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Bilstein 5100

Billet1500 4x4

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Shocks don't provide lift. You either need a spring, which doesn't exist to my knowledge, or a spacer that sits on the spring. The shocks are good for 0-1" relating to overall travel. Meaning you can lift the rear 1" and still have enough travel on the shock without bottoming out. The ORP only lifts the front 1". I don't believe it lifts the back ( I could be wrong on this part.)
ORP consists of front and rear springs that lift the truck 1" all the way around. ORP package uses a different rear shock that is longer. I lifted the back of my truck 1" with a spacer and replaced the standard rear shock with an ORP version. OPR is the green sticker

1576858187517.png
 

Tender

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Where did the 1" spacer come from if you don't mind me asking.
Thanks!
 

Tender

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What is everyones thoughts on replacing UCA's if you run Bilstien 5100's set a 2.6"? Is it advised or are stock UCA's ok?

My last set of 5100's were set at 1.75" but on the new truck I think I will go the full 2.6" and put either a 1" or 1 1/2" Spacer on the back.
 

Billet1500 4x4

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What is everyones thoughts on replacing UCA's if you run Bilstien 5100's set a 2.6"? Is it advised or are stock UCA's ok?

My last set of 5100's were set at 1.75" but on the new truck I think I will go the full 2.6" and put either a 1" or 1 1/2" Spacer on the back.
I'd replace them with the ones from zone offroad at 2.6" at 3.5" I'd go with the readylift uca
 

sman301

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If I'm doing a 2" level, do you think I would need to get UCAs?

sman301 sman301 sman301
 

Ram_Feste

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ORP consists of front and rear springs that lift the truck 1" all the way around. ORP package uses a different rear shock that is longer. I lifted the back of my truck 1" with a spacer and replaced the standard rear shock with an ORP version. OPR is the green sticker

View attachment 42151

Since Bilstein isn't offering a rear shock option at this time, do you mind giving me/us the part number for the ORP rear shocks? Where did you get them a local off-road shop that was lifting other rams?
 
R

Rob5589

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Since Bilstein isn't offering a rear shock option at this time, do you mind giving me/us the part number for the ORP rear shocks? Where did you get them a local off-road shop that was lifting other rams?
Give it some time. Sometime in the next couple of months is what I was told.
 

rah6887

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Just ordered a set, think I'm gonna go with the 1.7" setting.
Torn about whether or not new UCA's will be necessary with that particular setting.
 

rob989_69

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I'm a little concerned now. I had intended to go full 2.5" (or 2.6" or 2..75") depending on where you read, and then a 1.5" in the back. Never occurred to me that UCA's would be needed at that height. Alot of people have been doing the Motofab or similar 2.5" level with no issues (at least that I'm aware of) why would they be needed for the Bilsteins? For me, my truck is a pavement princess. The biggest thing I'll be running over are speed bumps. Are UCA's really necessary? I had intended on doing the RL UCA's later next year but I'm hoping to have the Bilsteins installed in the next few weeks.
 

Billet1500 4x4

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Since Bilstein isn't offering a rear shock option at this time, do you mind giving me/us the part number for the ORP rear shocks? Where did you get them a local off-road shop that was lifting other rams?
I bought them from a guy on this forum that put the 2" Mopar kit on his truck which basically replaces all 4 shocks with Fox. I ended up buying his take offs with only a few thousand miles on them.

P/N - 68262592AC

You're better off waiting for the Bilsteins unless you can find a used set for a decent price because from Mopar they are like 120 dollars each brand new.
 

Billet1500 4x4

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If I'm doing a 2" level, do you think I would need to get UCAs?

sman301 sman301 sman301

Really up to you. These are the facts though.

The ORP package uses the same UCA as the standard truck with a 1" lift in the front. Engineers decided at 1" above stock no change was required to the UCA.
When going to the 2" Mopar kit the UCA are replaced with a higher travel Ball joint. Visually the control arms look identical but the ball joint has an additional 10-15 degrees of freedom. So the Mopar engineers felt a change was needed at 2".

Lastly it kind of depends on how you plan on leveling the front end. There are 2 ways to do it.

