Which Bilstein 5100 Setting?

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Brewer

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I'm taking the rig in this morning to have it leveled. I have the 5100's already, they're just installing them.

My question is this: I just went out and measured. The rear is sitting 1.75" higher than the front (rear @ 38.5", front @ 36.75"). At this differential, according to the instructions for ring placement on the Bilstein's, I'm between settings. 3rd slot gives me 1.4" of lift and the 4th slot gives me 2.1" of lift.

Assuming that's accurate, I'm going to want to use the 3rd slot right and just be a quarter inch lower in the front right? I certainly wouldn't want to be setting a quarter inch higher in the front right? Just curious as to everyone's experience. Maybe real world is different and I SHOULD go to that 4th slot.

Thanks for the info!
 

kurek

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If you're headed onto rough stuff, you might want to err on the side of taller; worst case you might need to slip a spacer in back to return to level.

If you're not really in it for extreme terrain (mostly approach angle) or definitely don't want to do anything with the rear height, stick to the lower setting.

Going past level, nose high is a fast way to get worse fuel mileage in my experience.
 

kempo780

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If you want your truck to be close to level as possible go with the 2.1 height. That is what I dod with my truck and it came out amazing.

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Gary2

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Problem is with our trucks when it is actually level the front looks taller I think from the effect of the tall hood. I try to stay 1" rake so its slightly rear end higher and then if you do put anything in the bed over about 50lbs it don't make it look like the springs are shot . Plus 1.4 rides better than 2.1.
 

Tim Garceau

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Problem is with our trucks when it is actually level the front looks taller I think from the effect of the tall hood. I try to stay 1" rake so its slightly rear end higher and then if you do put anything in the bed over about 50lbs it don't make it look like the springs are shot . Plus 1.4 rides better than 2.1.

Ram designers actually cut the profile of the front fender radius higher than the rear so the OEM rake didn’t look even more ridiculous. Problem with a true leveling is now it is deceiving to the eye if you’re OCD.

If you go taller with the Bils clip, you can still compress the springs and carefully go down a notch if you don’t want to space the rear up. All Depends on your figment and function goals.
 

RobertusvT

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I would highly recommend the 2.1 setting. Just did an install on my '14 with the 2.8 setting and I regret setting it that high. 2.1 seems to be the setting I should have gone for.
 

gofishn

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use 2.1, anything higher, your truck will look like it's squatting.

had about the same difference, as you and looks perfect.
switched over to tuftruck springs and that helped even it up even more.

topper helped , visually too.
 

Gary2

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At 2.1 I had to add a 3/4" spacer to the rear to get rid of the squat look on my 2014. Later I switched to 1.4 and removed the rear spacers so the truck rode smoother . That truck (2014) also had a 3" Body lift so it still looked like a 4x4. That said, on this truck I knew to just go to 1.4 and a 1.5" Body lift so it looked fine and rode fine . OCD I am unfortunately on some things like if the truck is close to level the performance hood looks like it runs up hill so I make sure I still have some rake to keep the front of the bubble part level with the back end of the hood or as much as possible. Could not figure out why I did not like the performance hood on some trucks then I notice its only on leveled trucks and rebels I disliked it . Some times I think I can drive myself crazy with the little things.
 
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manogmin

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My truck set at 2.1 4670f11eef78527934f772191baeb488.jpg

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This is what I was going for. I set mine at the 2.1 setting and this is what I got. a1a5aba7bb62dff7b73bcaa15724f185.jpg


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manogmin

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More lift than I wanted, but it was such a PITA I am not going to change it now.


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Mj058

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Hey guys I have a question about the Bilstein 5100 for a 2017 Ram 1500 4WD. Do you have to purchase anything else with the Bilsteins 5100 to make the truck level out or not? I'm at a little of a loss as I have been told 2 different things one is I need new control arms to go with them and spacers for the top of the strut. The other is I have been told I don't need them. So I;m asking all of ya'll and not the company trying to sell me the parts and not the dealership.

