Professional Opinion Needed: Spacer with 5100's! Good or Bad? Does it really matter?

Here's the scoop. I currently have this spacer kit on the front.

I went to a shop where my Bilstein 5100's were going to be installed. The Bilsteins were already set at 2.5 and were lowered to accomdate the spacer kit. What? Yeah that was my reaction. I assumed that the shop was going to remove the spacer kit when I wanted the upgrade, but they didn't.

So to make a long story short, am I losing/gaining anything by having this set-up? The shop is willing to go back in and undo the spacer kit and lift the struts back to 2.5, but is that really needed? It's level right now and looks higher than it did before. Just wondering if there is an advantage or disadvantage. I'm looking for opinions from people who know suspensions. Thanks guys.

 

Im curious as well Just did mine myself with my spacer set them at .85 so far so good. Sits higher but is rougher.

 

I'd say don't do it.



You're basically stacking lifts, which could lead to some problems.


I say remove the spacers and put the 5100s at 2.5.

 

Spacer lifts sit on top of the coils, which puts more load on the coils, causing for a less than satisfactory ride. Since the 5100's are set at 0/lowest notch, the spacers are still providing the lift while the 5100's provide the smoother ride due to the valving on them. Essentially your still a spacer lift.

Setting the 5100's higher gives it more preload causing for a stiffer ride.

Setting the 5100's higher along with the spacer puts a ton more load on the shock/strut as well as the coils, which will give a horrible/unsafe ride.

Al I would advise against stacking like Derek said. Remove the spacers!

Or you could get some of those Eibach lift springs and leave your 5100's at 0/lowest notch.

 

hey...that looks familiar haha and yeah al i'm surprised they didn't take the spacer out for you, bad juju

 

Little update: I parked head-to-head with Ron yesterday and originally his truck was slightly higher than mine (he has 5100's). Mine now sits almost 1.5 higher even though the strut is not at 2.5. I don't think it's at its lowest level. I'm not a hard core off-roader. I do like the occasional venture to the dirt trails. One reason I was debating was because of my stance right now. I will go down a little. The ride right now is as smooth as a baby's butt.

 

I hope it doesn't break in Ocotillo.

 

Would lifting the truck up with a jack allow me to see how much travel I have before the suspension hits the bumpstop?

 

It's not the downward droop or extension that he's referring to.

Top plate spacers force the entire suspension travel into a different position/lowered.

It's the UPWARD travel ....

You'd have plenty of downward droop but not enough UPWARD travel. Hence, the suspension/strut would compress & bottom out first.
(hard to explain).

Your options would be.....
#1) Install 5100's at the STOCK setting with the top plate spacer
OR
#2) Remove top plate spacer and adjust 5100's to desired height
Do NOT DO BOTH

 

Done. I took your advice and had them removed.

 

Ready for Ocotillo