Front & Rear Shocks Shot

1st gen guide

1. jack truck up be frame
2. remove wheels
3. remove 3 nuts on top of strut
4 remove bolt on bottom of strut
5. remove strut. (pry bar isnt necessary but it can help if needed

reverse for installation.

15mins per side. 10 if youve done it before

 

I would have to go in for a suspension alignment after replacing them right?

 

your gona gain a some lift just because the old coils have probably sagged a bit so its a good idea to get a wheel alignment yea.

 

Yes

 

Going to hijack the thread a little... I am going to replace shocks/struts on my 01 DC 4wd. Thinking 5100's but have a little bit of confusion over part numbers. I can get the 5100's locally in salt lake from four wheel parts and walk out of the store with the shock. The part number is BIL24-249928. If i order from Wheelers I save some money, but wait for shipping. The part number is BE5-D558-TO from wheelers. The bilstein website gives the part number

$141 24-249928 Bilstein 24249928 Shock Absorber

24-249928, same as 4wheelparts. Anybody know the difference? The different part number continue with the rear shocks as well. Any help is appreciated!

 

i believe the ones wheelers stock are the RCD versions. I cant remember that exact differences but theyre basically the same. i believe the rear shocks are slightly shorter but have the same travel.

 

Is it worth it to get the Bilstein 5100's over the Monroes? I'm just going to pull the plug on getting the Monroe quickstruts unless someone says otherwise.

 

Alignment??

Immediately after changing my shocks with the front springs, I think the truck was a smidge 'taller'. After a few days, seems to me it pretty much settled to where it was before. I would agree that a radical height change would change the ?? camber? (tilt of the wheels?) but unless there is a big change in the ride height, I can't see how not messing with the ball joints or control arm mounts would appreciably change the alignment settings. Didn't do anything to effect the toe in, the caster can't be changed without control arm adjustments.

My truck has about 25k miles on tires with no noticeable odd wear patterns and it tracked nicely. Feels the same after the change out. I don't think premature tire wear or tracking problems are worth saving a hundred bucks, but I would suggest seeing what you got before rushing to get an alignment.

Anyway, that's my experience. While I was crawling around under the truck I checked all the other suspension bits .... everything looked pretty good.