Guide to Leveling & Wheel and Tire Sizing for 06+ 4wd Ram 1500's

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

OP
OP
brandonjansen

brandonjansen

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Posts
1,701
Reaction score
1,012
Location
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Ram Year
2012 Ram 3500 Laramie Limited
Engine
6.7 Cummins - Tuned and Deleted
Great looking rig man! I don't even own anything to tow currently so I'll just address the concern in the future if it does become an issue then. I appreciate all of the sound advice. I picked out some 20x9 ProComp wheels. They have a 0 offset which should allow for the 5" of backspacing that Zone says is required for their kit.

Thank you sir! :waytogo:

5" backspacing is the maximum that will work with their kit. You can go with a wider rim and more negative offset if you want to. Personally I would recommend a 20x10 -12 offset. The wider rim and slightly wider stance will look better with the height of the lift.
 

Rookesy

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Posts
3
Reaction score
8
Location
Virden MB, Canada
Ram Year
2014
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Hey Brandon, just wondering where on the Motorsport Techs site can you find those 10mm spacers? Can't seem to find them
 
OP
OP
brandonjansen

brandonjansen

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Posts
1,701
Reaction score
1,012
Location
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Ram Year
2012 Ram 3500 Laramie Limited
Engine
6.7 Cummins - Tuned and Deleted

JJP71584

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2012
Posts
1,538
Reaction score
285
Location
Pgh, PA
Ram Year
2021
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Great post, subbing for future reference

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
 

tdramman

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Posts
117
Reaction score
43
Location
Georgia
Ram Year
2015 Ram 1500 Laramie 4X4
Engine
5.7
I had a 2.5 inch spacer lift on my 2015 4x4 and I was completely level at 39 inches I think. Today I had Bils installed front and back with Mevotech UCA. I had the front Bils set at 2.8 and a 1 inch Top Gunz spacer added to the Bils in back. Now I am nose high. I sit 41 1/4 to the bottom of the wheel well in front and 40 1/4 in the back. That's 1 inch in the wrong direction! Will the springs settle in front to level it out or should I lower the front to 2.1??? The rear shocks says that it should only go up 1 inch so I don't think I should add a larger spacer in the back. What should I do?
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
brandonjansen

brandonjansen

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Posts
1,701
Reaction score
1,012
Location
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Ram Year
2012 Ram 3500 Laramie Limited
Engine
6.7 Cummins - Tuned and Deleted
I had a 2.5 inch spacer lift on my 2015 4x4 and I was completely level at 39 inches I think. Today I had Bils installed front and back with Mevotech UCA. I had the front Bils set at 2.8 and a 1 inch Top Gunz spacer added to the Bils in back. Now I am nose high. I sit 41 1/4 to the bottom of the wheel well in front and 40 1/4 in the back. That's 1 inch in the wrong direction! Will the springs settle in front to level it out or should I lower the front to 2.1??? The rear shocks says that it should only go up 1 inch so I don't think I should add a larger spacer in the back. What should I do?

First thing I'd check is the assembly of the Bilsteins. If the bottom spring seat is on upside down it will be sitting nose high. The Bisteins at 2.8" shouldn't be sitting much higher than the 2.5" spacers. If you want, post up a picture and I can take a look.
The springs won't really settle much at all since they're the OEM springs that have already been broken in.
 

tdramman

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Posts
117
Reaction score
43
Location
Georgia
Ram Year
2015 Ram 1500 Laramie 4X4
Engine
5.7
Guide to Leveling & Wheel and Tire Sizing for 06+ 4wd Ram 1500's

b3001b4200cc73a23f0300b7f86f153b.jpg

This is the very top of the Bilsteins. Is that a spacer on top? The steel coil on the bottom of the picture reflecting the flash is the highest coil. What is the thing above it? Could that be the spacer?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

tdramman

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Posts
117
Reaction score
43
Location
Georgia
Ram Year
2015 Ram 1500 Laramie 4X4
Engine
5.7
53cfcfd8f69c5a94ba5b27601aa1890d.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

tdramman

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Posts
117
Reaction score
43
Location
Georgia
Ram Year
2015 Ram 1500 Laramie 4X4
Engine
5.7
16cdeaabc271562fa5d7b28b80523352.jpg

Another angle of just above the highest coil. Is that a spacer?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

R.L.K.

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2013
Posts
12,803
Reaction score
12,500
Location
Bristol , Tn.
Ram Year
2014 4X4 QC Express 6 speed auto 355 differentials
Engine
5.7 Hemi
16cdeaabc271562fa5d7b28b80523352.jpg

Another angle of just above the highest coil. Is that a spacer?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Definitely a spacer !

