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Bilstein 5100

blownout1500

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Here is a comparison from another forum. 4th gen on the left, 5100 in the middle, 5th gen on the right. The spring seat is much higher up on the 5th gen strut.
Thanks for digging that up, much appreciated. My first guess looking at my truck side-by-side with a fourth GEN is that the spring seat on the fifth GEN needs to be higher for the strut to clear the CV axle.

Unfortunately it looks like the highway Cloverleaf of suspension is just a little bit different for the fifth GEN front end. Guess I’ll just have to wait and save more money LOL.
 

blownout1500

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Any luck yet?
Check out @ksn240 post above... Looks like fifth GEN struts are longer than the fourth GEN struts, but maybe more importantly the spring seat on the fifth GEN struts is quite a bit higher to clear the 4wd CV axle.

My wild *** guess is that you could maybe swap your kings over from a fourth GEN if you added a spacer and had a 2wd truck(?).

This is enough info to burst my bubble… I’ll wait for the proper parts I think. (y):cry:
 

ksn240

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Thanks for digging that up, much appreciated. My first guess looking at my truck side-by-side with a fourth GEN is that the spring seat on the fifth GEN needs to be higher for the strut to clear the CV axle.

Unfortunately it looks like the highway Cloverleaf of suspension is just a little bit different for the fifth GEN front end. Guess I’ll just have to wait and save more money LOL.
The spring seat is the biggest issue. The length of the strut is pretty close, but the Bilstein on max setting would only give you close to stock height on a 5th gen. If you had some 4-6" coilovers from a 4th gen you could likely get 2-4" of lift that way, but it's probably best to wait on the new components.
 

mjegge

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This is crazy - and Bilstein doesn't seem to reply to emails. Picked up my new 2019 a little over a week ago and had to go with Ready Lift pucks and the front end of the truck bounces all over - don't even want to drive it.

Really hoping for 5100s SOON!
 

buckeyecool71

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Here is the responsei received from Bilstein this morning.

Thank you for your interest in Bilstein shocks! We are working hard on the development, engineering and tuning of all kits for the 2019 Ram 1500. At this time we do not have an exact release date but you can continue to check our online catalog to verify if we have any releases for those products yet. I would likely see something come out late this year or early next year - Bilstein Online Catalog

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Jurrian Terpstra
Technical Sales and Warranty Support Expert
thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc
T: +1 858 386-5900, Direct: +1 858 386-5902, Fax: +1 858 386-5901 [email protected]
thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc, 14102 Stowe Drive, Poway, CA 92064, USA, www.bilsteinus.com
 

ColoradoCub

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Well that sucks! I don’t want a cheap puck to level mine and I don’t want to spend $1200 for the Mopar kit either! C’mon Bilstein!!!
 

deanfx

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Here is the responsei received from Bilstein this morning.

Thank you for your interest in Bilstein shocks! We are working hard on the development, engineering and tuning of all kits for the 2019 Ram 1500. At this time we do not have an exact release date but you can continue to check our online catalog to verify if we have any releases for those products yet. I would likely see something come out late this year or early next year - Bilstein Online Catalog

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Jurrian Terpstra
Technical Sales and Warranty Support Expert
thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc
T: +1 858 386-5900, Direct: +1 858 386-5902, Fax: +1 858 386-5901 [email protected]
thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc, 14102 Stowe Drive, Poway, CA 92064, USA, www.bilsteinus.com
I went through this with a '14 F150. I'm out on Bilstein simply because they are waiting for nothing.
 

Love2driveRAM19

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Long shot here but has anyone ever found Koni's that worked for our trucks? Back in my BMW days a set of Koni Yellows were a great improvement that rivaled Bilstein.

I found a youtube commercial that advertised Koni Orange:
"KONI STR.T Light Truck (LT) Series product line performance shock absorbers for ½ ton, ¾ ton and 1 ton Ford/Chevrolet and GMC/ Dodge and Ram pickups and related SUVs"

Has anyone tried the Koni's on their previous/current truck(s)????



edit---here is information from Koni website, I don't see info for our 2019's yet :(

 
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SilverSurfer15

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I don’t understand the whole “I hate spacers” nonsense. Thousands of lifted trucks use spacers. Every 6” kit on the market for every truck made (with IFS) comes standard with spacers.

