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Bilstein 5100 question

17K views 35 replies 18 participants last post by  rpcraft 
#1 ·
What’s the deal with the clip on Bilstein 5100 front adjustable shocks? I’m so close to ordering but I’ve been thinking and reading about how basically the vehicle is resting on these adjustable clip positions. How secure and safe is that? Obviously people use them successfully and I honestly haven’t read of any catastrophic failure but I still wonder. Any input?

Also, any ideas on how I can do this myself? I’m up for some wrenching but the spring compressor part freaks me out a bit, especially after what I’ve read online. I found a local shop who is willing to install them but their labor rates are a bit steep, and I’m already on a tight budget. I also have been on a mission to do as much as I can myself, simply to know it’s done right. I’ve looked into seeing if anyone online sells them assembled at a specific lift height, but to no avail. Also that kind of defeats the point of just reusing the current springs. Any chain stores that you’ve used that will disassemble my current set up and reassemble with the new Bilsteins so I can just bolt right in?

Oh and one last question. Does anyone sell u bolts that will fit new leaf springs but that I won’t have to drill out bigger holes into the plate? Are thicker u bolts a requirement or something?

Appreciate any info
 
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#3 ·
Alldogs Offroad sells the 5100s assembled as part of the kit using their coils, which is what I put on my truck (very happy with the kit). Alldogs Offroad Complete Lift Kit w/ Bilstein 5100's for 2nd Gen Nissan Frontier
Or if you don't want the whole lift kit, could buy the front shocks and coil springs separately and have them assemble. BTW the customer service is outstanding. You can email them with any questions and they respond right away.

PRG also sells assembled 5100s and coils, but apparently customer service can be hit or miss.

Don't know about longer u bolts that aren't thicker as well.
 
#33 ·
Alldogs Offroad sells the 5100s assembled as part of the kit using their coils, which is what I put on my truck (very happy with the kit). Alldogs Offroad Complete Lift Kit w/ Bilstein 5100's for 2nd Gen Nissan Frontier
Or if you don't want the whole lift kit, could buy the front shocks and coil springs separately and have them assemble. BTW the customer service is outstanding. You can email them with any questions and they respond right away.

PRG also sells assembled 5100s and coils, but apparently customer service can be hit or miss.

Don't know about longer u bolts that aren't thicker as well.
Just curious what height you had your struts set to when getting them pre assembled from ADO?
 
#4 ·
My beef with buying them preassembled is the price and the ride quality. Seems like they really bang you for the assembly. It’s pretty much a wash buying preassembled vs my local shop doing it. From what I’ve read, the 5100s are made for stock coils, and ride crappy on other coils. Unless you buy them and set them at 0 lift.

what’s the ride quality difference in getting 2 inches from Bilstein 1500 set at 1.5 and a .5” spacer vs a 2 inch longer aftermarket coil and 5100s set at 0 lift?

in the mean time I will call around to other shops on Monday and see what their rates are to disassemble my current coilover and reassemble with Bilsteins.
 
#8 ·
I have a complete set of 5100's to replace 4600's I put on about 9 mo ago. I got carried away a while back, all it REALLY needed was lower ball joints because the pass/gutter side was loose from the extra pounding it takes. I ended up replacing/upgrading all kinds of stuff while I was under there, including the coil springs.

The 5100's look precarious, but in fact the lower coil bucket fits in a way that forces the ring into the groove so it cannot come out. Be careful moving it so as not to bend it and it will be fine. The coil spring is easy enough with half decent compressors.
I have a set of amazon specials that work good and are secure. No, they certainly are not for daily use but fill my occasional need just fine.... EXCEPT ....

I replaced the old stock springs with Moog springs, and unknown at the time, the stock springs have 8 coils and the Moog have 10 coils. When I tried to remove the spring compressors the coils were closer together and I could not get the tool out. I had to use my cheap *** hook style compressors to get the "good" ones out.

I'm just going to drop the assemblies out and see if I can find a shop with a machine to do the swap, maybe...

I would need to be able to supervise to make sure they get it right, so I will probably just end up sacrificing my compressors by grinding them to fit between the coils.
315419
 
#9 ·
I may just invest in a pair of spring compressors, and use my friends cage for their cat, and work in there. We’ll see. I’m still gonna call around and see if a shop will just take them if I just take them out of the truck as a complete unit and replace the shocks with the Bilsteins at the correct height.
 
#12 ·
I lhasa's to do the same and grind mine down.
 
#14 ·
The clips are fine, no one is having any failures from those. Compressing the springs yourself can be a little challenging. I have done it twice now and the second time was phenomenally easier than the first. I ordered U bolts that were longer but not thicker. Got them from Nisstec lifts I believe. Best of luck!
 
#15 ·
While 50% more work, I recall another poster suggesting using 3 compressors/spring.
.02
 
#16 ·
I have probably compressed 30+ springs over the years, never had an issue. Some of those older spring compressors were kind of scary. Just hooks. The new style ones are very bombproof. Yes the large amount of potential energy is a cause for concern, But then again, we jack up our trucks and crawl under them too. That is just as scary, even with jackstands; but we have gotten use to it.

