5100 Installed Today

1137 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by StoneyWV, Feb 12, 2012

StoneyWV

Discussion Starter · Feb 11, 2012

Installed the 5100's this afternoon. Access to all the tools needed and it wasn't that bad of a job. Went to a Mechanics home garage and we had them done in about 1.5 hours. Hardest part was getting the nuts off the top of the old struts. We had to vice grip the shafts to get them out. Put the shocks on the 2.1 setting, as I was concerned with the vibration issue everyone is having. I tried full stop starts in 2WD and rolling jump to full throttle in 4WD and didn't notice any issues. Took straight to have the alignment completed as the Camber was noticeably off.
Not a bad project, although probably not worth the $199(Shocks), $80(Alignment), and $150(install had I taken it to a shop). This would be about half the cost of a 4 inch lift to have your truck level if you didn't do it yourself, and with all the issues people are having, it's still a 50/50 roll on your individual truck having the wobble.
I figured I wouldn't get the wobble because I had 3.2 inches of difference front to back factory, which told me I had kinda weak springs on the front. Problem is I don't haul much weight in back ever so the springs have never gotten a chance to sage equivalent to the front.
After completion the rear is still about an 1.3 inches higher than the front with the 2.1 setting on the shocks. If I don't end up being happy enough with this I wll go ahead and get the 4 inch lift. If I had 3.9 rear gears in my truck I would have for sure gone with the lift instead from the start, but I know a 4 inch lift will make me want 35 inch tires and I'm not willing to take the performance hit that will give my truck with 3.55 gears. For me the decision to go with a lift carries the extra burden of gear changing which doubles the cost. Lesson learned with full size truck purchase. Always order what you want instead of making the extra good deal on what's on the lot.
Again, easy job if you have the tools and mechanical knowledge. Be careful of the axles coming out of CV Joints. You have to stress far enough down that this could easily happen. I had one come out and not the other as I was watching closer the second round.

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916Timmy

· #2 · Feb 12, 2012

That's why I went with a 2WD truck and a 2/4 drop

No wobble here!!!

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09nitetrain

· #3 · Feb 12, 2012

installed mine today to. my bottom strut bolts where seized into the lower control arm. front struts and rear shocks cost me a total of 331. labor free, alignment free, my time total of 2.5 hours, did you notice caster was off too after install?

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StoneyWV

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 12, 2012

09nitetrain said:
installed mine today to. my bottom strut bolts where seized into the lower control arm. front struts and rear shocks cost me a total of 331. labor free, alignment free, my time total of 2.5 hours, did you notice caster was off too after install?

Yea, I could have easily went with the rear only drop to level it out., but it was the same price to do both, so I decided to go with front lift solely because the rear drop springs are more progressive(according to ground force) and I didn't want the rear any stiffer. Roads around here are terrible and I drive 40 miles to work one way.

No, didn't notice anything off except the camber, it was off enough that a few weeks of that would have eaten the outside of the tire clean off

The tech actually didn't say what he adjusted. Just said he had to make a few changes to get it back correct.

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09nitetrain

· #5 · Feb 12, 2012

i set the camber a few degrees positive then the recommend -1 degree for picture perfect for suspension settling, caster i couldnt get to be perfect on driver side, cams where at there limits so i had to put passenger side a little out of spec to compensate for it, but for the most part everything is with in tolerable spec. i would of asked for print out. out machine does a before and after print out so the customer can see whats up. i went full max on mine. it didnt seem to really change the axle angle that much i noticed.

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StoneyWV

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 12, 2012

09nitetrain said:
i set the camber a few degrees positive then the recommend -1 degree for picture perfect for suspension settling, caster i couldnt get to be perfect on driver side, cams where at there limits so i had to put passenger side a little out of spec to compensate for it, but for the most part everything is with in tolerable spec. i would of asked for print out. out machine does a before and after print out so the customer can see whats up. i went full max on mine. it didnt seem to really change the axle angle that much i noticed.

Yea, was in hurry and didn't even think about getting printout for update info here on the site.

We inspected my drive line axle measured from fender to the axle when stock and again when lifted and it was about 1.2 inch change. That's was a lot in my mind, but it doesn't seem to have effected anything(YET). Like I said in my post; my truck was way low in the front. I would say probably an inch lower than most of the trucks in my area here that I've seen measured, so probably half of what I lifted was just back to avg height

Maybe I need to go four wheeling with a topped off load of gravel in the bed and get some sag in those rear springs:smileup:

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