Bilstein shocks thread

Silverado-Hareek · April 24, 2019

Everyone should watch this to understand why the 5100 is the best way to level your front end

Grinnen · April 24, 2019

It just made me realize I was looking and thinking about it all wrong.

At the top setting there isn't any more preload like people say. It's not condensing the coil in any way.

The coil is the exact same length as stock, it's just extending the shock a bit because moving the ring makes it sit higher up.

People saying it's a bit more harsh, I really don't see how. The coil characteristics haven't changed, neither has the shock besides being extended a bit more.

I know what my plan is now.

Yondu · April 24, 2019

On 4/22/2019 at 7:27 AM, SkiDooNick700 said:

It would be 1/2" spacer. I want to be over 2" lift but under 2.5" lift. Sounds like some guys claim 2" lift from bilsteins. Wonder if I should do like a 1/4" spacer? I'm sure every truck lifts a little differently. Just would hate to have to tear everything apart twice if I do it wrong the first time lol. Rather would go slightly higher I guess. That gives an excuse to raise the rear sightly :-) if needed.

A 1/4" spacer will be around 1/2" lift for the front

Battle Born Offroad · April 24, 2019

22 hours ago, dubwise said:

Does anyone offer a "pre-assembly" for the bilstein shocks?

Meaning if I wanted them setup at X height they would setup them up in house and ship them to me ready for direct install? That way I wouldn't have to mess with combining the stock stop hats / spring compressor / reassembly etc... ?

We do for $120 with new KYB mounts.

21 hours ago, SkiDooNick700 said:

Thanks for the feedback - that is a great stance you had goin there! 3 inch block.. is that 2" taller than the factory about?

Battle Born, wondering your two cents on this... since I've already got the 2.25" ProComp kit for up front, what would be the advantage of running the 5100s with the 1/2" spacer as you suggested, vs running the 2.25" ProComp kit along with 5100s at the lowest setting? I got the kit a few months back so I'm pretty sure I'm stuck with it unless I sell it privately. Ultimately, will there be much of a difference in doing either setup?

Not a noticeable difference, youll retain a bit more shock travel using the lower spacer only vs the complete spacer kit.

SkiDooNick700 · April 24, 2019

3 hours ago, Battle Born Offroad said:

We do for $120 with new KYB mounts.

Not a noticeable difference, youll retain a bit more shock travel using the lower spacer only vs the complete spacer kit.

Last question, I think.. :-)

Where does one find a 1/4" lower spacer?

Battle Born Offroad · April 24, 2019

No idea on the 1/4, the 1/2 is our standard spacer.

Check out DNA Motoring for the lift spacers, we have used theirs several times - http://www.ebaystores.com/dnamotoring

catpartsman · April 25, 2019

Battle Born, wondering your two cents on this... since I've already got the 2.25" ProComp kit for up front, what would be the advantage of running the 5100s with the 1/2" spacer as you suggested, vs running the 2.25" ProComp kit along with 5100s at the lowest setting? I got the kit a few months back so I'm pretty sure I'm stuck with it unless I sell it privately. Ultimately, will there be much of a difference in doing either setup?

I had this same kit. I took the strut spacer out and put the 5100’s at max height with the 1/2” spacer under the shock. My shop told me the angles were way better this way than before with the strut spacer and stock shocks. I also have a 2” block in rear. This gives me a little bit of rake for pulling trailers and not ass end sagging.

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SkiDooNick700 · April 25, 2019

5 minutes ago, catpartsman said:

I had this same kit. I took the strut spacer out and put the 5100’s at max height with the 1/2” spacer under the shock. My shop told me the angles were way better this way than before with the strut spacer and stock shocks. I also have a 2” block in rear. This gives me a little bit of rake for pulling trailers and not ass end sagging.

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Everyone is saying something different lol. I think someone earlier mentioned that would put you at around 2.85" of lift which would really start to give some bad angles, however you are saying that the shop said you have better angles than when you had the 2.25" kit?

what oil should i use?

catpartsman · April 25, 2019

Everyone is saying something different lol. I think someone earlier mentioned that would put you at around 2.85" of lift which would really start to give some bad angles, however you are saying that the shop said you have better angles than when you had the 2.25" kit?

what oil should i use? [emoji3]

That’s what the shop told me. I’ve got about 45,000 miles on my current set up now with no issues. When I need new tires, I’m going to remove the lower spacer, put shocks at stock height and remove the rear blocks. Or at least that’s the plan. Going to go back to stock size and load range tires. Most of my driving is highway with little trailer use so I’m going back to get the most mpgs and out of the truck.

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catpartsman · April 25, 2019

Everyone is saying something different lol. I think someone earlier mentioned that would put you at around 2.85" of lift which would really start to give some bad angles, however you are saying that the shop said you have better angles than when you had the 2.25" kit?

what oil should i use? [emoji3]

That’s what the shop told me. I’ve got about 45,000 miles on my current set up now with no issues. When I need new tires, I’m going to remove the lower spacer, put shocks at stock height and remove the rear blocks. Or at least that’s the plan. Going to go back to stock size and load range tires. Most of my driving is highway with little trailer use so I’m going back to get the most mpgs and out of the truck.

