Bilstein 5100 settings..what would you do

[buddy guy]

So I had originally planned to set my front Bilsteins when i get them installed to 2.1 inches to level my 2018 Ram. this was based on following measurements:

fronts-37 1/4 inches
rears-39 3/4 inches

So 2.5 spread, Bills at 2.1, .4 inches to spare. Only carry light loads generally, occasional dump runs and no towing.

No intent to add a rear spacer or do anything else to the rear end.

So tonight, I doublecheck my measurements. no change in the front, no change on right rear side, but pretty much a full tank of fuel and my left side dropped to 39 1/4 inches. so 2 inch spread on the driver side in that case. i usually don't drive with a full tank due to weight but gas is cheap now so i've been filling it up every 3 or 4 days. It gave me pause on my initial plan.

So, here's a few things I've thought about:

Truck has about 4000 miles on it. Will the front coils and the bullies lose a bit of height over a relatively short period of time?

Again, not changing anything else and given all the above- would YOU still stick with 2.1? or 1.4 inches instead. I won't go a bigger tire than the stock 275 60 20 or 275 65 20.

Lastly, if down the road i decided to put a spacer in the back, can you change the height of the Bullies while installed?

thanks for all thoughts.

 

[G-Ride990]

If you are thinking about putting a rear spacer in at any point down the road, crank the front up as high as you think you will ever want it. You can't change the height of the bils without fully disassembling them and moving the adjustment ring.

Don't worry about the sag left to right in the rear. All of our trucks do that to some extent.

Personally, I would put the bils at 2.8. You will only be about 1/4 in high in the front, and it might settle out to be even less of a difference than that.
If you load stuff up in the bed from time to time, I would stay at 2.1 so it doesn't look nose high.

Here's a picture of my truck on stock size tires the morning after I did my install. Sitting at 2.8 in the front with a 1.5 rear spacer. I think the tires look a little small but it doesn't look bad.

 

[buddy guy]

well that definitely is a consideration on adjusting now or later. you are right. i don't want to have to take it apart to adjust. and i could see myself possibly throwing spacers on the back down the road. not now, but possibly next year. your truck looks great and i see the result.

thx for your take!

 

[G-Ride990]

well that definitely is a consideration on adjusting now or later. you are right. i don't want to have to take it apart to adjust. and i could see myself possibly throwing spacers on the back down the road. not now, but possibly next year. your truck looks great and i see the result.

thx for your take!

Wish I was closer, I'd be happy to lend a hand installing them. It took me the better part of a day doing it alone and with my garage full of tools at my disposal. I ended up having to cut one of my OEM struts apart. Major pain in the ass! I didn't have a problem with the lower bolt that a lot of members here mention.

The rear spacers are really easy to install if you have a set of jack stands and a floor jack. I could remove mine in about 10 minutes. Easily something you could do yourself later on.

Lastly, I wouldn't do 1.4 I don't think it would be a big enough difference. I bet you would regret it later down the road and wish you went higher. 2.8 or 2.1 both will look great!

 

[buddy guy]

thanks for the encouragement. yep, i have jack stands and a floor jack and with a guide i'm pretty confident i could go with those down the road. 2.1 vs 2.8 was my plan as it seems to be somewhat murky whether you need to change UCAs with setting of 2.8 or not. I have champagne tastes on a pensioners beer budget most days so i have to do things bit by bit and i'm confident i'll be happy with 2.1 and no regrets down the road. i'm happy with how it looks on the rear. don't like the nose down on the front. funny how a few inches make the trucks look so much better. and on the other hand i'm not a lift junky. i don't like 4 inch, 6 inch lifted trucks at all. just a nice levelling

 

[Bulldawg59]

I too have been struggling with this but I'm leaning toward 2.8

 

[buddy guy]

hey BullDawg..are you changing the UCA's in your planning?

 

[modstang]

If you do not have to worry about garage door height or parking garages, go with 2.8. I'm limited by my parking garage at work so I'm sticking with 2.1. Also changing the UCA to Mevotechs. Probably not needed but might as well since I'm close to 50k and it's getting an alignment.

 

[Bulldawg59]

hey BullDawg..are you changing the UCA's in your planning?

