Bilstein 5100 DIY Install (Pic Heavy)
Rookie
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 99
Likes: 0
From: Vermont
When I put my 2" Spacers on I had to use a spring compressor attached to get the shock/spring assy back in and alot of prying on the lower control arm. It was a pain in the ***. Wondering how yours went in without the spring compressed?
Thread Starter
|
Record Breaker
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,035
Likes: 2
From: South, FL
I have mine sent to the 2.8" setting and it was tough to get in...I just had my buddy put some force on the LCA. Plus the bilstein was set at a higher setting the spring is compressed more than it was w/ the factory spring w/ the stock struts.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Mikeyyy:
Im going to to be tackiling this using your writeup this weekend. I am going to be doing it at a base hobby shop so Ill have access to teh C clamp compressor and the wall mount in your pics as well as a lift. I plan to have the dude at the hobby shop hang on the LCA to get teh strut back in.
Did you run into any snags that you can think of to give me a heads up?
How long did it take you (and how mecanically savvy are you?) I ask because if if took you 1 hour and you are an ASE cert tech, then I can add some time to yours.
How confusing were the instructions that came with the bilstein to follow to put the strut together? Were they easy to follow with parts in hand?
Lastly did you measure the front lift before and after? I saw you said you set them at 2.8" did you get 2.8'? just trying to gauge, where im going to set mine so I can nail it first time and not have to re adjust them. I bought the struts and shocks. Im going to measure the gain on the rear (if any) after i put them in and then do the front. In a perfect world id like to retain .5-1" of rake in the front, but well see what i end up with.
Thanks for the Write up BTW... probably the most comvincing piece i have read to push me to do it myself. i have never done any suspension work ( or any work to my warrantied cars) so i am a nervouls little girl about it. Ripped into a cam and RR swap on my 95 camaro, but that was a garage queen...
Im going to to be tackiling this using your writeup this weekend. I am going to be doing it at a base hobby shop so Ill have access to teh C clamp compressor and the wall mount in your pics as well as a lift. I plan to have the dude at the hobby shop hang on the LCA to get teh strut back in.
Did you run into any snags that you can think of to give me a heads up?
How long did it take you (and how mecanically savvy are you?) I ask because if if took you 1 hour and you are an ASE cert tech, then I can add some time to yours.
How confusing were the instructions that came with the bilstein to follow to put the strut together? Were they easy to follow with parts in hand?
Lastly did you measure the front lift before and after? I saw you said you set them at 2.8" did you get 2.8'? just trying to gauge, where im going to set mine so I can nail it first time and not have to re adjust them. I bought the struts and shocks. Im going to measure the gain on the rear (if any) after i put them in and then do the front. In a perfect world id like to retain .5-1" of rake in the front, but well see what i end up with.
Thanks for the Write up BTW... probably the most comvincing piece i have read to push me to do it myself. i have never done any suspension work ( or any work to my warrantied cars) so i am a nervouls little girl about it. Ripped into a cam and RR swap on my 95 camaro, but that was a garage queen...
Thread Starter
|
Record Breaker
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,035
Likes: 2
From: South, FL
Mikeyyy:
Im going to to be tackiling this using your writeup this weekend. I am going to be doing it at a base hobby shop so Ill have access to teh C clamp compressor and the wall mount in your pics as well as a lift. I plan to have the dude at the hobby shop hang on the LCA to get teh strut back in.
Did you run into any snags that you can think of to give me a heads up?
How long did it take you (and how mecanically savvy are you?) I ask because if if took you 1 hour and you are an ASE cert tech, then I can add some time to yours.
How confusing were the instructions that came with the bilstein to follow to put the strut together? Were they easy to follow with parts in hand?
Lastly did you measure the front lift before and after? I saw you said you set them at 2.8" did you get 2.8'? just trying to gauge, where im going to set mine so I can nail it first time and not have to re adjust them. I bought the struts and shocks. Im going to measure the gain on the rear (if any) after i put them in and then do the front. In a perfect world id like to retain .5-1" of rake in the front, but well see what i end up with.
Thanks for the Write up BTW... probably the most comvincing piece i have read to push me to do it myself. i have never done any suspension work ( or any work to my warrantied cars) so i am a nervouls little girl about it. Ripped into a cam and RR swap on my 95 camaro, but that was a garage queen...
