2011 Ram Leveling has me worried

[Princeton_Man]

All I wanted was to level my Ram. The tire and muffler shop didn't use Bilstein, so they told me to get what I wanted and they'd install. Today, I arrived with my Bilstein 5100s and a new set of Moog mounts. Which is all I thought I needed. I bought the mounts just in case the current ones might have a lot of rust (they didn't).

They discovered to my surprise that my Ram had spacers! Not even 2" spacers. The truck had a noticeable rake. So I initially told them to leave out the spacers. The mechanic comes back to me and says he believes even with the shocks set to their highest that the truck will set lower without the spacers, so now they're installing the spacers along with the 5100s set to 2".

So far, I've been here about three and a half hours. I'm worried that I'm going to end up driving home needing to raise the rear.

Did I pick the wrong shop? Is it something to do with 2011?

 

[Fishstickz]

If thats a top-mounted spacer, you probably have some daystar 1.5” spacers or similar. Thats what I put on my ‘06 and it has just a LITTLE rake. Spacers get a bad rep because a few people have rough rides, but if you’ve had spacers all this time and didn’t realize it i doubt you’re having the ride quality issues lol

If these are top mounted spacers, to get rid of em they would need the stock coil spring isolators to put back in their place, and his excuse for using the spacers is probably just another way of saying it’d be much easier to use the spacer than it would to track down stock isolators to put in its place. I’d just wait it out and see, if the truck sits too high in the front just lower the bilsteins until your truck is sitting level and call it a day. As long as your ride quality is good and your truck sits level in the end I think you’re in the clear lol


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[Princeton_Man]

If thats a top-mounted spacer, you probably have some daystar 1.5” spacers or similar. Thats what I put on my ‘06 and it has just a LITTLE rake. Spacers get a bad rep because a few people have rough rides, but if you’ve had spacers all this time and didn’t realize it i doubt you’re having the ride quality issues lol

If these are top mounted spacers, to get rid of em they would need the stock coil spring isolators to put back in their place, and his excuse for using the spacers is probably just another way of saying it’d be much easier to use the spacer than it would to track down stock isolators to put in its place. I’d just wait it out and see, if the truck sits too high in the front just lower the bilsteins until your truck is sitting level and call it a day. As long as your ride quality is good and your truck sits level in the end I think you’re in the clear lol


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I appreciate your reply and insight. I'm betting you're spot on about the coil spring isolators.

Been over 4 hours now...

 

[Simpleman]

I've installed bilstein's on many rams even on my own you dont need spacers and over 4 hours to install thats way to long maybe you picked the wrong shop. Hopefully they do a good job how much are they charging you ?

 

[Simpleman]

My ram with bilstein's

 

[Burla]

Wrong shop for sure. Spacers take travel out of suspension, they put extra pressure on ball joints and control arms, you can read the paper out there. The only benefit to spacers is cost, upfront costs that is, if it cost you a ball joint then clearly it will cost more. I don't really blame the shop, if a shop told me they wanted spacers and leveling shocks I would have found a different shop in like 2 seconds.

 

[Fishstickz]

Wrong shop for sure. Spacers take travel out of suspension, they put extra pressure on ball joints and control arms, you can read the paper out there. The only benefit to spacers is cost, upfront costs that is, if it cost you a ball joint then clearly it will cost more. I don't really blame the shop, if a shop told me they wanted spacers and leveling shocks I would have found a different shop in like 2 seconds.

Dang you learn something new every day. I knew adjustable shocks were the way to go, but didn't realize how much spacers limited wheel movement.

If only bilstein loved my '06 2wd enough to make adjustable 5100s for it

 

[Princeton_Man]

I've installed bilstein's on many rams even on my own you dont need spacers and over 4 hours to install thats way to long maybe you picked the wrong shop. Hopefully they do a good job how much are they charging you ?

They said they'd charge the labor for the install plus the alignment. I sure hope they use the book rate and not hourly.

 

[Burla]

There are more risks as well, as in cv boots and axles. At 2.8 alone there is an elevated risk to axles, I know because I lost an axle with this. Now, add a spacer on top of the already elevated risk, just another worry. There is some paper out there that tells of the issue or risk with bills set at 2.8, it is safer at 2.1, but I still want the 2.8. I'd just ask them to take spacer off since you had no desire for cali lean.

 

[Princeton_Man]

My ram with bilstein's

View attachment 232977

Hope mine will look like that when it come out.

 

[Princeton_Man]

There are more risks as well, as in cv boots and axles. At 2.8 alone there is an elevated risk to axles, I know because I lost an axle with this. Now, add a spacer on top of the already elevated risk, just another worry. There is some paper out there that tells of the issue or risk with bills set at 2.8, it is safer at 2.1, but I still want the 2.8. I'd just ask them to take spacer off since you had no desire for cali lean.

I appreciate the advice. Bilsteins were going to stay at the 2" setting. That could still be too much. As suggested earlier by Fishstckz, if the spring isolators aren't present, the spacers may not make much difference. Almost 5 hours now...

 

[Simpleman]

Hope mine will look like that when it come out.

Hope mine will look like that when it come out.

I hope so to enjoy the ride the bilstein's make a big difference

 

[Burla]

They are charging you hourly labor and are on 5 hours?

 

[Princeton_Man]

Well, $450 and now it's 2 inches higher in front. [emoji17]

 

[Burla]

Well, $450 and now it's 2 inches higher in front. [emoji17]

Dont pay it, that is stupid. cause a stink

2 inches, you arent going to correct that by lowering bills to 2.1. The spacers need to be gone. Later on labor to change bills is like an hour a piece, I know because that is what I was quoted when I wanted back to 2.8.

 

[MAJ_Charlie]

Sorry man. Sounds like you got taken. I have the Bils on mine set to 2.8. Been riding that way for over a year and a half now without issue. The instructions for the bils was very straight forward along with videos of guys actually doing the bils. About the only thing I did differently was new MOPAR coil springs up front and upgraded the rears to TUFTRUCK TC-1211 springs. My other suspension upgrades were JBA UCAs up front with SuspensionMAXX sway bar links and all Core 4x4 on the rear. Both sway bars are still my originals. I had a FUN time doing it in my garage. I've put over 50k miles on it since then. I'm about to turn 243k on the clock and still running the original shafts, boots, and joints.

 

[Princeton_Man]

Obviously they are not as experienced as they made themselves out to be and yes they want to charge me $80/hr to remove the spacers, and of course another front end alignment. I have another shop who I should have trusted to do the work in the first place and I'll pay them to remove the spacers and do the alignment.

It's my own fault, I should have taken it to the shop I've trusted for years. These guys made themselves out to experts on truck suspensions and lifting. Back in early summer they sold me my Cooper AT XLTs cheaper than I could buy them online, so I thought I'd give them a little of my business. Instead, they gave me the business.

 

[Brian2081]

Good God, these 1500 front suspensions sound like a pain to lift or drop. Glad I'm sticking to my 2500s.

 

[Tracy in IL]

Can you re-adjust the height setting on bilstein's after the fact without removing them/disconnecting control arms/sway bar/tie rods, etc.?

 

[Princeton_Man]

Can you re-adjust the height setting on bilstein's after the fact without removing them/disconnecting control arms/sway bar/tie rods, etc.?

I don't think so, you'd need to compress the spring and drive the lower spring seat up off from the adjustment ring.

In my case, I'm taking in tomorrow to have the spacers removed. Labor and alignment= another $238. That should make it perfectly level while depleting my truck budget for the rest of the year.