It’s fine.

The only time it’s a negative is if you are flexing the truck a lot off road, then using spacers (outside of a lift kit) can potentially allow the truck to over extend in droop.

The advantage to the bilstein is that you get a better strut/shock assembly vs the OEM one, and it’s valved to work with the extra preload on the spring. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a better route but it’s not because there’s no spacer.

Side note: Rebel’s have factory Bilsteins. Why can’t you just use them with the readylift 2” spacer and control arms? Or if you don’t want that much lift, do a 1” top spacer instead. Or stick a 1” preload spacer in there.
 

ColoradoCub

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I don’t understand the whole “I hate spacers” nonsense. Thousands of lifted trucks use spacers. Every 6” kit on the market for every truck made (with IFS) comes standard with spacers.

It’s fine.

The only time it’s a negative is if you are flexing the truck a lot off road, then using spacers (outside of a lift kit) can potentially allow the truck to over extend in droop.

The advantage to the bilstein is that you get a better strut/shock assembly vs the OEM one, and it’s valved to work with the extra preload on the spring. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a better route but it’s not because there’s no spacer


I don’t understand the whole “I hate spacers” nonsense. Thousands of lifted trucks use spacers.

The only time it’s a negative is if you are flexing the truck a lot off road, then using spacers (outside of a lift kit) can potentially allow the truck to over extend in droop.

While I’m not into off-roading per say, I do live in Colorado and my truck does leave the pavement. It’s ok for pavement queen trucks to look good but not truly be functional but for those that still need a functional suspension, pucks are purely for looks not function. Sadly the front valance on these trucks seems to have less ground clearance than my wife’s crossover SUV.
 

SilverSurfer15

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So with that, you didn’t touch on the OEM rebel bilsteins? Those should be good for 1”, and you could preload the spring for another inch?

No pucks, factory length strut, what’s the rub with this? My truck rides fine stock, couldn’t comment on the ride quality with a preload but I would imagine it wouldn’t be awful if you kept it at 1”. Plus the bilsteins reuse the same stock spring anyways, so aside from the potentially different valving, you have the same setup as 5100s here basically.

The real answer to this is swapping to a front coil over all together IMO. Of course those don’t exist either because everyone’s too busy making crap for the new GM trucks. And people will Beach about paying 1700 dollars for a 2.5” lift.
 

ColoradoCub

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So with that, you didn’t touch on the OEM rebel bilsteins? Those should be good for 1”, and you could preload the spring for another inch?

No pucks, factory length strut, what’s the rub with this? My truck rides fine stock, couldn’t comment on the ride quality with a preload but I would imagine it wouldn’t be awful if you kept it at 1”. Plus the bilsteins reuse the same stock spring anyways, so aside from the potentially different valving, you have the same setup as 5100s here basically.

The real answer to this is swapping to a front coil over all together IMO. Of course those don’t exist either because everyone’s too busy making crap for the new GM trucks. And people will Beach about paying 1700 dollars for a 2.5” lift.

Honestly dude it is so hard to figure out what works, what doesn’t, what the part numbers and what the finished product looks like after Frankensteining something up for these trucks right now. You try to search installing rebel springs and shocks on a non-ORP truck and you end up reading about every other variation out there. Guys with ORP or Rebels that also want to add kits to their existing 1” not exactly clear what the hell a guy needs to get in order raise the front enough that it’s not nose dragging. At least with Bilsteins kits you know what your getting.
 

agjr85

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I was curious about how the Rebels and ORG trucks are 1" higher. So it is via the struts!
 

SilverSurfer15

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I was curious about how the Rebels and ORG trucks are 1" higher. So it is via the struts!

No it’s actually the spring lol. The struts are different, but not longer. At least that’s what I’ve read.

It is a bit confusing. Seems like they have 2 springs though, standard and 1” lift. And then they have a barrage of struts, maybe just 3, that are all the same length but different valvings and shock bodies and what not. But I could be wrong.

Makes sense though, they shouldn’t use a longer strut because then it changes the geometry (same as using a spacer). If you just use the spring/preload, same geometry just cycling the suspension off the spring.
 

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