2017 Ram 1500 Night Edition “Wanda”

[crazykid1994]

From the top of the mounting plate to the middle of the eye hole I’m getting 22 3/4”
That’s at whatever the icon setting is - I guess 2.5” lift

Well your extended length has 0 to do with actual lift height. That is in correlation to total droop. The preload will be your lift height. 22-3/4” full length is already over an inch longer than bilstein 5100. You’ll have around 2” more down travel over bilsteins alone. I would ixnay using the rough country top spacer. The bilstein 5100 is around 21.5” plus the spacer is 1/4” thick. More than likely the 1/4” thick spacer won’t be enough to cause binding in the cv at full droop but I wouldn’t use it just to be safe. You could crank the preload a bit higher and sit at 2.75” or 3”. However that is above their recommended height as it can degrade the off-road ride characteristics

 

[crazykid1994]

From the top of the mounting plate to the middle of the eye hole I’m getting 22 3/4”
That’s at whatever the icon setting is - I guess 2.5” lift

@ram1500rsm want to add this to your list?

 

[healthyrx]

Well your extended length has 0 to do with actual lift height. That is in correlation to total droop. The preload will be your lift height. 22-3/4” full length is already over an inch longer than bilstein 5100. You’ll have around 2” more down travel over bilsteins alone. I would ixnay using the rough country top spacer. The bilstein 5100 is around 21.5” plus the spacer is 1/4” thick. More than likely the 1/4” thick spacer won’t be enough to cause binding in the cv at full droop but I wouldn’t use it just to be safe. You could crank the preload a bit higher and sit at 2.75” or 3”. However that is above their recommended height as it can degrade the off-road ride characteristics

I'm thinking what I will probably do is call icon and verify that 1.3" of exposed threads from the top of the collar is their max recommended setting and then probably set the truck to something in the range of 2.75" and put the RC spacer, set the truck on the ground and see how the CV angles look on flat ground with the JBA UCAs on then go from there in deciding if Im going to keep the spacer on or not

 

[crazykid1994]

I'm thinking what I will probably do is call icon and verify that 1.3" of exposed threads from the top of the collar is their max recommended setting and then probably set the truck to something in the range of 2.75" and put the RC spacer, set the truck on the ground and see how the CV angles look on flat ground with the JBA UCAs on then go from there in deciding if Im going to keep the spacer on or not

The proper test would be to leave the front end jacked off the ground and hand spin the tires to feel for binding. Turn the steering max to both sides while spinning the tires by hand. That will tell you if you’ll have any issues. If not then good to go. Your cv angles should be exactly the same angle if the vehicle is at the same lift height

 

[healthyrx]

The proper test would be to leave the front end jacked off the ground and hand spin the tires to feel for binding. Turn the steering max to both sides while spinning the tires by hand. That will tell you if you’ll have any issues. If not then good to go. Your cv angles should be exactly the same angle if the vehicle is at the same lift height

oh, well then thats even easier for me to do!

 

[ram1500rsm]

@ram1500rsm want to add this to your list?

I think i had that number from Hodge when he got his installed. I haven't updated the list in a while though

 

[ram1500rsm]

I'm thinking what I will probably do is call icon and verify that 1.3" of exposed threads from the top of the collar is their max recommended setting and then probably set the truck to something in the range of 2.75" and put the RC spacer, set the truck on the ground and see how the CV angles look on flat ground with the JBA UCAs on then go from there in deciding if Im going to keep the spacer on or not

Do not add any spacers. You already have extended travel in those coilovers. Just turn the adjuster 1 or 2 full turns.

 

[healthyrx]

Do not add any spacers. You already have extended travel in those coilovers. Just turn the adjuster 1 or 2 full turns.

Gotcha, now I see what you and @crazykid1994 were getting at. No spacers will go in tomorrow!

 

[healthyrx]

Well I got the icons installed! The whole process from start to finish took me about 5 hours. I decided not to install my UCAs and I’ll have the dealer install them tomorrow when I take the truck in for service.
Against y’all’s better advice I decided to use the 1/4” top plate spacers BUT I left the icons at 2.5” lift height- where they came preset to.
The drivers side was one struggle because I tried to do it at first without taking the brake caliper off and realized I couldn’t push the lower control arm down far enough to get the eibach/Bilsteins off.
The passenger side was far more challenging because the icon lower mount was for some reason ever so slightly too narrow to fit over the LCA bushing (yes I did triple check that the passenger side shock was going on the passenger side) so I had to do some advanced “yoga” to get the top mounts threaded in and then use a 2’ pry bar to convince the icon lower mount to fit over the lca.
All worked out in the end, put everything on hand tight, dropped the truck on the ground and torqued to spec

Driver side cv angle at full droop with eibach pro lift in front set @ 2nd notch + 1/2 spacer

Driver side cv at full droop with icon set at 2.5” + 1/2 spacer


Icon and eibach setup next to each other the icon is just barely shorter than the eibach shock

 

[healthyrx]

Duplicate

 

[crazykid1994]

That’s interesting. I always thought the icons and other high end shocks were longer than the bilsteins and eibach…. Now I’m scratching my head trying to figure out where the 21.5 came from for the bilsteins vs your 22.75 being about the same length. Because that would mean the eibach should be the same 22.5-22.75. Next time I can I’ll end up measuring my bilstein again to see the length but that very well might be without the strut top mount which adds a bit to them.

