Time for new shocks.

[GRN69CHV]

Not too many discussions on shocks (other then the 200+ pages on Bilsteins in the lifted section). 4 years old and 58K, I swapped the rear shocks yesterday for Monroe Reflex. If you haven't done it, really easy, took more time to get the truck up on jackstands and get the tools out than to actually pull the wheel well liners and R&R the shocks. I didn't have a 13/16" crowsfoot ( should have bought one), ended up cutting down an old 13/16" open end (other end was 25/32") which I don't think I've ever used, a crows foot would definitely been even easier and quicker.

Back to the shocks, going to try the Reflex, did a little running around last night , rear end seemed to be more tame over the rough roads we have around here (lot of cracks from freeze/thaw). Next up are the fronts. I want to do about 1" front end lift, right now truck has 2" rake (37" F/ 39" R), really don't want it level, just a little added height up front. Leaning to Eibach or Bilstein adjustable (set at .75") or Monroe Reflex with a spacer.

 

[GIJoe2010]

I really like the Eibach Pro spring/shock or Eibach spring on 5100s as the spring seems to be more forgiving on uneven or bumpy roads. The OEM spring is just too stiff on the 5100s so I gave the Eibach springs a try (Thanks to @crazykid1994) and I’m glad I did. I got all my “kit” from @Nick@GotExhaust so he’ll definitely be able to hook you up whichever direction you decide to go.

 

[crazykid1994]

Yea I’m really fond of the eibach springs. Definitely change the feel of the ride. Also for anyone interested, thuren sells a kit that makes swapping rear shocks easier. I have them but have yet to install them. https://www.thurenfabrication.com/09-18-1500-shock-nut-set.html

 

[GIJoe2010]

@crazykid1994 I gotta retry their site for these again, as last time I was on it timed out every time I got to the payment part. Luckily I wasn’t charged but their site was wonky for me on my phone, tablet and computer.

 

[Burla]

Spacers bind the ride and are tied to early ball joint failure, especially in late 4 gens that have the weaker control arms. Some people say they don't "feel" any difference, but feelings are not facts, you take some spring out there will be more pressure downstream pure and simple. I can't figure why anyone would choose spacers over bilsteins, but if you do you should change control arms to something like zones as well. I have my bills set to 2.1, less pressure on CV boots and is exactly what you are looking for as far as rake.

 

[GIJoe2010]

Yea I’m really fond of the eibach springs. Definitely change the feel of the ride. Also for anyone interested, thuren sells a kit that makes swapping rear shocks easier. I have them but have yet to install them. https://www.thurenfabrication.com/09-18-1500-shock-nut-set.html

Website worked for me finally, Happy 4th of July to me.

 

[Burla]

leveling shock versus spacer...

 

[GRN69CHV]

Yea I’m really fond of the eibach springs. Definitely change the feel of the ride. Also for anyone interested, thuren sells a kit that makes swapping rear shocks easier. I have them but have yet to install them. https://www.thurenfabrication.com/09-18-1500-shock-nut-set.html

Eibach springs are 2.75" lift?

Spacers bind the ride and are tied to early ball joint failure, especially in late 4 gens that have the weaker control arms. Some people say they don't "feel" any difference, but feelings are not facts, you take some spring out there will be more pressure downstream pure and simple. I can't figure why anyone would choose spacers over bilsteins, but if you do you should change control arms to something like zones as well. I have my bills set to 2.1, less pressure on CV boots and is exactly what you are looking for as far as rake.

I may be overthinking it, I was really only leaning towards 1" - 1.5" front end lift. Spacers I was considering are coil spring spacers, not strut extensions style.

leveling shock versus spacer...

Confirms my experience with strut style front suspensions. My last truck was Chevy 1500, installed a 1.5" lower mount strut spacer on it (was only about 3/4" thick), put 40,000 miles on it that way before trading it on the RAM. No issues.

