Step 1:
Measure the full amount of droop with the factory strut installed (26 inches)


Step 2:
Take everything out except the control arms. Notice the CV shaft isn't even in there to hold things up, brakes are off, sway bar is disconnected as well as the tie rod ends. The nuts to all of the control arms are broke loose. Measure again (27-1/4 inches) - the pics are for reference, numbers came from holding the tape with 2 hands.


Everything is loose - what's keeping this from drooping out anymore? Answer - The upper balljoint is maxed out. You can now measure the distance from the upper strut mounting plate to where it used to mount... it's almost 1 inch. That's all you can physically fit in there before something is in a bind.

... yes you are correct that there are issues with a stock trucks, but you have to admit that stressing something past the limits it was intended to work is not good. If you never offroad your truck - you'll more than likely never have issues, it'll never see this point of your suspension travel. But as someone else said, if you take it through whoops, or use your truck offroad... it is not the ideal setup and you are asking for problems.

I'm not saying we all go out and buy 100k trophy trucks as daily drivers. All I'm saying is, if you buy a spacer kit - dont put over 1 inch on top of your factory strut - which is really about 1-1/2 inches of lift.

 

jball,

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to post all that!

 

I was looking at either spacers in the front or the Bilistein 5100's. Would you have the same binding issues with the 5100's set at 2.5"? I come from the older Chevy IFS world so I'm a little confused with this suspension setup.

 

I checked out what Bilstein says on their site for the 5100's http://www.bilsteinus.com/leveling/index.php . It looks like all they do is increase the preload and maybe lengthen the strut a little bit (up to that 1 inch I mentioned above). It states they 'prevent over-extension,' so atleast they've looked into it, and are aware that overextending the stock parts is possible. With those different grooves on there, you can adjust your ride height, so you don't have to have it be 2.5" tall - it could be a shorter lift height if you wanted.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Bilstein has legit engineers that took an oath to not endanger the public and to make safe products. Bilstein also has millions of dollars worth of liability insurance they hope to never use. This is also the reason you don't see these replacement strut lift kits on ebay for $60 (you get what you pay for). I'm not saying all engineers are smart, just saying they generally play it safe when it comes to stuff like this... and a big company such as Bilstein wouldn't push out stuff that doesn't work. That's just my 2 cents and a lot of guesses in this last paragraph.

 

I see this made its way over to the 'other place' - I lurk over there occasionally. I would like to see what you get for max droop after you install some of these spacer kits. All you have to do is jack up the front of your truck and measure from the center of the hub to the bottom of the fenderlip. I'm not saying don't buy a certain kit. It's your money you can do whatever you want with it. Somone asked for opinions and I gave mine - backed up with measurements.

FWIW... The balljoint will not limit your downtravel if you install too much top spacer... there is too much preload on your coil to overcome. The coil rate on these trucks is around 500lb/in (Give or take some - I dont have the exact data, it has to be close to that) and there is atleast 3 inches of preload in your front strut... so atleast 1500lbs of force - balljoint is not going to win. The strut is still going to be the limiting factor. Your upper ball joint would be in a bind at full droop with over a 1in tall top spacer... just saying.

My 2 cents on why you get get front driveline vibration in 4wd. The differential is attached directly to the motor. Engine torque will rotate the motor. This will increase the angle of your CV on one side. This means that when you put 2.5" of lift and you get some engine movement one of your CV's is going to be working at a steep angle... bad angles = vibrations. Again - just my 2 cents.

 

i cant find a leveling kit for my truck nor a bigger lift i have a 1998 ram 1500 4*4 5.2 with 4in sus lift (blocks wit coil spacers) any one got any ideas for a bigger lift and leveling kit

 

Thanks for getting those pictures. I hope you don't mind I did quote it over to another forum where we were discussing the issue with a technician from TGC. I have not had problems and that may be because I really don't go hardcore off roading, just on the beach mainly. Still I want to know what they say about this. If I get a chance I will take measurements of mine with the 2.5in leveling kit.

 

I'm interpreting this and your earlier post as:

You will not have a problem with going to full compression, if you install too much top spacer. But, you could break something in/around the ball joint if you go to full extension with too much top spacer installed.


Am I correctly interpreting what you are saying?

 

I don't mind - A different guy here pointed that post out to me. I don't check that place out too often, maybe once a week... Forums you have to work your way up the ladder, and I'm just going to stick to this one. I bet people see 30 posts and think I have no clue... but in reality I don't have a lot of time to spend on here. Today is a slow day - not a lot going on in the shop.

Different people use their trucks differently. I am pretty hard on mine, I jump it at the dunes, go thru fields at 60+mph, lots of rough stuff in the snow... so I use pretty much all the available wheel travel. I also run fox coilovers in the front, and I cycled the suspension without the coils on the coilovers to make sure nothing would bind... a lot of people dont have the luxury of the tools I have access to. If you take it easy, and that's all the harder you are on your truck... you'll probably never have issues.



100% correct

 

Thanks!

And, based on that, isn't it also correct to say that replacing the struts with ones that are more than 1" longer than stock would have the same problems as putting a spacer on top of the stock strut to make it the same length (as this hypothetical replacement strut)?