starting my drop project soon.......parts are on order

DavidRam said:

I remember very clearly that my rear bump stops were as close as yours and I even posted that here somewhere (I looked for a picture, but can't find one). I thought it was so close that it was probably going to ride on the bump stops most of the time... So I cut about an inch off of it.




Was your spare back in when you took the pictures? If not that could be part of the reason why yours sits a little higher than AK47s...

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No, now that I don't commute anymore, spare is staying off, good point

moregrip said:

No, now that I don't commute anymore, spare is staying off, good point

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I ran without my spare for a while and then I started thinking I wanted to go lower with my truck... I put the spare back on and filled the gas tank full, and it was exactly as low as I wanted it to be! Lol

moregrip said:

Honestly, sounds like you got a bad or wrong set of rear coils, I'd ask BellTech to swap them out for you. BTW, I really like the adjustable arms.

If it were me, even if I was as frustrated as you have been (justifiably so) I would consider saving the upper arms simply for the ease of adjusting your pinion angle.

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Well, based on what Matt said (said that he ran the belltech with stock control arms and it did not affect the pinion angle enough to have any real negative effects on the drivetrain. He said he drove a lot, like over 30k miles) I am going to just run the stock control arms.

At this point, from what I have heard about the frequent adjustments of the del-sphere joint (sounds like the you would need to re-tighten every 10k miles: at least for the first 20-30k miles while they continue to break in) I rather just run the stock control arms. I want something that is as maintenance free as possible.

Mostly because I do not have a lot of tools (I typically do any kind of major work that requires tools at my buddies place in San Antonio: He has a huge tool collection and of course it is easier and more enjoyable working on something with a friend) and I am going to be moving back to LA in May of 2017, so going to my buddies place will not be an option (I know what you are thinking... just buy tools!) I won't have a real garage either to work on my truck when I move to LA, and probably won't really have time too.

But I get it, if you mod your vehicle you should expect to have to mess/tweak stuff on somewhat of a regular basis (compared to just being stock). So that is my main decision in going back to the stock control arms, on top of the fact that the 2" drop is pretty mild and hopefully will not do much to the pinion angle.

My next truck is going to be a new raptor (no idea when... Maybe a year or so) so I'll be going opposite of a lowered sport truck. I love the Ram but holy ****... that new raptor is freaking sexy as hell IMO.

ok got my new rear shocks on order, went with bilstein B8 33-185606 with 255/70 digressive valving, my eye-to-eye ride height measurement is 19"+/-, shocks compressed height is 14.1", extended 22.5" and some airlift helper bags!

http://cart.bilsteinus.com/productsearch/33-185606

Most likely going with these up front:

http://cart.bilsteinus.com/product/33-230306#

moregrip said:

ok got my new rear shocks on order, went with bilstein B8 33-185606 with 255/70 digressive valving, my eye-to-eye ride height measurement is 19"+/-, shocks compressed height is 14.1", extended 22.5" and some airlift helper bags!

Bilstein, Innovation and High Quality Since 1873

Most likely going with these up front:

Bilstein, Innovation and High Quality Since 1873

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I guess when it comes to figuring out the right length for a shock, you need to fall within the window of fully extended and fully compressed when going through a normal range for the suspension cycling. Correct?

How much are those rear shocks? I did not see a price anywhere (guess you have to go to a dealer site?). Let me know how your experience with them goes. I am not super savvy on shocks and what makes one better than another. I just know that everyone says the QA1's are the best (or one of the best) for these trucks when lowered. I suppose there could be other shocks out there equally as good, we just do not know about them in our particular application.

Ak47bravo said:

I guess when it comes to figuring out the right length for a shock, you need to fall within the window of fully extended and fully compressed when going through a normal range for the suspension cycling. Correct?

How much are those rear shocks? I did not see a price anywhere (guess you have to go to a dealer site?). Let me know how your experience with them goes. I am not super savvy on shocks and what makes one better than another. I just know that everyone says the QA1's are the best (or one of the best) for these trucks when lowered. I suppose there could be other shocks out there equally as good, we just do not know about them in our particular application.

View attachment 77951

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your diagram is right on man. I just called Bilstein and told them what I had and the turns out the shock they recommended was the one I picked out. Just needed to confirm it would be a solid choice.

hey, someone has to try something different to get some comparative data, lol, they may end up being $hit!

