2020 Rebel - Stock Rear Shocks - Missing Remote Res!!!???

[Sascwatch]

In fairness to RAM, it's possible Bilstein discontinued the piggyback-res shocks as well, and the 2020 Rebels made after a certain date have the replacement shock. Ram should have notified the market... but the change may have been forced on them.

It shouldn't matter if the shocks "really aren't that good" or are fine for 99% of the buyers. You could make a similar argument for the Ford Raptor, "the Fox 2.0 is just fine for most Raptor drivers... what's the big deal?" Only difference is magnitude.

If the 2020's get a beefier shock in lieu of piggyback-res ones... sounds like a fair trade. Ram has a duty to notify though.

There are some 2020’s that have the remote reservoirs, so far it looks like it’s the later models that do not. A build date of 02/20 looks like the cut off.

Something as significant as a shock change on their most off-road rated truck should most definitely be conveyed to customers, I just wish we could get an answer from someone.

 

[KOOPS]

In fairness to RAM, it's possible Bilstein discontinued the piggyback-res shocks as well, and the 2020 Rebels made after a certain date have the replacement shock. Ram should have notified the market... but the change may have been forced on them.

It shouldn't matter if the shocks "really aren't that good" or are fine for 99% of the buyers. You could make a similar argument for the Ford Raptor, "the Fox 2.0 is just fine for most Raptor drivers... what's the big deal?" Only difference is magnitude.

If the 2020's get a beefier shock in lieu of piggyback-res ones... sounds like a fair trade. Ram has a duty to notify though.

I guess they just wanted the Rebel community to figure this out for ourselves - - - I am OK with it in the end, but still I feel slightly annoyed by it. Didn't need to be this way Ram .

 

[KOOPS]

There are some 2020’s that have the remote reservoirs, so far it looks like it’s the later models that do not. A build date of 02/20 looks like the cut off.

Something as significant as a shock change on their most off-road rated truck should most definitely be conveyed to customers, I just wish we could get an answer from someone.

^^^ agree with this 100%. And the dealerships don't know. Ram needs to update their marketing materials at the very least.

I am curios though, those other Rebels on the lot had the remote-res, correct? That means they may have a build date prior to 2/20. I wonder how likely that is, considering it is already 6/10/2020.

 

[STR]

In fairness to RAM, it's possible Bilstein discontinued the piggyback-res shocks as well, and the 2020 Rebels made after a certain date have the replacement shock. Ram should have notified the market... but the change may have been forced on them.

It shouldn't matter if the shocks "really aren't that good" or are fine for 99% of the buyers. You could make a similar argument for the Ford Raptor, "the Fox 2.0 is just fine for most Raptor drivers... what's the big deal?" Only difference is magnitude.

If the 2020's get a beefier shock in lieu of piggyback-res ones... sounds like a fair trade. Ram has a duty to notify though.

^^^ That’s just speculation. Doesn’t look any beefier to me from the pics that I’ve seen. I’d say it’s the same shocks from the parts’ bin used with the air suspension, which is also just speculation I’ll crawl under there again and measure if somebody wants me to.

Ultimately, Ram changed the shocks without notice. Either this was a mistake, cost savings, limited supply, or whatever. Rationalizing doesn’t change that... and it makes you wonder what else has been tweak, deleted, or swapped out.

I my experience, you seldom get something equal or better by a manufacture when cost is involved.

 

[Sascwatch]

^^^ agree with this 100%. And the dealerships don't know. Ram needs to update their marketing materials at the very least.

I am curios though, those other Rebels on the lot had the remote-res, correct? That means they may have a build date prior to 2/20. I wonder how likely that is, considering it is already 6/10/2020.

All of the coil sprung rebels had remote reservoirs, I couldn’t open the doors to check the build date because of covid but I’d assume they’ve been on the lot for a while since they were shut down completely here in Ontario for a while.

I have been emailing back and forth with the guys from tfltruck and they confirmed that the 2020 rebel should have the remote reservoirs as they don’t know of any changes. Hopefully they have a contact at FCA that can clarify this for us.

 

[Sascwatch]

^^^ That’s just speculation. Doesn’t look any beefier to me from the pics that I’ve seen. I’d say it’s the same shocks from the parts’ bin used with the air suspension, which is also just speculation I’ll crawl under there again and measure if somebody wants me to.

Ultimately, Ram changed the shocks without notice. Either this was a mistake, cost savings, limited supply, or whatever, rationalizing doesn’t change that... and it makes you wonder what else has been tweak, deleted, or swapped out.

I my experience, you seldom get something equal or better by a manufacture when cost is involved.

The air shocks are an all in one unit, They are made by bilstein aswell.

And we shouldn’t have to crawl under our brand new trucks to confirm the correct parts were installed.

 

[STR]

Yeah, I forget that they’re now enclosed. Weren’t they separate on the the Gen 4?

 

[Sascwatch]

Yeah, I forget that they’re now enclosed. Weren’t the separate on the the Gen 4?

That I’m not sure of.

 

[KOOPS]

The air shocks are an all in one unit, They are made by bilstein aswell.

And we shouldn’t have to crawl under our brand new trucks to confirm the correct parts were installed.

