Hodges 2016 Bilstein Build

[Nick@GotExhaust]

It all shipped today

 

[hodge-xj]

1/2 way there

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[mike19950]

 

[hodge-xj]

Front end is complete. Install went smooth aside from equipment issues. It was 10* this morning and I ended up blowing my big floor Jack out. Not the best start to things. My little Jack struggles to lift the truck. Anywho. I won't bore you with install stuff as it's status quo, but I didn't get to cycle the suspension empty and check wheel travel numbers like I had hoped.

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[hodge-xj]

Ride Quality: my truck had spacers installed by the previous owner so I can't comment on the ride compared to a completely oem truck. My spacers rode awful, and I'll start a new thread on those reasoning soon, but I attached a picture in this thread of the damages I had incurred.

On the road, the small imperfections are there, but they aren't really more than a tiny thump. The bigger the hit, the smoother these things are. I hit a few spots that are chewed up and it rides incredibly well. I'd compare it to a nice European sedan, firm but compliant. The damping is very nice and they should smooth out a bit as they break in. IF you can track these down, I highly suggest them as I don't imagine 5100s ride even close to these. There's nothing close to harsh, it's 100% smooth and firm. Brake dive, body roll and nose float are all gone. By far a worth while upgrade. I'll update more detail after I log some decent miles.

Measurements:
Level spacer: 38"
6112s: 39.5"
Rear sits at 39.5" stock with 10psi in the bags
Spacer size: 1 5/8"

1 5/8 (spacer size) x 1.5 (leverage ratio of ifs) = 2.4375 (actual lift gained at the wheels)

6" (shocks stroke) x 1.5 ( leverage ratio of ifs) = 9" wheel travel.

so I'm gonna say that the rough calculations I had discussed with thuren were in fact correct. I was unsure of this, my memory isn't always perfect. So in fact we do have roughly 9-10" of wheel travel packed into the front ends of these trucks. I'm surprised to say the least. Once it settles to it's final height and I get a proper Jack, I'll see what my droop numbers are. Most of our travel is gonna be compression side, but it's still generous for an oem setup. Arbitrary mostly but interesting nonetheless.


I always had about 1/2-3/4" rake previously, so I assume the spacers I removed were for 2.5" level. Since they were previously installed that's speculation as idk what the rake originally was.
I maxed out the 6112s as per the instructions, since they are supposed to settle to about 2.3 inches of total lift. Should take a while so I'll keep my eye on this. My spacer measurement was never as consistent, I couldn't ever figure out why but it was always between 38 and 39. [emoji848] The overall length was just about 1" shorter than the strut spacer combo so the indeed are longer than the oem struts. Angles all look good, there's enough pics of that floating around that I don't think they are necessary.

Price:
6112s- $700
Parts to assemble + assembly - $485 [emoji54]

I had to buy ALL new strut hardware, my own stuff was unusable. After looking around I went with mopar stuff, I just didn't like the quality of the replacement stuff compared to oem. Yea I paid a bit through the nose but the hardware itself is just such higher quality I wasn't putting **** on a set of shocks i intend to have last the life of the truck. The shop I use also charges 110$/hr for labor so it adds up quick, but I have a warranty, customer service and longevity with this setup so I figure buy once cry once. I posted all the parts and PNs in the beginning of this thread.

Rear suspension should be installed next weekend weather and floor Jack pending [emoji106]

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[mike19950]

Looks good. I have one of the new orange Daytona jacks from harbor freight. Works great and goes high enough to lift the truck. It's the 3 ton low profile long reach one. That is if your going to get a new one.

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[hodge-xj]

I need a new one!

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[ram1500rsm]

I have 2 jacks i bought from Harbor Freight at least 4 years ago, still working like champs, 2 ton HD low profile, (this sucker can lift high, it's what i used in my JKU) and 3 ton HD, i used both one way or the other when i'm doing crap to the trucks along with HF jacks.

 

[hodge-xj]

I gotta check em out. HF is usually low quality but some stuff is still decent. I have one by me I'll go check it out.

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[mike19950]

They have really stepped up on some things recently. The Daytona line of jacks being one of them. Mine lifts almost 24" and is beefy a.f.

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[hodge-xj]

I definitely need this.

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[mike19950]

https://m.harborfreight.com/3-ton-l...vy-duty-floor-jack-with-rapid-pump-64241.html

It's on sale too! Too bad they don't let you use their 20% coupons on them too.

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[hodge-xj]

That's a legit looking unit!

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[joshuaeb09]

I need a new one!

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Best thing I learned from my old man on those jacks, change the oil to a good ATF and the hydraulic's will last longer.

 

[joshuaeb09]

Ride Quality: my truck had spacers installed by the previous owner so I can't comment on the ride compared to a completely oem truck. My spacers rode awful, and I'll start a new thread on those reasoning soon, but I attached a picture in this thread of the damages I had incurred.

On the road, the small imperfections are there, but they aren't really more than a tiny thump. The bigger the hit, the smoother these things are. I hit a few spots that are chewed up and it rides incredibly well. I'd compare it to a nice European sedan, firm but compliant. The damping is very nice and they should smooth out a bit as they break in. IF you can track these down, I highly suggest them as I don't imagine 5100s ride even close to these. There's nothing close to harsh, it's 100% smooth and firm. Brake dive, body roll and nose float are all gone. By far a worth while upgrade. I'll update more detail after I log some decent miles.

