Bilstein 5100 Leveling Shock

I have them on mine set at 1.5 inch along with the CST spindle and it rides good in the front, Greg said if I went for the full height it may be too stiff but I am going to try it anyway when I get a chance, from what I am feeling I dont think it will be bad at all

Think something like this would be safe to use with an aftermarket upper arm and 2" spacers?

My understanding is that if you use an aftermarket UCA you should be OK if you don't take it too high, maybe .5 to 1 inch and you are limited by being 4WD. I guess the question is will it be worth what you gain?

bimmernut318 said:

My understanding is that if you use an aftermarket UCA you should be OK if you don't take it too high, maybe .5 to 1 inch and you are limited by being 4WD. I guess the question is will it be worth what you gain?

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I'd say yes, because for the extra money for the upper arms and the bilstein adjustables i could get one extra inch of lift on the front, and have all the travel back (and possibly a bit extra) from what I lost when I did the spacer lift. PRG reccomends maximum lift on a 4wd at 3.5" with their upper arms and the 2.0 Radflos, so I'm guessing All Day Fabrication arms with the bilstein adjustables set at 1" to give me 3" of total lift should be juuuust right, and won't really break the bank either

Could one add a different coil spring, say a medium or heavy duty with these? They offer better wheel travel too, since a spacer kills your down movement. I'm getting a front ARB at one point and would like the better coil to handle the weight.

I am sure you could but may not want to, with these shocks you are compressing the springs to get the lift, if you put a stiffer spring in there it may just be way too much in terms of stiffness and because of the spring compression you will lose travel as the spring has less space to move

Can somebody explain to me why this type of shock would compress the spring more to get the lift (I've seen that claim several times)? It seems to me that the position of the spring is raised up using these shocks, which raises the truck. The weight of the truck is still the same, so it should compress the spring the same at any height setting, right? Any thoughts?

A few years back, I almost bought the same 5100 (different application) for my '08 Silverado. Great option and better results than a leveling kit.

mde280 said:

Can somebody explain to me why this type of shock would compress the spring more to get the lift (I've seen that claim several times)? It seems to me that the position of the spring is raised up using these shocks, which raises the truck. The weight of the truck is still the same, so it should compress the spring the same at any height setting, right? Any thoughts?

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The shock is basically the same length as factory, what you are doing to lift is moving the spring up the shock shaft at the bottom of the shock body thus compressing the spring making it stiffer therefore not allowing the truck to come down as far as it would by its own weight as if the spring wasn't compressed, works just like a coilover without the very simple, as adjustable, higher performance.

I'm installing these shocks this weekend and can't wait to drive around for the experience. Currently, I have 2" spacers that will come out. Also, I'm considering to put the AC coils back on that I had used for about a month back when my truck was new. Will try the lowest spring perch setting so I won't have too much preload on the AC coils. Just have to do a trial-n-error approach with that. If all doesn't get to my likings, I'll crank up the preload with the OEM springs.

Also, I purchased a new spring compressor from Craftsman that looks to be way easier to use than the set I borrowed a few years ago.

I'm expecting good things with the 5100's.

I saw these a month or two ago and thought they were a pretty sweet idea. Quick general spacer question though, and it may be a dumb one. I read a while ago somewhere, I dont remember where, that any kind of spacer kit throws off the camber of the truck and thus ruining your tires. Is this A. True and B. would these Bilsteins eliminate that problem, if it is a problem? I dont think I'll be lifting the truck anytime soon with a full kit and these Steins are really looking like an option that I may go with.

Here is an excellent article written by Bilstein explaining the issues with different types of lifts.

http://www.bilsteinus.com/leveling/ARTICLE.pdf

LE-Medic said:

Here is an excellent article written by Bilstein explaining the issues with different types of lifts.

http://www.bilsteinus.com/leveling/ARTICLE.pdf

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That right there should be a sticky! Maybe this will help people understand the only spacer lift cause coilbucket contact.

Ok so I read the entire article and it does answer a few questions. But the main one I still have is will this affect the camber of the tires or not? Is this just a stupid rumor I heard or is this only something that happens with cheap spacer kits? I'm really leaning towards this set up for my Fronty though :fantastic:

The new shocks are now installed. Very nice. It was funny. The OEM shocks when I collapsed them and let them go on the ground, they just kind of layed there. Damening with the Bilsteins is way better and they are definitily in control.

The shocks were set at the lowest setting and I retained the coil spacer. That choice had more to do with the spring compressor because the more preload I put on the spring the less likely I was going to be able to removed the tool from the coils. I really needed all or nothing with the preload setting. I never four-wheel the truck so, I've not been concerned with the bucket contact. And now with a good shock that has better rebound control, and when the situation is encountered that can put the UCA in contact with the bucket, the impact should be softened.

I really liked the Bilsteins I put on the 2500HD a bunch a years ago, too.

i put these shocks on a toyota tacoma that i had and yes they will affect the camber. your tires will most likely look like this .... \ /, my tacoma did. the bilstien 5100s give the same affect as a spacer lift but in a better way. you wont over extend with the 5100s the way you can with a spacer lift so you mite not get coil bucket contact. i was looking to get these for my 2010 se cc. on my 08 tacoma they road a little stiffer than stock but still a good ride. i had them set at 1.75". p.s. sorry if the spelling sucks

boom2225 said:

i put these shocks on a toyota tacoma that i had and yes they will affect the camber. your tires will most likely look like this .... \ /, my tacoma did. the bilstien 5100s give the same affect as a spacer lift but in a better way. you wont over extend with the 5100s the way you can with a spacer lift so you mite not get coil bucket contact. i was looking to get these for my 2010 se cc. on my 08 tacoma they road a little stiffer than stock but still a good ride. i had them set at 1.75". p.s. sorry if the spelling sucks

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Thanks for the input... So would it be worth the money to buy these and try to fix the camber or would it be more bang for your buck to just go with a lift. The reason why I am being such a PITA about this is my truck is a daily driver so I dont want some super crazy 10 inch travel truck, at least not until I get something else to drive around, but I do hate the way the front looks so much lower than the rear. That is why I am interested in these shocks.

NismoFrontier08 said:

Thanks for the input... So would it be worth the money to buy these and try to fix the camber or would it be more bang for your buck to just go with a lift. The reason why I am being such a PITA about this is my truck is a daily driver so I dont want some super crazy 10 inch travel truck, at least not until I get something else to drive around, but I do hate the way the front looks so much lower than the rear. That is why I am interested in these shocks.

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if all you want is a 1" to 2" lift in the front i would go with the shocks over a spacer. even with a spacer lift you mite have camber issues so with any lift you have to get an alignment after it is installed. now the frontier mite not have a camber problem like my tacoma did. this is my first nissan and i havent done anything to it yet. i paid $180 for both shocks and they were easy to install. took me about 3 hours.

NismoFrontier08 said:

I saw these a month or two ago and thought they were a pretty sweet idea. Quick general spacer question though, and it may be a dumb one. I read a while ago somewhere, I dont remember where, that any kind of spacer kit throws off the camber of the truck and thus ruining your tires. Is this A. True and B. would these Bilsteins eliminate that problem, if it is a problem? I dont think I'll be lifting the truck anytime soon with a full kit and these Steins are really looking like an option that I may go with.

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No matter what you lift your truck with, whether its spacers or coilovers or whatever, if you change the ride height of your truck it changes the camber. So if you do not get an alignment after you lift your truck, the tires will wear unevenly. So it will only ruin your tires if you DONT get a wheel alignment afterwards