Question on bilstein 5100 and 5125s rear shock length

So I have icon progressive leaf pack with overload left in giving me about 2" lift. I see a lot of people say and seem to use bilstein 5100s with 1" to 2 inches of lift in the rear . My question is. Why do so many people use and recommend The 5100s when they have essentially the exact compression and extension length as the 4600s and OEM shocks.. seems to me they would all be topping out at anything even close to above stock hight?

So in my case I removed the bottom shock mounting bolt and measured the distance between the top and bottom mounts.

At rest 20.25"

between the bump stop and frame 4".

then jacked up the frame at trailer hitch so the wheels were of the ground.24.25"

OEM, 4600s and 5100s
Extended 22.9
Compressed 14.09"

so clearly they will not work on extension. When looking at the bilstein 5125s the ones I found that seem to be close to what would work without any brake line or bump stop issues.

Extended 24.38"
Compressed 15.01"

does this all sound correct? Or am i missing something? Or possibly another alternative shock.. the 5125s are flipped and have the dust boot at the bottom for some reason which I don't like.. lol.

 

You are correct. Since the 5100s are listed for the 2nd and 3rd Gens and 3rd Gens are 1.0in higher from the factory, I believe the +1.0in is related to the 2nd Gens.

After some discussion with @WrecklessAbandon and @memario1214 , we changed my order to the 5125s for a few dollars more per shock. They have worked great.

The only caution is that the sleeves that come with them are too wide for our lower mounts. So, check those before installing and shave them down to fit.

 

I ran the Sky Jacker H7045 rear shocks with my Dakar leaf pack on my 2009. This is just another example of a shock that is actually long enough to run without other mods. The Eibach rear shocks are also the correct length if the Bilsteins are not available when ppl are looking. There is another longer 5100 series also, i think it used to be recommended for 3-4 inches of lift. Extra down travel is always nice.

 

You made it easy to get what I needed.