 

[crazykid1994]

Front springs at the 0 clip actually only got me ~2” With 1/2” more lift per clip and rear springs are ~1” depending on the truck. I received 1.25” lift in the rear but I have a quad cab.

 

[RLJ10X]

I did spacers several years ago because I was dumb, and didn't know any better. A guy at work, who supposedly knew about such things, "advised" me to do so.

A couple of years after I had spacers put on, the shocks were leaking oil. By that time, I started taking advice fro the knowledgeable guys here, and put Bilsteins on all 4 corners.

The factory front springs are firm, but not overly so, in my opinion. But I can see why guys would change them out, tho.

One nice benifit of raising the front end, and leaving the back alone, is that the tailgate is actually lowered a bit. Think: Seesaw. Anyway, that is helpful for a guy like myself, who often puts a Sport bike on the back of his Ram 1500.

 

[Devildog8791]

Yea I’m really fond of the eibach springs. Definitely change the feel of the ride. Also for anyone interested, thuren sells a kit that makes swapping rear shocks easier. I have them but have yet to install them. https://www.thurenfabrication.com/09-18-1500-shock-nut-set.html

I just used that kit this weekend to do the rear shocks. I didn't think I would use the wrench ever again, but it made torqueing the bottom shock nut a lot easier. Of course the top nut was replaced with the ones in the kit so that was easy to torque down as well.

 

[jlongjohn]

I haul various stuff in the bed, some heavy up to 1k for short distances and then some other stuff for camping and servicing our camp, usually 500lbs average. The truck has 150k and I’m sure would benefit from any new shock, but when hauling or towing what do you all feel is the best rear shock/spring combo for mostly street (although our roads are horrible so basically light off-road) and occasional off road?

 

[Jasfish18]

Yea I’m really fond of the eibach springs. Definitely change the feel of the ride. Also for anyone interested, thuren sells a kit that makes swapping rear shocks easier. I have them but have yet to install them. https://www.thurenfabrication.com/09-18-1500-shock-nut-set.html

I used these when I did my rears, makes it a breeze!

 

[GRN69CHV]

Think I'm going to go with the Eibach adjustable up front. Haven't decided on how much lift, either the .75 or 1.5 setting. See what my mood is when I have them on the bench. Primary interest is smoothing how the suspension reacts on the highways and rural roads in this part of the country, anything except virtually new blacktop you feel everything. Stock Goodyears were very soft and absorbed everything, now running an All Terrain tire and you can definitely feel the difference in a stiffer tire.

 

[mrOAP]

Front springs at the 0 clip actually only got me ~2” With 1/2” more lift per clip and rear springs are ~1” depending on the truck. I received 1.25” lift in the rear but I have a quad cab.

Excuse my ignorance, but with the Eibach and Bils in the fronts your final measurement is 2"ish, right? I'm assuming that you can go higher cause the Bils can get up to 2.75" and the Eibach can be at 3". So this combo can get me 3" of lift in the front and I can level the rear with Eibach rears plus add a small spacer to give a bit of a rake. Is this assumption realistic? Of course the upgrade of the UCA to the Zones will also be a requirement. I was set on just the Bils but am now looking into you and @GIJoe2010 's setup for the comfort. I apologize if this has been addressed before. I'm an internet mechanic who is flying by the seed of his pants.

I really like the Eibach Pro spring/shock or Eibach spring on 5100s as the spring seems to be more forgiving on uneven or bumpy roads. The OEM spring is just too stiff on the 5100s so I gave the Eibach springs a try (Thanks to @crazykid1994) and I’m glad I did. I got all my “kit” from @Nick@GotExhaust so he’ll definitely be able to hook you up whichever direction you decide to go.

what are your settings at?

 

[crazykid1994]

Excuse my ignorance, but with the Eibach and Bils in the fronts your final measurement is 2"ish, right? I'm assuming that you can go higher cause the Bils can get up to 2.75" and the Eibach can be at 3". So this combo can get me 3" of lift in the front and I can level the rear with Eibach rears plus add a small spacer to give a bit of a rake. Is this assumption realistic? Of course the upgrade of the UCA to the Zones will also be a requirement. I was set on just the Bils but am now looking into you and @GIJoe2010 's setup for the comfort. I apologize if this has been addressed before. I'm an internet mechanic who is flying by the seed of his pants.



what are your settings at?

