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Bilstein 5100 install. Pic heavy. 2011 ram 1500

37K views 38 replies 27 participants last post by  5.2firefighter 
#1 · (Edited)
I have had my 2011 ram since feb and it kept me happy for a week or 2. After a few poeple asking if it was 4 wheel drive i decided to actually make it "look" 4 wheel drive.

The stock tires were basically a car tire in a truck size. The ride high was something grandma could enjoy. That all had to change!

3 week's ago i got my "canadian" 35 goodyear duratrac's and a new set of rim's. The factory rake really showed it's head after the tire swap. My new boot's would scrub at full lock.

I ordered a set of belstein 5100's after alot of research and not wanting to install some to me chezy block's to level my truck.

My buddy owns a shop and we both had time to do it today. I didn't want to do this in my driveway and i'm glad i didn't.

If you would like to do this install quickly with minimal removal it will take 2 strong men to acomplish this (and 1.5 hours or so).

Yanking the old (5000kms) struts out was quick and easy. We then went to remove the lower spring support from the original shock's to install it on the belstein's to find a cap blocking the removal of the support.

The truck being new we weren't sure if yanking this cap off would open the pressurized strut or not. It didn't look like it would as the shock was crimped but you never know what engineer's will do.

I took some of the pics after the fact as my wife was waitingat home for breakfast and i got up early to go do this.

Shock cap blocking spring brace that need's to be removed pic.





This and the fact you need some weight and 2 guys were the only obstacles to this install. Removing the cap was easy but we weren't 100 percent sure the shock wouldn't blow when we did it.

Belstein as it comes out of the box pic.



Truck with factory garbage removed







5100's installed










Truck as delivered






Truck with new tire's rim






truck with Belstein 5100's








Front end before 5100's





Front end with 5100's





Before 5100's







After 5100's





So there's my 5100 belstein install. The truck look's like a truck now and all i have to do is exhaust and tint. I'll do a vid post when i finish the exhaust and some pics when the tint is done.

Nothing like buying an new truck and at 4000km's off the lot have to make it into a real truck :)

Before the 5100's the truck would scrub the tires at full lock. Now with the 5100 it will not rub at all.
 
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#2 ·
thats a sweet set up bud she looks awesome
 
#11 ·
Tire's, rim's, 5100's cost me $2100 plus tax. I didn't have to pay the tax as my boss let me put it thru the buisness.

I put the shocks on myself so no cost there. Today it goes in for a allignment as i can see it's off (49.99).

I was surprised as i got those american eagle 17x9 -12 offset rim's for only $156 a rim. I ordered my tires last month and got a $80 rebate for the set. They also said i had to order then to keep my $300 a tire price as all goodyears were going up 10 percent this month because of rubber prices.

I'm very happy with my new truck :) and glad some others like the look.
 
#12 ·
Thanks for the pics, especially the ones that show the struts will not blow if the caps are taken off. I have these but, have not installed them yet. I will install them when I get home from camp along with a mufflex 18". Your truck looks real good, can't wait till mine looks that good. From the pics it looks like you have them to the max height setting, have you noticed any vibration in 4x4? I have heard that the vibration issue has been remedied on the 2011's but would like to hear from someone who has done the level on one. Thanks again for the pics and info.
 
#13 ·
Thanks for the pics, especially the ones that show the struts will not blow if the caps are taken off. I have these but, have not installed them yet. I will install them when I get home from camp along with a mufflex 18". Your truck looks real good, can't wait till mine looks that good. From the pics it looks like you have them to the max height setting, have you noticed any vibration in 4x4? I have heard that the vibration issue has been remedied on the 2011's but would like to hear from someone who has done the level on one. Thanks again for the pics and info.

I haven't had it in 4 wheel yet but give me till the end of the weekend as i am planning on testing the package out.

My 5100's are on the max setting.

I also had the truck alligned and will post the printout. It was out quite a bit.
 
#23 ·
I installed my 5100's last weekend and here are some tips for anyone else doing them yourself. I would wait about a week after installing them before having the alignment done. It may take a little driving and hitting a couple of good speed bumps to fully reseat the springs in their seats. After I did mine I set them at 2.1" and had 2 3/4" lift after driving it for a couple of short trips. After another day or two they settled down to right at 2 1/4" of lift. Then I got my alignment.

Also a quick note, if your doing them yourself, the coil overs only go in one way. Pay attention to how it is sitting (large flat side tward engine) when you pull it out. It will only go in the same way and it looks almost symetrical unless you look closely at it. That caused me a bit of frustration but other than that everthing went smooth. I suggest downloading the RoughCountry instructions for installing their leveling kit. It will give you a very good idea of the process.

http://www.roughcountry.com/install/359.pdf
 
#25 ·
im interested to hear why the cap had to come off the original shock...for the life of me i dont remember doing that?!?!
 
#28 ·
This looks great, can I put the Bilstein 5100 on my 2WD 2012 ram 1500, because I want to level out my truck as well without doing the blocks (I feel like its gunna be a cheap way of leveling and wear out my stock components way faster), if not is there any other options I have for leveling the 2WD?
 
#30 ·
I just ordered my 5100's today. I plan on putting a new set of wheels and tires on in a couple of months when I buy out my lease. I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to put in the shocks now while its warm out rather than trying to put them in and deal with snow and ice, etc. Any reason I shouldn't put them in before I get my new wheel set up? I will be running 295/60/20 toyo at 2's xt, and 20x9 fuel nutz wheels with 1 for and offset. The only negative I can see to doing it now is that it'll look kinda lame for a couple months with the stock tires!
 
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