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Silverado-Hareek · April 25, 2019

On 4/24/2019 at 8:03 AM, MBSierra17 said:

Yes, spring is more compressed when weight is off the strut, but with the vehicle on the ground it should be the same. The spring constant doesn't change just because you moved a snap ring. Compressed length should be virtually identical. You've added no extra weight.

23 hours ago, Snowcamo said:

On 4/24/2019 at 8:03 AM, MBSierra17 said:

Yes, spring is more compressed when weight is off the strut, but with the vehicle on the ground it should be the same. The spring constant doesn't change just because you moved a snap ring. Compressed length should be virtually identical. You've added no extra weight.

Willing to bet if someone did a side by side of lowest and highest settings mm measurements we'd see a difference in spring heights. Theory is cool but until we get actual measurments were just spectators. Lowest setting will allow more suspension travel and a better ride vs the notches above. Having said that one wipes all that extra travel away once they add spacers, but the strut still has less preload and more travel, so the ride will be better.

I'm having trouble finding it but I'm pretty sure somewhere on this forum, there's a post with literature directly from Bilstein that talks about how the spring is more compressed and thus under "pre load" the higher you set the level. It's not much to really lose sleep over in my opinion, but technically that is what is taking place. Whether that is the sole contributor of a rougher ride or it's the combination of changes to the front end geometry, I couldn't tell you. For me personally, I went with using the 5100's as designed as that set up gives you more shock travel than you'd get with a traditional spacer kit. That means you're less likely to overextend your shocks, bottom out the suspension, etc. To me, if you're going to get the spacer kit to level your truck, there's no reason to spend the money on the 5100's. Just get the 4600's and save a few bucks. But I'm of the opinion that using the 5100's as designed to level your truck is the best option in a leveling scenario. I still say that once you've made the decision to get Bilstein shocks, you've made a huge upgrade to your truck and you'll love the ride. Worrying about whether raising the front end 1.25" is better than 1.85" or whatever the numbers are is really splitting hairs at that point from a ride quality standpoint. I think the difference will be very minimal.

MBSierra17 · April 25, 2019

3 hours ago, Silverado-Hareek said:

I'm having trouble finding it but I'm pretty sure somewhere on this forum, there's a post with literature directly from Bilstein that talks about how the spring is more compressed and thus under "pre load" the higher you set the level. It's not much to really lose sleep over in my opinion, but technically that is what is taking place. Whether that is the sole contributor of a rougher ride or it's the combination of changes to the front end geometry, I couldn't tell you. For me personally, I went with using the 5100's as designed as that set up gives you more shock travel than you'd get with a traditional spacer kit. That means you're less likely to overextend your shocks, bottom out the suspension, etc. To me, if you're going to get the spacer kit to level your truck, there's no reason to spend the money on the 5100's. Just get the 4600's and save a few bucks. But I'm of the opinion that using the 5100's as designed to level your truck is the best option in a leveling scenario. I still say that once you've made the decision to get Bilstein shocks, you've made a huge upgrade to your truck and you'll love the ride. Worrying about whether raising the front end 1.25" is better than 1.85" or whatever the numbers are is really splitting hairs at that point from a ride quality standpoint. I think the difference will be very minimal.

Preload increases the "pre" load. Doesn't change the total load supported by the spring once vehicle weight is on it. If it did, you'd get less lift and more shit ride.

Battle Born Offroad · April 25, 2019

17 hours ago, catpartsman said:

I had this same kit. I took the strut spacer out and put the 5100’s at max height with the 1/2” spacer under the shock. My shop told me the angles were way better this way than before with the strut spacer and stock shocks. I also have a 2” block in rear. This gives me a little bit of rake for pulling trailers and not ass end sagging.

This is the best way to do it. Above 2.5-2.75"ish of lift upper control arms are required to get a good alignment. If you CV angles look a bit stressed, we offer a differential drop kit which can bring them back down to spec

Silverado-Hareek · April 25, 2019

2 hours ago, MBSierra17 said:

Preload increases the "pre" load. Doesn't change the total load supported by the spring once vehicle weight is on it. If it did, you'd get less lift and more shit ride.

No it does not change the total load, but the spring is under more compression initially which means it will be a little stiffer than if it were at it's OEM length/compression. Again I doubt it's a major game changer, but technically this is what is occurring.

MBSierra17 · April 25, 2019

1 minute ago, Silverado-Hareek said:

No it does not change the total load, but the spring is under more compression initially which means it will be a little stiffer than if it were at it's OEM length/compression. Again I doubt it's a major game changer, but technically this is what is occurring.

The spring is under the exact same compression as oem length with vehicle weight on it. The spring does not become stiffer or softer just because you started with it a little more compressed. The snap ring changes the full extension of the spring, but does not change compression forces at all.