Bilstein 5100 kit and spacer...what’s going on here

This is my first post besides my introductions so I apologize if this is not the correct place for it. Iv been on these forums and reading and using the search button a lot and thus far have been able to answer every question Iv had without the need for posting. This ones a little different and pretty specific to my vehicle and what the previous owner did. So I have a 2008 access cab TRD sport 6 speed. With the bilstein 5100 kit and duratracs 285s. So after reading what I have the past month on lifts I was looking over the lift kit in the truck and now have many questions about what the hell is going on under there. Now the rear has a tsb leaf pack and a 2in block. Not ideal or what I want but I can’t live with that for now till I get a leaf pack. But the front is where all the questions come in. The front is setup with the bilstein shock on the first lift setting which I believe is .85 and here is where it gets funky. There is also a 1inch spacer on the top of the coil. Why why why would someone do this? I mean realistically moving the shock up or putting a puck on top are both compression the coil for the same result. But why stack two lift kits together? Only thing I could think of was the pucks came with the block kit for the rear and he just threw them in there not knowing what he was doing.
So for my questions
1. Why would someone lift like that? And particular reason?
2. How much lift would a 1inch puck create?
3. Would the puck plus the first setting on the shock actually equal out to more than the max the bilstein is capable of? Maybe that’s why?
4. Should I pull the puck out and jack the bilstein up higher to achieve the same lift? Or just extra work?
5. If I pull it out I must be missing the original peice that went above the coil from the factory. Like a spring isolator or something. I can’t imagine the coil rest on the heads of those bolts? Am I right? If so what part would I need to remove the pucks?

If you look at pics you can see the puck I’m talking about. You can see the bolt the puck has notches cut out for. Those are the bolts that have to have some kind of stock buffer between them and the coil originally. And then if you see the shock you can see there is still two more higher adjustments.

 

Are there spacers on both sides or just the driver side? The trucks tend to lean towards the driver side so people will put a spacer on that side to level it out

 

Our trucks only need 0.25-0.5” spacer for the lean.

 

O.P you need too clean and then coat your underside and frame too keep that rust at bay.

 

Pull all that out and reuse the 5100s (any idea on how many miles are on then?), Buy some OME 884 or 885 coils and drop your 5100s down to 0.

I would buy all new hardware and isolators to replace the rusted stuff.

Then go enjoy the 2 free ice hockey pucks the previous owner gave you

 

Frame and most of the underside is brand new. I know it’s super dirty and salty in the pics but we just had a nice snow storm a day ago. The only things that actually significantly rusty is the top of the shock/coil mount and upper control arm. Which I’ll replace if I rip the spacer out. And the upper control arms I’m gunna buy a nice set once I straighten this lift out for good alignments. Other than that there is absolutely no rust under this truck.

 

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking is gunna be the best route. They probably have about 2 years or so on the kit. So there is supposed to be some kind of isolator in place of that puck? Now do you think that if I put the bilstein back in by itself at the max setting will it be lower then with the puck? I don’t wanna rip it out and then find I’m gunna rub without having a solution other then putting the puck back in. So i need to know if the puck plus .85 setting is gunna be more than the max settin on the bilstien.

 

Spacer are on both sides and a 1inch would be a lot to level a truck from side to side. I would hope someone would look for any issues in the suspension before they would do that.

 

Good!

 

First, all trucks can be different when it comes to lifts.

Generally, spacers up front provide double the lift relative to the height. So a 1in spacer will provide 2in lift. I would bet you have about a 3in lift up front with how it's set currently.

The 5100s are good budget lift option but when you preload the coils the ride does suffer a bit. I had them at the 1.75 mark and it only took about a year before I dropped in new lift coils and brought the 5100s to 0. The truck is night and day with ride quality.

Where the puck is, there is some rubber gasket like material. I'm sure someone will chime in with the correct term, but that can all be bought including new top hats from a vendor like Headstrong.

 

The height of the spacer- times by 2- is approx the lift you are getting from these. The Bilstiens have an adjustable spring perch- so if you pull the spacer then you would want to move the spring perch up accordingly to maintain the lift. You could swap out the spacer with one that goes on top of the "top hat" and soften that ride up a little- or if you can as mentioned replace the spring since you would be doing all the work to get to that point anyway and have more suspension travel in the set-up

 

Thanks man that definetly helps. I thought that that’s how pucks worked. About double what they measure. Because you have the puck itself taking up space. But then you also have how much it pre loads spring. So yeah I assumed I was right around 3 inch in the front as well. So if I keep the bilstein shocks what coils would I need to keep it right about where it is. I like exactly where the front sits. No rubbing no issues rides okay. Not to tall not to short. So if I could get it to that height without that puck I would be much happier. I’m guessing the 2.5 in setting on Bilstein is gunna end up being a little bit shorter then with the puck and it’s still gunna have compressed coil like ride. So best route is looking like keep the bilsteins and get some new coils.

 

This is what I figured and I don’t understand why the previous owner didn’t jack up the shocks he purchased instead of putting in another kit with it. It’s pretty much two lift kits stacked together lol. Only think I can think of is it achieves slightly higher then the Bilstein kit. He probably did it for that extra height for rubbing. I have 285 duratracs and they don’t rub at all except on lower a arm at full lock. And they didn’t trim anything so I guess the lift was enough with the pucks. Maybe not the case without them.

 

OME coils will be your best option. 885 is about 2.5 and 887 is about 3in. If you ever plan on adding weight to the front, the 886 coils have a stiffer spring rate to account for the extra weight and will give you about 2.5in.

I have 887 coils and 265s


One other thing to note is that some trucks require new UCAs when you get up around 3in of lift. I went with JBAs just to do it "right" the first time. But since you probably had close to 3in of lift previously you might be OK.

You may went to take some measurements from the center of your hub, to the top of the fender. That's how alot of folks measure their lifts on here. I've never measured mine. It's looks great and rides great so I'm happy.

 

Alright cool. What did those coils run you? Truck looks great man love what you did with it. Where do you live? That sunset is beautiful

 

$175 from Headstrong Offroad. I'm on the Eastern shore of VA. If your familiar with Ocean City MD, in like an hour south across the state line into VA but the same beach essentially.

 

I went with stock pucks. Just buy a new mounting plate dude. Her is a good one off of Amazon. Spacing isn’t the best way to gain inches. Also you need to get better UAC’s. Your truck will for give you much more.
KYB SM5640 - Mount Kit

$39 KYB SM5640 - Mount Kit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C7S0KA8?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

 

If I measure from wheel hub to fender for how much lift I have. What would be the stock numbers I would use to do the math? In other words what would that measurement be without a lift.

 

Anybody know the stock measurement from center of hub to fender so I can figure out how much lift I currently have?

 

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