ride on access roads, and helped keep the tires planted when using momentum on hillclimbs and whatnot. Street ride isnt as plush, but its far more controlled with less swaying and weight transfer.

 

From what I've read people are very happy with them and usually don't go back.

 

once you go from a cheapo generic white body to a basic 51xx bilstein. you will be foolish to go back.

 

That's usually the case with everything I upgrade

 

Nice...thank you!

 

A 10" 2.0 emulsion shock will heat up faster than a 10" 51xx series shock. Anything besides slow crawling or street driving will warm up an emulsion shock, fireroads at 20-30 would probably make the fluid cavitate. Emulsion means the fluid is mixed with the nitrogen, not that there just isn't a resivoir..Many of the shelf non resi shocks (like old man emu, bilstein 51xx, and I think some small shaft fox 2.0s) have an internal floating piston or IFP, that keeps the fluid separate from the gas. That's not saying those shocks can't overheat (bc they can, and do) but it takes longer. Shocks with a resivoir have more room for fluid and gas, so they are a "better" shock. And like Sam said, 5150s, 5125s, 7100s.. If they all have the same valving, you won't notice a difference until they start to heat up and the fluid gets bubbly.. Then they'll get softer until they cool down. I'm just using bilstein as an example bc everyone's familiar with them. The same would go for a fox 2.0 or a triple bypass king 4.0... Well, for the most part. If you want to learn more than I feel like typing on my phone go check out the shock/coilover bible on pirate

 

Thanks for the info. Im hoping the 5150 are not discontinued.

 

I bought 5150's back when they came out. They broke, and I found out it was a common problem. That was many years ago. I'm amazed people still don't know about the issue.