 

[healthyrx]

That’s interesting. I always thought the icons and other high end shocks were longer than the bilsteins and eibach…. Now I’m scratching my head trying to figure out where the 21.5 came from for the bilsteins vs your 22.75 being about the same length. Because that would mean the eibach should be the same 22.5-22.75. Next time I can I’ll end up measuring my bilstein again to see the length but that very well might be without the strut top mount which adds a bit to them.

In this pic the eibach still has the RC top plate spacer on it! It’s more like 1/8” difference in height between the icon and eibach I think, the picture just makes it hard to tell
Later today I’ll measure the length of the eibach for you

 

[healthyrx]

That’s interesting. I always thought the icons and other high end shocks were longer than the bilsteins and eibach…. Now I’m scratching my head trying to figure out where the 21.5 came from for the bilsteins vs your 22.75 being about the same length. Because that would mean the eibach should be the same 22.5-22.75. Next time I can I’ll end up measuring my bilstein again to see the length but that very well might be without the strut top mount which adds a bit to them.

Keep in mind that I don’t have the Bilstein 5100s exactly, I have the eibach pro shocks and coils
But they just measured at 22 7/8 from the mounting plate to center of eyelet

 

[crazykid1994]

Keep in mind that I don’t have the Bilstein 5100s exactly, I have the eibach pro shocks and coils
But they just measured at 22 7/8 from the mounting plate to center of eyelet

Eibach and bilstein should be the same. I’m actually wondering if bilstein makes eibachs shocks. Bilstein uses eibach springs on the 6112

 

[healthyrx]

Eibach and bilstein should be the same. I’m actually wondering if bilstein makes eibachs shocks. Bilstein uses eibach springs on the 6112

I was under the impression that they were the same as well, maybe bilstein OEMs custom spec shocks for the eibach pro truck lift?

 

[healthyrx]

Got about 300 miles of driving done this weekend on the Icons + JBA UCAs
Starting with the UCAs
I had the dealership install them for me saturday and do a brake fluid flush, 4 wheel balance and alignment. My local dodge dealer advertises that they do a lot of work for lifted trucks so I figured I'd have a good shot at getting a halfway decent alignment. Thankfully I was right! Don't know if it was a good alignment tech or the UCAs but they got my steering wheel straightend out, they got my alignment dead on so I can actually let go of the steering wheel and not inadvertently change lanes and the balancing finally got the truck smoothed out at 65-69 mph as well! So safe to say Im loving the JBA UCAs

For the coilovers. I havent had them offroad yet but Ive been on trashed highways, smooth highways, old brick roads and my driveway is about 500 ft of crushed concrete.
The driveway used to feel bumpy and I could feel the rocks through my steering wheel- now the driveway feels more like a well maintained, surfaced road
Old trashed highways are the same story
The old brick roads are no longer miserable to drive down and its not bouncing around and shaking out of the seat

The contrast of the icons in front and Bilstein in back is very noticeable. Its not bad and Im not in a huge rush to upgrade the rear to match. But to put it in perspective, if the icons in front drive like a Cadillac, the rear feels like my dads 2017 f450 platinum- so not terrible by any means but definitely more like a truck.

The first thing that came to mind when I was driving with the Icons in the front is that the eibach pro struts felt like the front forks on my honda grom and the icon COs feel like the front forks on my kx250f race bike

 

[j-b]

@healthyrx How much lift did you maintain with them at 2.5 and the .5" spacer? Also did you have room to go up more on the adjustments?

The truck is looking fantastic!

I'm looking to make the upgrade to Icons in the front soon, and want maximum lift while achieving a good ride in the dirt.

 

[crazykid1994]

Guess I’ll spend the money and buy something better than bilstein 6112… you are going to make me cry when I drop that cash. Lol. But I keep hearing people say just go to true coilovers instead of bilstein so guess it’s time.

 

[crazykid1994]

@healthyrx How much lift did you maintain with them at 2.5 and the .5" spacer? Also did you have room to go up more on the adjustments?

The truck is looking fantastic!

I'm looking to make the upgrade to Icons in the front soon, and want maximum lift while achieving a good ride in the dirt.

You don’t want to go over 3” of suspension lift or you’ll run into issues of not enough down travel which will make the ride a bit rougher off-road or over bumps. 2.5” is really the perfect spot but the rough country spacer was a nice touch to technically lengthen the down travel without pushing the cv to the max.

 

[healthyrx]

@healthyrx How much lift did you maintain with them at 2.5 and the .5" spacer? Also did you have room to go up more on the adjustments?

The truck is looking fantastic!

I'm looking to make the upgrade to Icons in the front soon, and want maximum lift while achieving a good ride in the dirt.

SO unfortunately I realized that I never took before measurements with my old lift +body lift, I only have measurements from the lift before the body lift went on, but I did measure the front driverside after the icon + spacer went on and I was at 42.5" from the ground to the fender. I feel like with this new setup, the CV has a fair amount more room to go vs what the eibach pro struts gave me- both those pics on the previous page are the driver side CV at full droop, the eibach picture still has everything connected and the pic of the icon with the CV at full drop is everything 100% disconnected and the CV hanging down as far as it can- no sway bar, no tie rod, no UCA.