Im going to to be tackiling this using your writeup this weekend. I am going to be doing it at a base hobby shop so Ill have access to teh C clamp compressor and the wall mount in your pics as well as a lift. I plan to have the dude at the hobby shop hang on the LCA to get teh strut back in.
Did you run into any snags that you can think of to give me a heads up?
How long did it take you (and how mecanically savvy are you?) I ask because if if took you 1 hour and you are an ASE cert tech, then I can add some time to yours.
How confusing were the instructions that came with the bilstein to follow to put the strut together? Were they easy to follow with parts in hand?
Lastly did you measure the front lift before and after? I saw you said you set them at 2.8" did you get 2.8'? just trying to gauge, where im going to set mine so I can nail it first time and not have to re adjust them. I bought the struts and shocks. Im going to measure the gain on the rear (if any) after i put them in and then do the front. In a perfect world id like to retain .5-1" of rake in the front, but well see what i end up with.
Thanks for the Write up BTW... probably the most comvincing piece i have read to push me to do it myself. i have never done any suspension work ( or any work to my warrantied cars) so i am a nervouls little girl about it. Ripped into a cam and RR swap on my 95 camaro, but that was a garage queen...
Hey man, it's not that bad in all reality. I have a decent mechanical knowledge..been turning wrenches pretty much my whole life then I joined the military and went into the mechanical side of things, then eventually changed jobs in the guard b/c it was ruining my passion for turning wrenches bc I did it all day long. I did the driver side first and it took me roughly 2-3 hours (if I remember correctly) on the driver side bc I was taking my time looking at everything and how I wanted to do it. Then I ran into some issues getting the stock strut out. I just had to hammer down on the impact wrench on the strut nut and it finally spun off, in other words put my big boy pants on. That nut was soaking in PB Blaster and smoking, I was just waiting for the PB blaster to hit it's flash point and light up haha. But the passanger side took me hour and a half. I also had a buddy helping.
As for snags...my truck was a northern truck and saw 3 years of salt roads...so have some PB blaster handy (home depot/lowes has it). Spray all the parts and let it soak for a few minutes while your getting all your tools setup. Have an impact gun for sure to drive off some of the nuts..Especially the top strut nut on the stock struck. I found it helpful when I put the stock strut/spring in the spring compressor, that compressing it to where the strut was loose then back it off to where there is a little bit of pressure on the nut, it'll help it come off a little easier. Other than that it wasn't to bad. I don't know what hobby shop your going to, but it's hit or miss on the techs there lol...so hopefully you have a good one who's willing to help you out a bit just incase you need it.
Instructions....what instructions? I ordered mine from Tire Rack and nothing came with the boxes.
I did measure before and after...but I do not remember what they were. I have them somewhere but I am in the middle of a PCS move right now and on leave...so I am completely helpless with that issue. If you'd like I could take my current measurements for you...just let me know.
When I first put the struts on I was riding serious nose high california style. So I ordered a .75" spacer from Top Gunz Customs (TGC) for the rear springs (25 minute install time). I then pulled the .75" out and added a 1" spacer for the rear, MUCH better. I still wanted a slight rake just like yourself. Which I now have after adding the 1" rear spacer. I am now in FL and will be towing a boat so I added air lift 1000's to the rear springs so I won't have the sag as bad as I would without them.
I'll send you a PM with my e-mail and you can shoot me an email if you have any questions regarding the install.
Last edited by Mikeyyy816; Jun 28, 2012 at 11:17 AM.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Well DAYUM son... its a small world... of all the professions, I see you right there in corporate email, HAHA. Still says you are in NJ, glad youre outta there.
And when I lived in San Diego, we used to call nose high the "lakeside lift".
Im going to be doing it at Little Creek Navy base, so hopefully since its a bigger base, hopefully the dude that works there at least has some mechanical knowledge, or at least is willing to lend a hand and not watch me suffer alone. Worst case ill pay some navy schlub $5 to help me. But if i was going to do it here at the guard base.... i would expect nothing out of the broken FN running the auto hobby shop on our base.
if you get time... no rush.. PCS Leave is a fickle mistress, but id like to know the height you got now, ill assume you were the same im at now, becuase id like to know if 2.8=2.8 or a different actual height. ill definitely post some pics when im up and running.
And when I lived in San Diego, we used to call nose high the "lakeside lift".