Measurements:
Level spacer: 38"
6112s: 39.5"
Rear sits at 39.5" stock with 10psi in the bags
Spacer size: 1 5/8"

1 5/8 (spacer size) x 1.5 (leverage ratio of ifs) = 2.4375 (actual lift gained at the wheels)

6" (shocks stroke) x 1.5 ( leverage ratio of ifs) = 9" wheel travel.

so I'm gonna say that the rough calculations I had discussed with thuren were in fact correct. I was unsure of this, my memory isn't always perfect. So in fact we do have roughly 9-10" of wheel travel packed into the front ends of these trucks. I'm surprised to say the least. Once it settles to it's final height and I get a proper Jack, I'll see what my droop numbers are. Most of our travel is gonna be compression side, but it's still generous for an oem setup. Arbitrary mostly but interesting nonetheless.


I always had about 1/2-3/4" rake previously, so I assume the spacers I removed were for 2.5" level. Since they were previously installed that's speculation as idk what the rake originally was.
I maxed out the 6112s as per the instructions, since they are supposed to settle to about 2.3 inches of total lift. Should take a while so I'll keep my eye on this. My spacer measurement was never as consistent, I couldn't ever figure out why but it was always between 38 and 39. [emoji848] The overall length was just about 1" shorter than the strut spacer combo so the indeed are longer than the oem struts. Angles all look good, there's enough pics of that floating around that I don't think they are necessary.

Price:
6112s- $700
Parts to assemble + assembly - $485 [emoji54]

I had to buy ALL new strut hardware, my own stuff was unusable. After looking around I went with mopar stuff, I just didn't like the quality of the replacement stuff compared to oem. Yea I paid a bit through the nose but the hardware itself is just such higher quality I wasn't putting **** on a set of shocks i intend to have last the life of the truck. The shop I use also charges 110$/hr for labor so it adds up quick, but I have a warranty, customer service and longevity with this setup so I figure buy once cry once. I posted all the parts and PNs in the beginning of this thread.

Rear suspension should be installed next weekend weather and floor Jack pending [emoji106]

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Still looking forward to your experience with the Billstein rear springs over stock before I make a decision. Hmm while I certain the 6112's be world's better than my 5100's looking at the price breakdown w/new hardware almost might spend the extra to get some king's up front. That or see what Nick can do for the icon stage 4 kit. While I know Icon's top mounts are known to break I ain't out in baja or trying to jump a ram.

 

[hodge-xj]

Best thing I learned from my old man on those jacks, change the oil to a good ATF and the hydraulic's will last longer.

That's interesting, I thought you couldn't use atf in hydraulic pistons because it compresses.

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[joshuaeb09]

That's interesting, I thought you couldn't use atf in hydraulic pistons because it compresses.

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ATF is hydraulic fluid at the end of the day, but it has a way better additive package than cheap jack oil. You could also use a premium hydraulic fluid like some of the shops do in their jacks, but why bother when ATF is readily available.

 

[hodge-xj]

Still looking forward to your experience with the Billstein rear springs over stock before I make a decision. Hmm while I certain the 6112's be world's better than my 5100's looking at the price breakdown w/new hardware almost might spend the extra to get some king's up front. That or see what Nick can do for the icon stage 4 kit. While I know Icon's top mounts are known to break I ain't out in baja or trying to jump a ram.

Yea, like I said I paid through the nose for oem. They charge for each individual piece of the upper mount, it's not all one kit. This alone put this kit in the same price range as Fox's 2.0 kit if I were to add the icon springs into that combo for the rear. But I can say I believe these 6112s would out perform the Fox's up front. They are absolutely massive, there's no replacement for displacement. All in I'm still going to be under 1500$. I'll take that for a suspension that will out perform everything I'll be doing with this truck. Plus I know bilsteins can handle the north east winters better than kings, those things are high maintenance in corrosive environments. Kings would have put me at 2500$ from thuren and icon stage 2 or 3 was about 2k. So I still came in under those, which were really my only other options. I don't even need all this fancy stuff, but I like my trucks to ride as best as possible. I spend too much time driving to be uncomfortable. Looks is another story, it looks the work truck part, but that's ok, function over form for me.

In a perfect world I'd have shopped around more, but I'm impulsive, and 6112s are so inconsistently in stock i just jumped on them.

Nick at got exhaust has been a tremendous help in all aspects. He can and will get members awesome prices, and is top notch when it comes to anything and everything customer service related. I hounded him a lot through this and without his help it would have been much more aggravating. If you need anything, he's the man to get ahold of.

I want this thread to be informative on what parts to get, and I'll be up front about costs, if your savvy, you can beat my cost definitely, but either way 1500$ and my truck will keep me happy for a long time. I was in the position I needed front suspension tho, I had about 2" of dead stroke, where the strut shaft was literally floating unsupported before it would actually hit something and engage the shock. This thing was starting to drive terrible so I pulled the trigger on what I wanted.

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[hodge-xj]

ATF is hydraulic fluid at the end of the day, but it has a way better additive package than cheap jack oil. You could also use a premium hydraulic fluid like some of the shops do in their jacks, but why bother when ATF is readily available.

Never knew that, I'll definitely keep that in mind! I know atf has so many wild uses with the detergents in it. I used it as a motor flush on old junk yard 350s and stuff playing around in hot rod shops when I was younger. I just grabbed cheap stuff to try and save my Jack, to no avail.

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[hodge-xj]

Also, I wanted to run a suspension combo nobody had yet, and get some more info into our database. Just for giggles really. Ram1500rsm has his king setup, Mike has the eibach, I have a bilstein setup, victorlawson has icons coming, Midwestexpress is putting together a setup, among a few other member who put together some sweet setups, everyone should have a nice selection and examples to help see what fits their needs and price ranges.

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