Bilsteins with Spacers exception?

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imahnu17

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Hello everyone!

I have a 2018 ram 1500 4x4. See below for build information. I have a very loaded down ram 1500 and just want to get my height back from heavy setup. But my question is with my Bilstein's at 2.8" do you think a .5" or 1.5" front spacer is acceptable for my situation?

My lower control arms and CVs are virtually flat and not angled down at all at least from my eyes, or very slightly angled down. What makes since to me is that the lift “height” doesn’t matter. It’s really about the suspension angles.

my truck is my daily and I use it for camping/overlanding and an occasional off-road trip. For my overlanding I tow a trailer I built which can add an extra 200lbs of tongue weight ontop of my loaded bed. I’ve got some other mods planned out that’ll add some weight on the rear of the truck as well.

Build List:
Stock 20x8 Alloys with Nitto Ridge Grapplers at 295/65R20 - Just over 35" (Gonna replace with 17s with 34s-35s)
Bilstein 5100 at 2.8"
Extended Front Sway Bar Links
Readylift UCAs
Bodyguard Full guard bumper with Smittybilt 12k Winch and Lightbar
Rear TTC-1211 Springs (soon changing to TTC-1223)
Rear Bilstein 5100 (possibly changing to longer Bilstein's to get as close to a 50/50 up travel/downtravel split in rear axle as possible).
Rear Supreme Suspensions 2" spacer (possibly changing to 3")
Rear Sway bar extended links
Leer Camper
Decked Drawer System
Bedslide mounted on top of Decked system

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6.7CumminsDrvr

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I wouldn’t do it. If your sagging due to weight the spacer will just exasperate the issue but probably not before you over extend something up front. Sounds to me like you might need a stiffer spring up front.
 
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imahnu17

imahnu17

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What do you think will be over extended what up front? I've looked into the Cargomaxx HD springs for the front but haven't gotten replies back from their customer support. They say a 30% increase in capacity but I want to make sure the actual spring rate is enough of an increase to make a difference. The reason I say that is the 1211 I have on the rear says a 50% increase just like the 1223 springs say, the difference is the 1211 has a 319lb/in rate versus a 420lb/in rate of the 1223 springs.
 

ram1500rsm

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1/2" top spacers will be totally ok. 5100's are stock length struts. adding a simple 1/2" top spacer makes them almost like a extended travel strut. Do not add more than 1/2 top spacers though.
Not all 1/2 spacers are created equal though especially since you're running 5100's.

@crazykid1994 or @hodge-xj have done some experimentation and found the 1/2" spacers from this kit will be you best option for 5100's because the center hole for the strut shaft is the same diameter as the stock one, and you want that in your 5100's for a set it and forget install.
This is the kit they bought, only use the 1/2 spacers from it.

Contact RC and see if they can sell you only the 1/2" spacers. if so ask them for a part# for reference .Do not add the big ones at the top. You want the flat ones at the bottom of this pic as those are the 1/2 spacers. if they can't separate the spacers the kit is only $60 so you can use the 1/2 spacers and sell the top ones or use those big ones in the shooting range :)

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imahnu17

imahnu17

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@ram1500rsm Interesting points. I looked into their build threads and saw that the open top spacers cause issues over time so I take it the RC spacer doesn't allow that issue to start due to the size of the center opening? I'd definitely want to avoid a preload spacer in that kit but $60 isn't much and I maybe be able to find a different purpose for the preload spacers anyway. Sounds like a plan moving forward. I'm thinking I might try these out. (https://wulfsuspensions.com/collect...ing-lift-kit-for-2013-2018-dodge-ram-1500-4x4) They appear to have the smaller top opening similar to the RC .5" kit. Thought is, if they cause issues or my CV and CA angles are too harsh I can swap it out for the .5" spacers then give the 1.5" to my brother who is looking for a small leveling kit.
 

crazykid1994

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I would not do a 1.5” spacer over the bilstein 5100. Very very good chance of premature cv wear. You read my thread and I’ve got eibach springs set at the 3rd notch (which was 3” for me before my bumper) and the 1/2” RC spacer to make up for my bumper. I contacted eibach and they said you can go up to the 4th notch if you have a heavy off-road bumper. That may be a good option for you. My truck sits 3” lifted front
 
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imahnu17

imahnu17

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I take it the Eibach unit is a full strut assembly? That may be a better choice all the way around. I believe my front bumper as it’s setup weighs approximately 300lbs. I’ll look into that!