After reading some more I'm going 2.1. I can't afford UCAS at this time, so I'm playing it safe

 

[buddy guy]

yep. my thinking too. i looked at tons of 2.1 vs 2.8. to my eyes very small difference and good enough by me. plus if i went 2.8, then i would need a rear spacer so that's another 165 for the cheapest option i could find...400 plus for the others. i had to consider how far i wanted to go down this rabbit hole. its going to cost me 750 canadian for front billys, install and 4 wheel alignment. which was tolerable to me for the result. 2.8's were going to up the ante to 1200 bucks..plus the rear spacers (which i would probably install myself but...maybe not) in any case it became at least 665-1000 dollars more for .7 inches. nope. i already hee and haw on frivolity of spending 750 bucks on this level.

 

[Bulldawg59]

Yeah lifting or leveling can get fairly expensive. I'm having a local shop I trust do the Bilstein installation. I have a bad ticker so I'm not going to tackle it.

 

[Tim Garceau]

General question for guys with 5100s as I bought a set to replace the factory POS soft shocks.

If you aren’t running 35s for ground clearance or 12”+ wide wheels, why lift the front so much to hurt aeros and stress the joints/CV? If it’s to have a taller truck not fit into garages, I get it...

Can’t decide if I’m going to use 0 or .7 clip with a rear level myself.

 

[Bulldawg59]

At 2.1 there really shouldn't be much stress. I ran Bils on my last truck with no issues.

 

[buddy guy]

i like the look. and at 2.1 its not going to hurt anything. that's what i keep hearing including from my shop of choice to do the job so....yeah in the end for me it's an appearance thing. i also totally hate the look of a dropped truck. with a few ..very few, exceptions. lol. i think if you ask how many people here honestly do a level or a mild lift for anything more than appearances, you would probably be surprised. it is a thing, just like cars hopping around with air bags and stuff. who really needs their vehicle to do that for any good reason? lol

 

[buddy guy]

General question for guys with 5100s as I bought a set to replace the factory POS soft shocks.

If you aren’t running 35s for ground clearance or 12”+ wide wheels, why lift the front so much to hurt aeros and stress the joints/CV? If it’s to have a taller truck not fit into garages, I get it...

Can’t decide if I’m going to use 0 or .7 clip with a rear level myself.

ps- Tim. there is a chance i'd go 34's when my stock SRA's wear out. but i doubt i'll ever go 35s.

 

[Tim Garceau]

Oh, so the engineers have nominal tolerance on all the joints for 2” of increased angles, like on the air suspension when you can’t go over a certain speed in Off-Road.

I’m pulling legs here, but don’t want people under warranty To think they’re going to get suspension components replaced going in with a shock lift.

 

[buddy guy]

well...i guess its a risk i'm willing to take along with tons of others. some i'm willing to take some i'm not. but i hear what you are saying. I definitely have done some research to find a mod friendly dealer within a reasonable area. which reminds me btw, a dodge dealer will sell you a mopar branded kit with bilstein shocks that they will happily install for you without doing anything else for your front end:

https://www.jegs.com/i/Mopar-Performance/312/P5155797/10002/-1?parentProductId=2167150#moreDetails

so, I think you are right! they have built in the allowances, tolerances to allow for the lift/level. based on the fact they are willing to sell and install these, i think a guy could make a good argument that aside from them trying to say "oh, but we didn't install the shocks", they have no argument.

 

[buddy guy]

is it giving an increased angle btw with the bilsteins? i keep reading when people bring this up that what changes is the shock perch or something. i wish i understood this stuff better than i do. trying to learn. but i don't feel i'm breaking new ground here or a LOT of people are lying through their teeth here

 

[G-Ride990]

is it giving an increased angle btw with the bilsteins? i keep reading when people bring this up that what changes is the shock perch or something. i wish i understood this stuff better than i do. trying to learn. but i don't feel i'm breaking new ground here or a LOT of people are lying through their teeth here

Yes. Essentially you are increasing the pre-load on the coil springs which gives you the lift. This will cause the control arms and CVs to droop in relation to the stock ride height.

At 2.8 my axles are pretty damn parallel to the ground still though.

 

[Tim Garceau]

Correct, 5100s do not allow over-travel on the control arms so you lose that articulation on full extension where the shock piston bottoms out.

If you aren’t off-roading a lot, the control arms/sway/stabilizer/CV should last a long time at 2.1.