Yeah, I'm disappointed. Fingers crossed TFL can shed light on this. Would it make sense to go the warranty route... for wrong parts. Force them into the light??

 

[KOOPS]

I have been emailing back and forth with the guys from tfltruck and they confirmed that the 2020 rebel should have the remote reservoirs as they don’t know of any changes. Hopefully they have a contact at FCA that can clarify this for us.

That is cool TFL is responding. I watched a lot of their videos before I pulled the trigger on my 2020 EcoDiesel gen3.

 

[Sascwatch]

I have sent 3 emails to FCA Canada so far and they have no idea what I am referring to when I mention “remote reservoirs” on the rear shocks and keep referring me back to the dealer who in turn refers me back to customer care. Both are saying “well we didn’t build the truck and as far as we can tell it was built to spec”.

Covid is preventing me from visiting the dealer and having them inspect the truck and compare it to other rebel models on the lot. I will continue to pursue this issue tho.

It took several emails and many phone calls to explain to the customer care reps that shell rotella T6 and pennzoil platinum euro oil are not the same. I kept getting told that any “5w40 oil would be fine” before getting my concern forwarded to engineering to clarify the mishap with their manuals and dealership training.

Tfltruck has acknowledged my emails and are going to forward my info to their contact at FCA to let them know that 2020 rebel owners are not happy, but can’t guarantee anything will come of it.

 

[traymo]

I also have a 2020 Ram Rebel with a build date of 2/20. I do not have the remote res on the shocks. I do not have air suspension.
Tom

 

[Myke]

Bought a 2020 Ram Rebel 2 weeks ago - March 2020 build - straight shocks w/ no reservoir, springs for a 3-2020 reference. Sticker and build says “Performance Tuned Shock Absorbers”. I read too in a review to expect Bilstien reservoir shocks. They should at a minimum explain why the change was implemented.

 

[SD Rebel]

That's probably why they are rather vague on the window sticker, "performance shocks" instead of exactly the type in case they change it in the future.

Don't feel bad, I doubt your single shocks are inferior to the resi shocks. We aren't talking about high end King Shocks here, the reservoirs look like they came from repurposed shaving cream cans.

 

[Flash25296]

Has anyone asked a service department if the 2019 Bistein-Resi shocks are available for order? If Bilstein phased out the resi shocks under the part number specified in this thread then new 2019 owners who had warranty repairs would get a non-resi rear shock. There is a dealer here in Oregon still selling a brand new 2019 Rebel so they are still available. If the part is still available you could ask if it was limited supply and on phase over.

 

[KOOPS]

I have sent 3 emails to FCA Canada so far and they have no idea what I am referring to when I mention “remote reservoirs” on the rear shocks and keep referring me back to the dealer who in turn refers me back to customer care. Both are saying “well we didn’t build the truck and as far as we can tell it was built to spec”.

Covid is preventing me from visiting the dealer and having them inspect the truck and compare it to other rebel models on the lot. I will continue to pursue this issue tho.

It took several emails and many phone calls to explain to the customer care reps that shell rotella T6 and pennzoil platinum euro oil are not the same. I kept getting told that any “5w40 oil would be fine” before getting my concern forwarded to engineering to clarify the mishap with their manuals and dealership training.

Tfltruck has acknowledged my emails and are going to forward my info to their contact at FCA to let them know that 2020 rebel owners are not happy, but can’t guarantee anything will come of it.

Yeah they pulled at fast one on the new 2020 buyers. I've been irritated by it. Otherwise I very much enjoy the truck.

 

[KOOPS]

Bought a 2020 Ram Rebel 2 weeks ago - March 2020 build - straight shocks w/ no reservoir, springs for a 3-2020 reference. Sticker and build says “Performance Tuned Shock Absorbers”. I read too in a review to expect Bilstien reservoir shocks. They should at a minimum explain why the change was implemented.

They made the change midway through their 2020 production run. And didn't tell anyone. So it appears anyone with a build date after 02-2020 missed out on the remote rez's.

 

[OverlndRebel]

New perspective, perhaps the trucks without the resi's are not missing out, but instead avoiding a possible engineering snafu i.e. an inferior part from Bilstein? Very interesting topic though. I'll have to check out the rear of my 2019 and get back to ya.

 

[Chris3058]

2020 June Build date on a custom order Just picked her up yesterday. 2020 Reb ED Crew. No external resi. Apparently these Bilts are a new speed sensitive setup with a larger interior res. Shop manager had the answer. Said these are supposedly an improvement to the remote resi units. I dunno. Sorry for the ****ty pic. I’ve got the wheel liners and couldn’t get the specs off the shock label.

 

[Sascwatch]

2020 June Build date on a custom order Just picked her up yesterday. 2020 Reb ED Crew. No external resi. Apparently these Bilts are a new speed sensitive setup with a larger interior res. Shop manager had the answer. Said these are supposedly an improvement to the remote resi units. I dunno. Sorry for the ****ty pic. I’ve got the wheel liners and couldn’t get the specs off the shock label.

I was hoping they would have a larger internal reservoir but nobody at FCA Canada or my local dealer have any idea what the shock specs are.