As for the retainer rings (clips), that is how the OEM yellow bilstiens are held in places as well. You never hear of issues with them blowing . THe few times I have heard of a clip blowing on a 5100 is most likely due to user error. You have to make sure that the clip is seated in the grove. Easy for it to not. Some also spray clear coat on the 5100. THE bare zinc coated shock body gets eaten by salt easily. If you don't clean the paint out of the groove you can pop the clip. Better yet is to set the clip and paint over it. Lastly, since you are going to set the clip to the top or the 2nd to top most groove, you will have a few empty groves below. I pulled the clip off my yellow OEM shocks and set a 2nd clip per shock. Figure if it blows the first one then the 2nd one will "catch" it. In reality however, if the top clip blows, the shock force will blow through he 2nd.

The pre assembled 5100 typically use MOOG springs. Those have an additional coil to them, and look like they will bottom up when set to the 2" or even the 1.5" lift position. IMO the OE pro4x 4wd spring is the best to use.
 
#17 ·
Thanks for the input all. I’m going to order the shocks and spring compressor soon and tackle this. The more I read the more confident I feel. I always work carefully. Will probably post in the what have u done thread when I do it, or maybe pop back in here to update.

Thanks again, truly appreciate the help and input. Also good to hear about the Nisstec u bolts!!
 
#28 ·
My biggest struggle with the standard design spring compressor (Harbor Freight) was getting the dang compressor back out after I assembled the coilover. I think as you go with a heavier spring, this becomes more difficult.

When I did my OME medium duty coilovers, those were quite difficult to get the spring compressors back out. I had to un-thread the compressors completely, then gently spread the spring at one spot so I could get the compressor parts out. This was even more difficult with my latest titan-swap coilovers... Moog 81092 springs.

All that work took considerable time. If/when I do it again, I might consider finding a shop with a hydraulic spring compressor and see if they will turn the other way while I use it...
315587
 
#30 ·
I replaced my struts with Bilstein 4600's about a year ago. After I got a quote to do it I started researching doing it myself and of course read all the dire warning about using the spring compressors but I ultimately decided to buy a pair and do it myself. It was way easier than I had feared. Yes some common sense is involved but it's an absolutely doable project.
 

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#31 ·
Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s the feeling I’m getting, is that it’s a matter of common sense and planning, like most things in life. Hopefully I won’t be biting my tongue but I fully plan on doing this myself when the time is right, hopefully within the next month or two.
 
#36 ·
Man, I really boned up this evening. I'm feel so GD stupid because of this. I was installing my 5100's, got the first one done, of course the top of the shock plate was indexed wrong so I rotated the hat and got it lined up. Went to do the second one and thought I had it correct this time but I made the same F'ing mistake. Get the spring compressors off and go to install it on the truck and the lower shock mount is clocked 90 deg off, again. Eff my life. I'm pissed, it's already dark, and I am trying to get it wrapped up so I can go get an alignment tomorrow morning so I figure oh well, had to fix it once already, no biggie. So anyways, Fixing the first one I did the correct way. I rotated it buy putting the spring in the lower mount, loosening the top plate up enough so the nut is still just at the top of the thread, and then rotating the actual top piece. On the second one I got 100 % retarded and I totally screwed up the shock and need to replace it now. I guess I'm lucky I didn't have it explode in my face, so it's hard to be pissed at my own stupidity.

So what I did wrong was try to rotate the bottom of the shock buy putting a long punch in the mount hole and turning it 90 degrees to realign it. I didn't even think of what it would do to the circlip on the ride height adjustment. :confused:. Was so stupid. Was dark outside and I was trying to rush to finish and just stopped thinking for long enough to be a dumbass and nearly get my face rearranged. I'm bummed that I need to replace it, bummed it's going to cost money, and especially bummed because I know better, and now I gotta go one more round with the widow maker.

I'm kinda hoping that if I get it soon enough I can drop the shock and parts by a shop over the weekend that has a proper spring compressor and can get it without the workout of dealing with that HF compressor set. I feel like maybe I am pushing the odds on using that HF setup and the next time might be the one time it fails, lol.


Anyways, now I am curious. I know it's what I did that caused this failure so it is what it is and I will not make that mistake again and not going to bag on Bilstein but now this does have me wondering. I've seen people report this failure in a similar fashion but while driving and I have to wonder, is it usually overuse on trails and offroad stuff that causes them to fail or is it just some random thing that could have been attributed to a bad install procedure or perhaps a fluke of nature? Not trying to trash, like I said, I totally messed this one up, but it does have me wondering how well they hold up to abuse overall. I don't hoon my rig or even go offroad that much. Just wanted bigger tires and I figure at 166,000 miles it's time for now shocks and stuff.

Thanks everyone.
 
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