Gijoe and I are running the same setup. Eibach springs on bilstein 5100. At the lowest notch I received almost 2”. I’m sitting at the 3rd notch now and received almost 3”. Some trucks may receive more lift than I did as my truck came factory with the “raised ride height”. The eibach springs are different than eibach struts that can be adjusted up to 3”. You can actually order the eibach full kit which includes the eibach spring and the strut. You can go up to 3.5” with their kit according to them. Just remember not all trucks will receive 3.5” of lift. And crew cabs will receive less lift due to heavier up front.

 

[GIJoe2010]

Piggy-backing off @crazykid1994 the Eibach and 5100 leveling struts are pretty much identical save that they may be valved differently. They both have the same 5 notches for the height adjustment. Where you get the lift is in the spring, it’s roughly 1.5-2” taller than OEM. So when set at the lowest notch you get around 2”, second around 2.5” and 3rd/center you get around 3” of lift. In Eibachs instructions it advises to not go above the 3rd/center notch as it may induce CV angle issues, however, it also states if you are running an aftermarket bumper with (or without) winch it is possible to go higher to counteract the additional weight up front. As @crazykid1994 stated, Eibach sells a complete strut/spring set up for the front and rear.

We speak that we already own the 5100s and don’t need to spend an additional $200 or so for the front Eibach struts as our 5100s are in good shape and not in need of replacement at this time, hence the mix of Eibach spring on 5100 combo.

My settings are the same as @crazykid1994 5100s on third notch using the Eibach spring, got about 3” lift. It’s same, a touch taller, as I had with 5100s at 2.8 and OEM springs, however the ride is much more forgiving and absorbs the bumps far better. It’s like OEM ride, but with extra lift.

 

[GRN69CHV]

What started this thread was a desire to reduce the jittery suspension since going to an AT tire and build in a little added front end height while it's apart. But not too high, been there, done that long time ago. As I stated earlier, the OEM Spec Goodyear SRA is a quiet smooth tire, very forgiving on the roads in this part of the country. I've driven in Texas, Florida, Arizona many times, worst of those roads are on par with an average road in Penna, Michigan or Indiana due to frost heaves. Worst paved roads here might as well be gravel.

Replacing the rears first rally made me notice how much the stock front end jitters, definitely not reacting fast enough. FWIW, I'm not opposed to changing out the rear shocks to something else if need be. There's very little discussion out there as to what has been a good experience with shock changes/upgrades other than guys doing much higher lifts.

 

[GIJoe2010]

@GRN69CHV see @ram1500rsm. He doesn’t have a giant lift and has compiled numerous PDFs on various front and rear shocks, UCAs, front and rear springs and general upgrades in the suspension department. You may want to check out his posts/threads as he is a wealth of information on suspension matters as he has run a number of various setups without doing a full on lift.

Also, we’re all enthusiasts and don’t have endless funds to try everything under the sun, that’s the reason we’re here: to gain knowledge and share our knowledge and experiences with the rest.

Also, @crazykid1994 and myself are running what one could call a “level plus”. A good 2.5-3” of lift all around using quality springs/shocks and supporting components (Helwig rear sway bar and extended endlinks, SuspensionMaxx front endlinks, aftermarket front UCAs, aftermarket rear UCA/LCAs & panhard bar, etc) which is key as well to making the suspension happy and to make the ride as pleasurable yet usable both on and off-road.

So when in doubt, use the search bar a bit more often and hopefully you’ll find the answer you want.

 

[NOV87]

I have this setup for front and rear. Rough Country in the front and Eibach in rear. Really happy with it. Much better than stock.
https://www.ramforum.com/threads/rough-country-2-coilovers-installed.160920/