Installed my Bilstein 5100's today

2012RamBigHorn said:

hey there folks I got and installed my 5100's today on my 2012 Ram and it's easy easy easy

for anyone wanting instructions on how to get it done within 2 hours listen up

As I did this in my home shop there was no lift or hoist and simple hand tools

jack up the 1st wheel you plan on working with make sure to use stands for safety

Remove the tire then for piece of mind remove the 2 bolts in back of your brake caliper and tape,zip tie or bungee the caliper to your control arm or off to the side

next remove your upper control arm bolt then the steering linkage arm bolt then the (top) sway bar link nut

now your done messing with the truck everything else is on the strut it's self

remove the lower strut nut and pull the bolt through and out then remove the 3 nuts on the top of the strut

after everything is removed push down with your free hand or your knee and wiggle the strut out and away from the truck

next you need a spring compressor to remove the tension I used this one from princess auto its cheap and I know for a fact it works well

http://www.princessauto.com/pal/product/2920186/Steering-&-Suspension/Strut-Coil-Spring-Compressor

after you have compressed the spring take the top nut off the strut and remove the spring

turn the strut upside down and use a hammer to smack the corners of the little black dust cap to get it off

once that's off pull off the bump stop and turn it over again and smack the spring seat cup with a hammer because this is needed on the bilstein strut

ok put the oem strut aside or away grab the bilstein pick your height ( I used the top or 2.8) and then drop your oem spring seat cup on and put the spring on then the top cap with the 3 strut bolts and bolt it on with the new bolts provided from bilstein

next you just do everything in reverse install the strut and the 3 bolts on top install the lower strut bolt then the upper ball joint bolt then the steering linkage bolt and the stabilizer bolt and your caliper once it's all bolted in place tighten everything to spec the torque specs are in this post 4 posters down just open the PDF print it off ant take it with you to the garage every spec you need is listed there

http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?t=82751&highlight=2011+torque

that's it simple floor jacks hand tools and some general know how and it's about 1 hour per side

DON'T FORGET TO GET AN ALIGNMENT for the 70-100 bucks you will spend your will save you 1000-1500 dollar tires


I don't know if this is a no no or not but if you want pics to go along with everything I just said go to google and type in (dodge ram bilstein 5100 install) and you will get a write up called Bilstein 5100 DIY Install (Pic Heavy)

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