bilstein 5100's front question

[afg10000]

Have a question. I'm a little new to this and have my build plan. Replaced original front shocks yesterday with Bilstein 5100's on their lowest setting. It was quite an adventure mainly due to constantly battling old bolts that are rusted and locked. I used my bolt loosener juice, but still had to do plenty of cutting. My question is - Our biggest problem was getting the LCA down far enough to get the bottom shock housing in place, even at the lowest setting. I'm going to lift the truck next year but my shocks were beyond gone, hence why I went with the 5100's so I wouldn't have to buy shocks twice. What am I going to have to do when I remove the coilover assembly and raise the shock to it's highest setting in order to get the the bottom shock housing into the LCA? It was difficult enough at stock height.

 

[blonde1boarder]

You can use the stock bottle jack between the upper control arm and the wheel well and extend it which will push the lower control arm down so you can get the bolt in. That's what I did with my 5100 install up front.

 

[Qyota]

It's a pain. I had the same problem. Ended up sitting on the end of a 5-foot piece of black pipe, wedged in and levering down the LCA. It took everything I had to get that sucker in. A friend helping would have made it marginally easier.

 

[absalom]

You can compress the shock assembly while it's still in position and then remove the tophat nut. Then you can slowly lower the bottom A-arm, and voila ... no need for hard spring removal/installation and sketchy spring compression tool.

 

[RussToy]

It's a pain. I had the same problem. Ended up sitting on the end of a 5-foot piece of black pipe, wedged in and levering down the LCA. It took everything I had to get that sucker in. A friend helping would have made it marginally easier.

X2...this is what I had to do. Major pain and I did have a buddy helping. Could not even imagin doing it without help!

 

[cj80cruiser]

Have a question. I'm a little new to this and have my build plan. Replaced original front shocks yesterday with Bilstein 5100's on their lowest setting. It was quite an adventure mainly due to constantly battling old bolts that are rusted and locked. I used my bolt loosener juice, but still had to do plenty of cutting. My question is - Our biggest problem was getting the LCA down far enough to get the bottom shock housing in place, even at the lowest setting. I'm going to lift the truck next year but my shocks were beyond gone, hence why I went with the 5100's so I wouldn't have to buy shocks twice. What am I going to have to do when I remove the coilover assembly and raise the shock to it's highest setting in order to get the the bottom shock housing into the LCA? It was difficult enough at stock height.

Sometime in the next couple weeks I'm planning to adjust my 5100s while they are still on the truck. My plan is to use those coil compressors you can rent from autozone. I'll post up about whether it works or too much of a pain to do on the truck.

 

[ToyTec Lifts]

Have a question. I'm a little new to this and have my build plan. Replaced original front shocks yesterday with Bilstein 5100's on their lowest setting. It was quite an adventure mainly due to constantly battling old bolts that are rusted and locked. I used my bolt loosener juice, but still had to do plenty of cutting. My question is - Our biggest problem was getting the LCA down far enough to get the bottom shock housing in place, even at the lowest setting. I'm going to lift the truck next year but my shocks were beyond gone, hence why I went with the 5100's so I wouldn't have to buy shocks twice. What am I going to have to do when I remove the coilover assembly and raise the shock to it's highest setting in order to get the the bottom shock housing into the LCA? It was difficult enough at stock height.

It won't be any different with the clip and the top or at the bottom. The shock is fully extended to the same position no matter where the clip is set. The clip is just increasing the spring tension.

Feel free to call or PM me if you have any questions!
:cheers:
Dylan