1. With a top hat spacer you are making the coil over longer to attain the lift by putting a spacer between the coil over top hat and the frame. The truck rides in the same travel position it would stock but the tie rods and ball joints can be extended an additional 1.25" this additional extension is what causes the ball joint to hit its travel limit and put a lot of wear and tear on it. In this case a UCA swap is a must as Ram is historically known for having upper ball joint failures with leveling kits. If an upper ball joint pops out of its socket this is a catastrophic failure which could result in a horrible accident and death if it happened at high speed.

2. Leveling with pre load. Spacer between spring and top hat or leveling shocks like the 5100, or fox shocks that come in the Mopar kit.
In this case the coilover assembly stays the exact same length as stock. The trucks is now riding 2" higher in its travel. Full extension stays the same as stock and the ball joints and tie rods should still be in their allowable working range. New UCA's would realign the ball joint to be in its neutral position which is ideal, but chances of failure are not nearly as likely as with a top hat spacer. With all that said this how the 2" Mopar kit works yet they still replace the UCA's with an upper ball joint with larger working angle. So you can ask anyone on here and their opinion may be no you don't need it. But the engineers that designed the suspension on these trucks felt 2" or larger needed at the very least a different ball joint than stock. $500 is pretty cheap piece of mind at 70 MPH for a good aftermarket set. Or in your case at 2" you can get the Mopar UCA's that come with the 2" lift kit for like 65 bucks each.

These are the Mopar control arms with links to buy them brand new on ebay.
Right side - 68323530AA
Left Side - 68323531AA
 

Billet1500 4x4

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I'm a little concerned now. I had intended to go full 2.5" (or 2.6" or 2..75") depending on where you read, and then a 1.5" in the back. Never occurred to me that UCA's would be needed at that height. Alot of people have been doing the Motofab or similar 2.5" level with no issues (at least that I'm aware of) why would they be needed for the Bilsteins? For me, my truck is a pavement princess. The biggest thing I'll be running over are speed bumps. Are UCA's really necessary? I had intended on doing the RL UCA's later next year but I'm hoping to have the Bilsteins installed in the next few weeks.
Ball joint failures are typically not an instant issue. It's a fatigue failure that if you're lucky you catch before it becomes catastrophic. It's the result of the ball joint being constantly cycled at it's working limits.

This is what the upper ball joint looked like on a factory UCA at Stock without ORP, 2.5", 3", and at full extension

1577118196135.png
Stock no ORP


1577118023795.png
2.5"

1577118047867.png
3"

1577118152483.png
Full Extension
 
R

Rob5589

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@Billet1500 4x4, so it would seem that a set of Bilsteins and the Mopar uca's would be a less expensive alternative to the Mopar lift. Not sure how the Bilsteins compare to the Fox shocks but, would likely ride at least as good or possibly better than the stockers.
Great info posted above, thanks for taking the time to lay it all out.
 

Tender

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I got sticker shock from the Mopar lift but depending on how you go the idea seems not so bad.

$265 New Bilstein Struts Front 24-232203
$130 1.5" Rear Spacer (take your pick of mfg's)
$250 Rear Shock Replacement (have not found the part# yet)
$430 Upper Control Arms Ready lift (Mopar $65) Left 68323531AA Right 68323530AA

Or buy the Mopar 2" lift/level for $1200 and have all parts together instead of hodge podged together.

Not sure why the Mopar UCA's are only $65 and frankly I'm a little leery of a $65 UCA. Am I the only one that feels this way?? Why are RL UCA's so expensive compared to Mopar?

Rob for what it's worth when I put the Bilstein 5100's on my 2012 the ride was actually better, granting they were set at 1.75".
 

z0n3

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Be interested to see if anyone’s with an ORP truck puts billsteins and mopar lift control arms on their truck.
 

rob989_69

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So for the rear spacers. $130 is WAY to much. I found motofab on amazon for $35 for a set. No price on rear 5100s obviously. I did talk to rough country they sell their ucas for $329.
 