Im going to be doing it at Little Creek Navy base, so hopefully since its a bigger base, hopefully the dude that works there at least has some mechanical knowledge, or at least is willing to lend a hand and not watch me suffer alone. Worst case ill pay some navy schlub $5 to help me. But if i was going to do it here at the guard base.... i would expect nothing out of the broken FN running the auto hobby shop on our base.
if you get time... no rush.. PCS Leave is a fickle mistress, but id like to know the height you got now, ill assume you were the same im at now, becuase id like to know if 2.8=2.8 or a different actual height. ill definitely post some pics when im up and running.
Professional
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 111
Likes: 0
From: Cumming, GA
This is from the actual installation manual for the 5 positions:
STANDARD
STOCK RIDE HEIGHT
TRX SUSPENSION
STOCK RIDE HEIGHT
or
0.7” (17.5mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
1.4” (35mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
2.1” (52.5mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
2.8” (70mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
** Ride heights indicated are typical. Actual ride height is influenced by which factory suspension the
vehicle is equipped with and its condition; optional equipment and accessories on your vehicle, and other
vehicle modifications such as replacement coil springs, wheel and tire combinations, etc.
STANDARD
STOCK RIDE HEIGHT
TRX SUSPENSION
STOCK RIDE HEIGHT
or
0.7” (17.5mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
1.4” (35mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
2.1” (52.5mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
2.8” (70mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
** Ride heights indicated are typical. Actual ride height is influenced by which factory suspension the
vehicle is equipped with and its condition; optional equipment and accessories on your vehicle, and other
vehicle modifications such as replacement coil springs, wheel and tire combinations, etc.
Thread Starter
|
Record Breaker
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,035
Likes: 2
From: South, FL
Well DAYUM son... its a small world... of all the professions, I see you right there in corporate email, HAHA. Still says you are in NJ, glad youre outta there.
And when I lived in San Diego, we used to call nose high the "lakeside lift".
Im going to be doing it at Little Creek Navy base, so hopefully since its a bigger base, hopefully the dude that works there at least has some mechanical knowledge, or at least is willing to lend a hand and not watch me suffer alone. Worst case ill pay some navy schlub $5 to help me. But if i was going to do it here at the guard base.... i would expect nothing out of the broken FN running the auto hobby shop on our base.
if you get time... no rush.. PCS Leave is a fickle mistress, but id like to know the height you got now, ill assume you were the same im at now, becuase id like to know if 2.8=2.8 or a different actual height. ill definitely post some pics when im up and running.
And when I lived in San Diego, we used to call nose high the "lakeside lift".
Im going to be doing it at Little Creek Navy base, so hopefully since its a bigger base, hopefully the dude that works there at least has some mechanical knowledge, or at least is willing to lend a hand and not watch me suffer alone. Worst case ill pay some navy schlub $5 to help me. But if i was going to do it here at the guard base.... i would expect nothing out of the broken FN running the auto hobby shop on our base.
if you get time... no rush.. PCS Leave is a fickle mistress, but id like to know the height you got now, ill assume you were the same im at now, becuase id like to know if 2.8=2.8 or a different actual height. ill definitely post some pics when im up and running.
"lakeside lift" that's a good one..haven't heard that before.
Little Creek is a pretty sweet base, pulled in there before, never went to the hobby shop. But I'm sure it's pretty decent..I'll take some measurements tomorrow for yah.
Thread Starter
|
Record Breaker
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,035
Likes: 2
From: South, FL
This is from the actual installation manual for the 5 positions:
STANDARD
STOCK RIDE HEIGHT
TRX SUSPENSION
STOCK RIDE HEIGHT
or
0.7” (17.5mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
1.4” (35mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
2.1” (52.5mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
2.8” (70mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
** Ride heights indicated are typical. Actual ride height is influenced by which factory suspension the
vehicle is equipped with and its condition; optional equipment and accessories on your vehicle, and other
vehicle modifications such as replacement coil springs, wheel and tire combinations, etc.
STANDARD
STOCK RIDE HEIGHT
TRX SUSPENSION
STOCK RIDE HEIGHT
or
0.7” (17.5mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
1.4” (35mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
2.1” (52.5mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
2.8” (70mm)
AVERAGE LIFT
(5100 series only)
** Ride heights indicated are typical. Actual ride height is influenced by which factory suspension the
vehicle is equipped with and its condition; optional equipment and accessories on your vehicle, and other
vehicle modifications such as replacement coil springs, wheel and tire combinations, etc.