FC27ADF0-B6A3-4C90-8498-5124EEEB8881.jpeg
 

ram1500rsm

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Eibachs are not exactly a full assembly as you have to transfer your factory top stuff like you did with your 5100's but they also offer a set of aftermarket coil springs which i had competely forgotten about but they're good for 2.5" in theory without using the notches in the strut, i think in reality everybody have found 2.5" on the 2nd notch if i recall correctly. so you can use the strut and springs to your advantage since you have a fairly heavy setup.
 
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imahnu17

imahnu17

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Sounds good to me! Looks like I’ve got a new game plan.

For the rear, does eibach offer longer shocks then the 1” lift ones I see? I haven’t found much besides them. I’d prefer to not use different shocks front and rear.
 

ram1500rsm

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Nope, they only have a 0-1" lift ones. If you want longer shocks then you have some options but none are from Eibach. check post#17 here
Any of the rear shocks that are 25-26" extended will work with those Eibach/Bistein 0-1 springs.
27-28" extended shocks will work with the Icon 1.5"
If you're into expedition/overlanding and your rig's bed have around 500lbs or more, Clayton 2.5" are your ticket to 29-30" rear shocks with just 1.5-2" lift. I've had both Icon and now Clayton's. Before you ask Clayton are Jeep Gladiator springs, before you ask, they'll blow away ANY RAM 1500 specific coil spring in terms on weight management, they're not stock Jeep coils, and no they don't increase your payload. payload is written off by the manufacturer, only way to legally increase your paylod is for you to drop weight out of your truck :), but they do increase the amount of lbs you can carry without sagging like the stockers do.
 

crazykid1994

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I have the eibach springs on my bilstein 5100 as I already had the bilstein 5100. Can always contact arbusa as well about their heavy load front setup. And the bilstein 5100 rear shocks will work with the eibach rear springs too. My exact setup before.
 
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imahnu17

imahnu17

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Nope, they only have a 0-1" lift ones. If you want longer shocks then you have some options but none are from Eibach. check post#17 here
Any of the rear shocks that are 25-26" extended will work with those Eibach/Bistein 0-1 springs.
27-28" extended shocks will work with the Icon 1.5"
If you're into expedition/overlanding and your rig's bed have around 500lbs or more, Clayton 2.5" are your ticket to 29-30" rear shocks with just 1.5-2" lift. I've had both Icon and now Clayton's. Before you ask Clayton are Jeep Gladiator springs, before you ask, they'll blow away ANY RAM 1500 specific coil spring in terms on weight management, they're not stock Jeep coils, and no they don't increase your payload. payload is written off by the manufacturer, only way to legally increase your paylod is for you to drop weight out of your truck :), but they do increase the amount of lbs you can carry without sagging like the stockers do.
That’s some great information and a wonderful resource to check!

I understand there’s no way to increase payload. In Australia you actually can legally but not here in the US. Fun fact.

expedition/overlanding is my main concern for the performance of the truck. That being said you have one thing I noticed that’s not correct on your rear spring sheet. The TTC-1223 spring has a spring rate of 420lbs/in and a free length of 17.8”. Just confirmed that on Wednesday. Those will be my choice for rear spring simply for that reason, between what’s on my truck 24/7 and the swing away tire carrier and bumper I’m gonna get and my trailer I need the highest rate coil I can get.

I may have misread but am I correct in saying that the rear control arms from the gladiator will work on a ram 1500?

I greatly appreciate yalls help in this!
 
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imahnu17

imahnu17

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In Australia you can get your payload increased to the combination of your axle weight ratings. So rams over there can have a GVWR of 7,800lbs
 

hodge-xj

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So I'm late to the party here, but I have tried this exact setup you're thinking of, so I speak from experience.