Pics of mine stock

873e5bb3d711ddbebb88791239faa31d.jpg

And after i installed the bilsteins @2.8

6218aa0e3fdaa1e2432e1635075cc5c4.jpg
 
OP
OP
brandonjansen

brandonjansen

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Posts
1,701
Reaction score
1,012
Location
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Ram Year
2012 Ram 3500 Laramie Limited
Engine
6.7 Cummins - Tuned and Deleted
16cdeaabc271562fa5d7b28b80523352.jpg

Another angle of just above the highest coil. Is that a spacer?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The plastic piece is the upper spring seat that should be there. The metal above that looks like a preload spacer to me that should definitely not be there. I'd be talking to the shop who did your install and getting them to pull it apart to review. There shouldn't be any additional spacers installed with the Bilsteins. Only the OEM hardware and what came with the Bilstein 5100's themselves.
 

PATDOW1

Junior Member
Joined
May 15, 2016
Posts
6
Reaction score
3
Ram Year
2016 ED Outdoorsman 4X4
Engine
3.0L
Great Thread! Wish it would of contained some info on UCA's. I'm currently trying to determine if I will need them?
 

R.L.K.

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2013
Posts
12,803
Reaction score
12,500
Location
Bristol , Tn.
Ram Year
2014 4X4 QC Express 6 speed auto 355 differentials
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Great Thread! Wish it would of contained some info on UCA's. I'm currently trying to determine if I will need them?
Welcome to the forum Sir !
Not sure on the 16s , but it has been confirmed the 2013-15 have a uca change from the 2012 back to I believe 06 ?
Lots of guys running the 13-15 oem UCA'S with zero issues on a level with 35" tires and some oem ucas doing fine on lifted trucks up to 10" with 38s .

Again , I'm not sure if your 16 ucas are any different.
Regardless if the oem uca you have the upper ball joints typically do not just explode and cause catastrophic failures , even while rough offroading .
The ball joints tend to slowly separate and are easy to detect with a quick visual inspection , if your concerned about them then just spend $100 & get the mevotecs from www.rockauto.com as many here have . Imo the Mevotech UCA's are much Beefier than the stock ones and are greasable. If you you have deep pockets you can spend a lot more for aftermarket ucas ....
I installed the Mevotecs with my Bilstien's 5100s @ +2.8" I'm very happy with the combo , but knowing what I know now , I should've kept the oem ucas and just kept an eye on them for separation .

Hope this helps , and again Welcome.
 
OP
OP
brandonjansen

brandonjansen

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Posts
1,701
Reaction score
1,012
Location
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Ram Year
2012 Ram 3500 Laramie Limited
Engine
6.7 Cummins - Tuned and Deleted
Great Thread! Wish it would of contained some info on UCA's. I'm currently trying to determine if I will need them?

Thanks!

This thread was originally written before there were any issues with the ball joints on the 2013+ trucks. I've posted up a ton of information on upper A-arms/ball joints on the forum but I'll reiterate here.

The 2006 - 2012 trucks should not have any issues with ball joints with either a Bilsteins or a spacer leveling kit. Those upper A-arms were a slightly different design and simply held the ball joint in place properly.

In 2013 they changed the manufacturing process of the upper A-arms which makes them more susceptible to popping the ball joint out. The ball joint will pop out with the suspension is over extended. As long as the suspension is kept within OEM specs this shouldn't be an issue. This is another reason why I HIGHLY recommend Bilsteins to level all 2013+ trucks as they do not allow the suspension to over extend. However care still needs to be taken when doing the install as some people push the suspension too far trying to get the strut back in which can cause an issue. It's always a better idea to unbolt the upper ball joint and letter the lower A-arm and steering knuckle drop down to get the strut in/out of place.

So in summary; aftermarket upper A-arms should not be required when using Bilsteins to level your truck in any application provided proper care is used during install. They can be used if you want to as they definitely won't hurt anything.
If using spacers on a 2013+ truck then yes, I would recommend installing aftermarket upper A-arms as well.
 

R.L.K.

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2013
Posts
12,803
Reaction score
12,500
Location
Bristol , Tn.
Ram Year
2014 4X4 QC Express 6 speed auto 355 differentials
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Well said Brandon , I agree 100%
 

PATDOW1

Junior Member
Joined
May 15, 2016
Posts
6
Reaction score
3
Ram Year
2016 ED Outdoorsman 4X4
Engine
3.0L
Thanks for the speedy responses. I was just going to purchase Mevotechs as cheap insurance just as others have done, but I couldn't confirm if they have the exact same ball joint angle as my OEM but just in a beefier cast. That got me to looking at Zone instead. I'll save myself some $$$$ and just install the 5100's and keep a watchful eye on my OEM balljoints as suggested.

Thanks for the advice guys. :happy107:
 

LumberJakl

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2015
Posts
241
Reaction score
189
Location
Calgary, AB
Ram Year
'17 Sport QC
Engine
5.7L 4x4
If I get the Bilstein 5100 Adj front, would I need to upgrade my rear to fit in 35's?
 

PhillyGoat

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2016
Posts
24
Reaction score
7
Location
Pacific Northwest
Ram Year
2012
Engine
5.7L Hemi
If I get the Bilstein 5100 Adj front, would I need to upgrade my rear to fit in 35's?



You shouldn't need to do anything to fit 35s in the rear. Some of the guys who have used them up front can give you advice on where to initially set your height.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Top