How should I level my truck if I don't want a stiffer ride?

I read that spacers are bad and many people love the 5100's but won't that compress the spring a bit and cause a harsher ride? What's the best way to go to avoid spacers but keep OEM ride?

 

Better than OEM ride

 

I would suggest OME or 5100s with new coils to whatever lift you want to keep a good ride. 5100s do not ride terrible set at 1.75, going to be a little stiffer but not bad. Or you can get the kings like above and be able to post pics of them all the time. But seriously cheapest route is 5100s.

 

Spacers aren’t that bad. Just understand their limits. Would go that route rather than 5100 shocks. If you get 5100 shocks and compress stock springs it will ride worse than spacers.
Don’t mind the asshats that tell you to get kings.

 

Compressing springs is what gives a terrible ride. When you compress springs to get you lift rather than using the correct springs for the intended goal, you’re making the spring super stiff so that it won’t compress the first ~20%. Well if it can’t compress for the initial small bumps, it’s going to ride like a dump truck.

I have 5100/888’s and it rides slightly better than stock. Replaced mine at 1200mi so I was comparing new vs new.

 

Some people associate preload (loosely related to threads showing above spring nut) with a harsh ride because they are “cranking down” the spring. Increasing preload only raises ride height, it does not compress the spring more, and it does not make the ride rough. The only times too much preload makes the ride rough is if you lift it too high and don’t have any down travel or if the springs runs out of travel before the suspension bottoms out.

 

Not familiar with “Accutune OR” but I’ll assume you know a lot more about suspension than I do. However, I can’t wrap my head around your statements.

If preload = raise ride height but does NOT compress the spring, where is the lift coming from? It sounds like you’re assuming a coil over that has excess up travel. What about in the case of no excess up travel? Does preload not compress the spring? Actually, I just googled “spring preload” and your site was the first result and it clearly says “Preload is a measurement of how much a spring is compressed at full extension of the shock”. So it seems your reply and your own site’s article are conflicting. What am I missing???

My other train of thought...
Let’s leave coilovers out of it for the time being and assume 5100’s since they’re so common and what the OP asked about, and linear rate springs. If you set 5100’s at the lowest of the 4 clip positions, you’re in a normal state with no spring compression, or preload, other than what is necessary to assemble them. If we use the 4th notch, were compressing the coil about 1.25” smaller than if we had used the 1st notch. This will give you more lift assuming the shock has additional length to extend. However, if the shock is already using its full range then preloading the coil only serves to reduce sag and effectively increasing the initial spring rate, resulting in the additional lift. This is where it sounds like the harsh ride complaints come from.

 

Springs compress due to the weight of the vehicle. If you're not increasing the weight of the vehicle the spring is not compressing any more AT RIDE HEIGHT. The Spring Preload Article you are referring to is for a dual rate coilover shock at full extension. Adding preload to the spring does not make it a stiffer spring, it raises the height of the vehicle.

If cranking down the adjusters on the coilover did compress the spring, the vehicle would squat and be lower, not taller.

 

Again, can’t understand what you’re saying as it directly contradicts my experience, but how do you explain my scenario (and pretty much the OP’s question) of 5100’s in 1st clip vs 4th clip and corresponding ride quality? Are you saying the ride quality will be exactly the same?

 

This is my understanding:
Preload compresses the spring. It can lift or lower depending on how it's done. Squat happens when the spring is internally compressed so no external pressure changes(cheap lowering). Lift happens when it gets compressed against either end. Adjustable coil overs use threads on the shock body and a matching threaded ring to compress the floating end of the spring but the compression results in more force exerted on the other end which gives lift. Both result in less spring length. The choice of coils is based on the front end weight in order to utilize the adjustment feature. Too soft a spring and you have to to crank too much on the adjusters. Too stiff a spring leaves no room to soften the ride since the adjusters are already zeroed.

Top spacers change the geometry, making the suspension sit at a higher point in the travel reducing the droop travel and increasing the compression travel. Probably makes it harder to get a good alignment.

 

On the Ram's that I used 5100s the higher you lifted the stiffer the ride got. After not much more than stock height the suspension didn't absorb the road irregularity and began to transfer them to the cab being the shock was not compressing as easily. I ended up with just over 1" setting so the truck still road like a new truck versus a pogo stick and did a 3" body lift which don't show at all.