Give your 5100s the boot?

Anyone running 5100s for rear shocks remove the rubber boot?

I've heard they actually trap more grit than they block, and they are sort of an eyesore. Looks like most of the other big brands don't even have boots on their rear shocks.

 

Never really crossed my mind!​

 

When I had rear 5100s the boots never really stayed straight. They were always getting crooked somehow, so I kept trying to make them look decent. I no longer have the 5100s though.

 

I really don't see why it would make much difference. Back in the '80s and '90s we used them all the time as a way to keep dirt out but it was also a way to throw a splash of color underneith the truck and show off hw many shocks and stabalizers you have. As in the way alot of folks on hee are building their trucks for trail riding and playing in rocks I don't see where it would make much difference

 

My 5100 struts don't have boots but I see the new ones come with them?

 

That's what I'm going through. I have to keep pulling them down and inch or so because they get crammed up.

 

I might just have to pull my boots off.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhBw80Y54gg

 

When I took my rear 5100's off I pulled the boots down & water just poured out of one of them. The other one was fine. My rear Icons I have on now don't have boots.

 

Well I did it. Will let you know if I break my shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6KzUH29J0M&t=10s

 

Been quite a while. What's the update on this?

 

Looks like his passenger stem mount washer bushing is upside down and not torqued enough.

But you don’t need the boots. I’ve never had an issue without them.

 

Now running Kings instead of Bilstein but I never had any issues with the boots removed.

 

I’ll add a bit to this old thread. I had a torn boot that was just dangling so I decided to cut the boots off. This is what it looked like under the boot on both shocks. Makes me tempted to cut the boots off the newer 5100s on my duramax too.

 

Woah Mine are in the mail. I know what I’m doing before I put them on. If that doesn’t change someone’s mind I don’t know what would.

 

I don't like running shocks without boots (at least on the rear shocks) mostly because I do a fair amount of high-speed driving on gravel roads. I can see a rock or piece of gravel kicked up by the front tires potentially nicking the shock rod, resulting in a subsequent seal failure.

What I do is cut a small notch in the lower-most pleat on the boot (maybe ½" wide). This allows any dust or moisture that might try to accumulate in there a way out.
Each time I've had opportunity to look inside the boot, it's never been more than just a light film of dust on the inside.

 

do you run the shocks with the boot up at the top or flipped over to where it’s on the bottom? I’m trying to imagine where the cut it and how it would look

 

Which way you run the shock (boot (rod) end up or down) may depend on the design of the shock itself. Some are required to be one way or the other, and will often have an arrow or label on them showing which way it goes. Higher-end shocks such as Fox, King, and some Bilstein usually go rod-end-down.



If your shocks have the rod facing up, then notch the bottom-most pleat that isn't tight against the shock body.


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A piece of hd heat shrink tubing placed in the circled area will prevent the boot chaffing that causes this. I’ll even go so far as to spray the body with a rust prevention wax or oil, and then shrink the tube on.

 

Never ran a boot. It seems to accumulate alot of moisture and exacerbates wear imo.