Billet1500 4x4

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@Billet1500 4x4, so it would seem that a set of Bilsteins and the Mopar uca's would be a less expensive alternative to the Mopar lift. Not sure how the Bilsteins compare to the Fox shocks but, would likely ride at least as good or possibly better than the stockers.
Great info posted above, thanks for taking the time to lay it all out.
Yes sir, That would be the ideal way to do it. The 5100's have a legit track record the last decade of being a great shock at a good price.
 

Billet1500 4x4

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I got sticker shock from the Mopar lift but depending on how you go the idea seems not so bad.

$265 New Bilstein Struts Front 24-232203
$130 1.5" Rear Spacer (take your pick of mfg's)
$250 Rear Shock Replacement (have not found the part# yet)
$430 Upper Control Arms Ready lift (Mopar $65) Left 68323531AA Right 68323530AA

Or buy the Mopar 2" lift/level for $1200 and have all parts together instead of hodge podged together.

Not sure why the Mopar UCA's are only $65 and frankly I'm a little leery of a $65 UCA. Am I the only one that feels this way?? Why are RL UCA's so expensive compared to Mopar?

Rob for what it's worth when I put the Bilstein 5100's on my 2012 the ride was actually better, granting they were set at 1.75".
So the arms in the Mopar kit are about $130 of the $1200 price tag. Another 150 dollars for the rear brackets to lift the back. That leaves a little over 900 dollars for a set of entry level Fox shocks. Which is pretty steep for a 2.0 non resi. You do however get the warranty if you have the dealership install the thing which is probably where a good chunk of the additional cost comes from.

The Mopar control arms whether it be stock or the ones that come with the lift are made from a composite (plastic) with a thin piece of sheet metal reinforcement. The ready lift's and most others are heavy wall DOM steel tube with a 1 ton ball joint. You no doubt get what you pay for. BDS has a set of arms that are a little over $700, Zone has a boxed set at 500 or so. The best arms out there are the ICON delta joints that have uniball performance without the maintenance nightmare, but they'll set you back $900 for a set. All depends on how aggressive you plan on getting off road. You can pick-up rear spacers off of ebay for 25-30 dollars all day long.
 

rah6887

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Really up to you. These are the facts though.

The ORP package uses the same UCA as the standard truck with a 1" lift in the front. Engineers decided at 1" above stock no change was required to the UCA.
When going to the 2" Mopar kit the UCA are replaced with a higher travel Ball joint. Visually the control arms look identical but the ball joint has an additional 10-15 degrees of freedom. So the Mopar engineers felt a change was needed at 2".

Lastly it kind of depends on how you plan on leveling the front end. There are 2 ways to do it.

1. With a top hat spacer you are making the coil over longer to attain the lift by putting a spacer between the coil over top hat and the frame. The truck rides in the same travel position it would stock but the tie rods and ball joints can be extended an additional 1.25" this additional extension is what causes the ball joint to hit its travel limit and put a lot of wear and tear on it. In this case a UCA swap is a must as Ram is historically known for having upper ball joint failures with leveling kits. If an upper ball joint pops out of its socket this is a catastrophic failure which could result in a horrible accident and death if it happened at high speed.

2. Leveling with pre load. Spacer between spring and top hat or leveling shocks like the 5100, or fox shocks that come in the Mopar kit.
In this case the coilover assembly stays the exact same length as stock. The trucks is now riding 2" higher in its travel. Full extension stays the same as stock and the ball joints and tie rods should still be in their allowable working range. New UCA's would realign the ball joint to be in its neutral position which is ideal, but chances of failure are not nearly as likely as with a top hat spacer. With all that said this how the 2" Mopar kit works yet they still replace the UCA's with an upper ball joint with larger working angle. So you can ask anyone on here and their opinion may be no you don't need it. But the engineers that designed the suspension on these trucks felt 2" or larger needed at the very least a different ball joint than stock. $500 is pretty cheap piece of mind at 70 MPH for a good aftermarket set. Or in your case at 2" you can get the Mopar UCA's that come with the 2" lift kit for like 65 bucks each.

These are the Mopar control arms with links to buy them brand new on ebay.
Right side - 68323530AA
Left Side - 68323531AA
Are these the correct UCA's for a 2" level, or just factory?
I assume if they come with the 2" mopar lift they are different than OEM, just making sure.
 

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