I ran a 1.5" lift spacer on top of my old 6112s and adjusted my preload accordingly so I remained around 2.75" total lift. The issue was, that even though the actual spacer itself is only 1" I still ended up over extending the cv shafts at droop. If you could source high angle CV shafts similar to RCVs it could be rectified but, that's an expensive solution to an easily avoided issue.

The smaller .5" spacers are 1/4" thick and honestly are a non factor and would be the route I would go for that last little bump in height. As noted by crazykid in here, the eibach coils paired with 5100s is a great combo, and with that bumper on yours, I would look into the Ecodiesel coils from them as well, just to gain a little more rate. Otherwise you're pretty much stuck to custom coilovers and that's a kick in the wallet.

In the rear, gladiator coils FTW. I'm running Synergy 2" lift coils and with my icons set to about 2-2.25" lift I have about 1.5" rake. I had 750lbs I took to the dump, and it was all loaded to the rear of the bed. Due to my bed box I really only have 3.5' of useable bed and it sat exactly level. I paired that with BDS fox 2.0s for a 3" lift and they're 28"/16.6". The coils are long enough the shocks are totally useable and I don't unseat a coil at full droop.

Simplicity is key with these trucks, and I really have to say don't make the mistake i did. I'm actually replacing my CVs and front end stuff yet again because I used cheap parts when I had to fix the worn out stuff in a pinch.
 

hodge-xj

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Side note. I still have my old 1/2" spacers from the rough country kit ram1500rsm linked. If you're interested in them shoot me a PM and I can get them sent out to you Tuesday. Free, just pay shipping.

I don't need them anymore since I'm running icons.
 
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imahnu17

imahnu17

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Alright guys, update time. So I went back and looked I measurements from before and after my bils at 2.8 and realized I really only had about 1.75-2” of lift out of them. In the rear I had about 1” of lift ( in the rear I had a 2” spacer and TTC-1211s with bils 5100.

So I took everyone’s idea of using the RC .5” spacer on top of my bilsteins at 2.8” and it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. So instead I got some 1.5” maxtrac spacers and added them and it’s almost perfect. In regards to clearance I don’t have any issues, I’ll have to check with my wheels turned to see if that makes a difference but with wheels straight there’s no issues. My upper ball joint is perfect and my CV and LCA are hardly pointed down. Ride feels great and no vibrations.

In the rear I kept the same 2” spacer but put on TTC-1223 springs. We will have to see where they settle at but I’m surprised how much higher they make the truck sit even with the extra weight I have on my truck at all times. I’d have to say I love the TTC-1223s as far as control goes. They definitely rebound less when hitting big holes and bumps than the 1211’s. I’ve got a set of FOX rear shocks that are 28.00”/16.6” to go on the rear. At full droop my springs won’t come unseated and my brake lines track bar and sway bar links will still have some travel left in them. I also added a new adjustable track bar. Last thing I gotta do is add my new bumpstops.

I appreciate y’all’s help and insight a lot!
I’ll be adding pictures shortly.
 

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Hookedup87

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Guys. Getting ready to do my suspension and need your opinions. In the rear have Bils 5100 ready to go in with the tuff truck stock height variable rate springs and a 1” Daystar spacer. In the front I have Bils 5100 which I’m planning on setting at 2.8 and a set of Mevotech TTX UCA’s. My question is do you think she is gonna still have a slight rake? If so, do you think that 1/2” spacer from that RC kit would solve that problem?
 
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imahnu17

imahnu17

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I’d say it would be pretty close to level with that. However have you measured your truck to figure out how much rake you have? If you’re closer to 3” then you’ll likely need the .5” RC spacer. If you’re closer to 2” then you most likely won’t need it.
 

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Haven’t measured it, but will today. My numbers will be a bit off what you are saying because the truck currently has a 2” ReadyLift spacer on the front, but I get what you are saying. Thanks
 
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imahnu17

imahnu17

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So you’re wanting to put the bils at 2.8 with the 2” spacer? if I’m understanding right. For that I wouldn’t recommend it. The only reason I can is because my truck sits pretty heavy with my bumper and winch so the bils at 2.8 really only give 1.75-2” of lift over Stock. Unless you have the same weight on the front end I think that much height would cause issues with your control arms and CV’s.
 
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