I chose the B8 5125 series because they are made for lowered vehicles and have the digressive valving I was looking for, also I've read alot of autocrossers use digressive valving, but of course I want first hand experience on that as well and I have none thus far.

quick excerpt I found:




"Digressive damping profile

A digressive damping profiles produce high damping forces at low suspension velocities and reduced damping forces at high speed. Rally cars have made digressive profiles popular due to a need for a suspension soft enough to handle rough sections of the coarse yet stiff enough to give the driver good road feedback at the lower suspension velocities occurring when entering or exiting a turn.

Features: Low damping rates at high suspension velocities allow the suspension to float through the rough sections of the coarse partially relieving the strain on the suspension system. High damping rates at low suspension velocities cause the suspension to rapidly settle as soon as the vehicle exits a rough section. More importantly stiff low speed damping gives the driver more road feel and feedback when entering or exiting a turn and provide the stiff low speed damping rates needed to damp the chassis and the reduced high speed damping forces needed to damping the un-sprung mass of the wheels.

Drawbacks: The high damping forces at low suspension velocities produce a brutally stiff ride. The suspension remains stiff until bumps are hit hard enough to pound the suspension through the stiff low speed damping range into the softer rates at high speed."

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/bsn-33-185606

DavidRam said:

I ran without my spare for a while and then I started thinking I wanted to go lower with my truck... I put the spare back on and filled the gas tank full, and it was exactly as low as I wanted it to be! Lol

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good thinking! Hey you wouldn't happen to have any front Hellwig swaybar pics mounted up would ya? I don't like the angle I have on my bushings right now.

can someone tell me what this is for or its purpose?

moregrip said:

can someone tell me what this is for or its purpose?

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That is for a 5th wheel hitch. I cut mine off because it would have hit my Mag Hi-tec diff cover... Make sure you aren't getting to close to it, I can't remember if others had problems of it smacking there stock diff cover, I don't think it's an issue...

moregrip said:

good thinking! Hey you wouldn't happen to have any front Hellwig swaybar pics mounted up would ya? I don't like the angle I have on my bushings right now.

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I just looked through all my pics and couldn't find a good one of the front... Here are the Chris Alston endlinks so you can see there angle, and the rear Hellwig, though I doubt that will help much...

If you are using the Moog F150 end links, then expect them to get a little noisy over time... Mine began to clank badly and when I finally took them off they were bent. The Hellwig is way too stiff and strong for the Moogs...

DavidRam said:

I just looked through all my pics and couldn't find a good one of the front... Here are the Chris Alston endlinks so you can see there angle, and the rear Hellwig, though I doubt that will help much...

If you are using the Moog F150 end links, then expect them to get a little noisy over time... Mine began to clank badly and when I finally took them off they were bent. The Hellwig is way too stiff and strong for the Moogs...

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that looks alot more level than mine, does the bend in the middle of the bar bend up or down installed?

DavidRam said:

That is for a 5th wheel hitch. I cut mine off because it would have hit my Mag Hi-tec diff cover... Make sure you aren't getting to close to it, I can't remember if others had problems of it smacking there stock diff cover, I don't think it's an issue...

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yeah, thats gotta go!

moregrip said:

that looks alot more level than mine, does the bend in the middle of the bar bend up or down installed?

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IIRC, it is almost level, but if it does point slightly in any direction it should point down...

The arms on my Hellwig were dead-nuts-level with the ground.

I mean the center section of the sway bar, mine has a bow to it.....

moregrip said:

I mean the center section of the sway bar, mine has a bow to it.....

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I know what you mean, mine had that too, it should slightly point down.

very cool thread, thanks a bunch. With 8000 trouble free miles I believe the setup has settled and I am super happy with the look. The back sits @ 34" and the front @ 33 1/2, my eyesight is horrible but when 20" away from the truck it almost looks like the truck is level. Happy motoring!

THETANK said:

very cool thread, thanks a bunch. With 8000 trouble free miles I believe the setup has settled and I am super happy with the look. The back sits @ 34" and the front @ 33 1/2, my eyesight is horrible but when 20" away from the truck it almost looks like the truck is level. Happy motoring!

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thanks man, enjoying the build; always good to have a fun project to tinker with! Looks like mine sits about an inch taller all the way around

Very good apparent build quality on these shocks:

Uhhhhhh, these rear bilstein 5125's are damn awesome! Without a rear swaybar the rear of my truck is a totally new (read better) handling beast.
Really impressed and surprised.

Of note, my seat o'butt meter is telling me the rear sits higher now, will take measurements when I get home to confirm ....

Wow, what a difference!

Funny that my stock rear shocks are Tokico and my stock front shocks are Hitachi......

Nice! They are great looking shocks, and Made in Germany can't hurt either.