Truck.jpg
 

kurek

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Do you have to purchase anything else with the Bilsteins 5100 to make the truck level out or not? I'm at a little of a loss as I have been told 2 different things one is I need new control arms to go with them and spacers for the top of the strut. The other is I have been told I don't need them. So I;m asking all of ya'll and not the company trying to sell me the parts and not the dealership.

You do not need to purchase anything else with the Bilsteins to level as long as the struts you have up front right now are your stock ones. Because you will be reusing a part from the stock struts.

You do not need or want a spacer on top of the strut, because the lift/level is provided by the Bilstein strut itself. The total extended length of the Bilstein strut is only a fraction longer than the total extended length of the OEM strut and actually slightly shorter than some OEM replacement (non-lift) struts, so you do not need replacement upper control arms.

Don't use the highest (2.8") setting on the Bilsteins with the stock upper control arms. Not because of possible damage but because you might run out of adjustment on the alignment cams. The 1.4" and 2.1" settings will be fine.
 

rwhjr

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I would do 2.8 with some UCAs.

When you’re done throw in a cheap .75” spacer in the rear and it’ll be perfect. That combo just looks more noticeable than 2.1 and it gives you a tad bit more ride height/clearance.

Really makes the work it takes to put Bils on worth it.
 

manogmin

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So I got it taken back apart and put back together correctly this time lol. I like the look of the 2.1. Rides so much better now than with the. Nose in the air and the coil springs over compressed. Thanks everyone for the help. 53518380137d315d914b457bc44ef20f.jpg


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manogmin

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that baby rides like a Cadillac I bet

With the nose so high and the feeling of wanting to leave the ground when I hit a bump from having the springs so compressed, I thought I might take off.


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Mj058

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You do not need to purchase anything else with the Bilsteins to level as long as the struts you have up front right now are your stock ones. Because you will be reusing a part from the stock struts.

You do not need or want a spacer on top of the strut, because the lift/level is provided by the Bilstein strut itself. The total extended length of the Bilstein strut is only a fraction longer than the total extended length of the OEM strut and actually slightly shorter than some OEM replacement (non-lift) struts, so you do not need replacement upper control arms.

Don't use the highest (2.8") setting on the Bilsteins with the stock upper control arms. Not because of possible damage but because you might run out of adjustment on the alignment cams. The 1.4" and 2.1" settings will be fine.


Thank you sir for the information it is a big help.
 

rwhjr

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With the nose so high and the feeling of wanting to leave the ground when I hit a bump from having the springs so compressed, I thought I might take off.


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I thought I read that that’s kind of misleading and more of a placebo to say it rides stiffer at any given setting........because once the weight of the truck is on the strut/spring that the “stiffness” remains constant regardless of 2.1 or 2.8 since the factory springs are linear?
 

kurek

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I thought I read that that’s kind of misleading and more of a placebo to say it rides stiffer at any given setting........because once the weight of the truck is on the strut/spring that the “stiffness” remains constant regardless of 2.1 or 2.8 since the factory springs are linear?

I'm pretty sure this is one of those situations where both sides of the argument are correct because there are 2 different things going on.

Strictly talking preload, the spring is linear and since the truck's weight still compresses the spring beyond the preload, the total load on the spring is the same. When the truck is parked all you've changed is how much of the shock body extends out from under the bottom spring seat - NOT how much weight is on the spring itself. So nothing has changed there.

But what has changed is the minimum weight to engage the spring. Our trucks have around 9 inches of suspension travel and the standard ride height is about in the middle of that so if you lift about 2.8 inches you have less than 2 inches of additional down travel available, and when you run out of down travel the amount of weight needed to engage the front suspension is increased by whatever the preload weight is.
So if you imagine that the stock preload is 50 lbs and you have 4.5 inches of down-travel, you'll always have that smooth gradient of pressure when one tire dips into a pothole or rolls off the far side of a speed bump and when a tire does fully unload it only takes a 50 lb weight to bring the spring back into the picture, not much.
Now if you preload the spring to 300 lbs by shortening the minimum distance between the top and bottom spring seats & you only have 1.7 inches of down-travel available you will more frequently reach the top of your suspension travel and then when the suspension comes back into engagement it takes 300 lbs for the spring to go from "unloaded" to loaded - that's a much bigger gradient you're going to feel.
 
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