Best lift for 2.5”-3.5”

Hey everyone,
I have been running bilstein 5100s cranked all the way to the top notch which gives 2.5” of lift with stock coils. The ride is pretty harsh and I tried to put up with it for as long as could. I was wondering if anyone could recommend me new ways (besides a spacer) that would give me at least 2.5” of lift in the front and a smoother ride! I was wondering if any OME or Eibatch coils could give me 2.5” of lift with the 5100s on the bottom notch. If I have to, I’ll spend the money for fox or kings but really don’t want to. Thank you!

 

Define harsh? Meaning do you like it to ride more car like, like a new F150 or do you like a more firmness. I am running a spacer lift and switching over to springs here in the next month. My observation (since I have owned the truck since new) and done my own work- see my lift link below- is that shocks wear out and the reason for a bad rides is sometimes the fault of old shocks. I know my ride is not as good as it was- and I have added weight to the truck to boot. So I have got some longer 650 lbs springs on deck and new 5100 shocks. With you having the clip all the way up you may just have that spring to preloaded and also have limited the travel of the suspension+bad ride but put a bad shock in there then its like crap. If the shocks are relatively new, I would go with just a spring swap- something taller than original, go with something in the 600 lb range. If the shocks are older than work that into the budget but you dont need to spend king money to ride "Island Style"

 

depending on what shape your 5100’s are in, yes, a coil designed to give you the lift you want and assembled on the “zero” notch will reduce the harshness of your ride.

 

You definitely do not want to go over 2.5" of lifted ride height. As Just Dandee mentioned, as you increase ride height, down travel decreases resulting in a rough ride. I also agree in terms of price, new OEM coils would be your best option. Its not going to be great, but it should be better than what you have setup now unless you decrease the ride height. I personally found a 2"increase to ride the best on the road for the stock setup.

 

Thank you for the info and have just emailed them. I tried to go the cheapest route I could with maxing out the bilsteins but can't take it anymore lol.

 

Yes my bilsteins are only 1/2 a year old. So far everyone is saying to get the appropriate OME coils to do the lift so will probably go with that route. I appreciate the info!

 

Thank you and will try to go with the OME coils as everyone is saying. I really like the look of the truck now and want to try and keep it like that. If I am not satisfied with the coils, I will have to go another route with either lowering the truck a little or getting better suspension as a whole.

 

My bilsteins are only about 1/2 a year old so will try the coils and see how I like the ride with them. Pretty curious to see how much it will change the ride quality cause right now, the ride is very still and can feel every bump in the road. Trying to get as close to a stock ride as possible without spending a couple grand on better suspension. At the end of the day it is a truck but damn its pretty brutal for me and my passengers lol.

 

if you're reaching out to Headstrong I'll just add that they sell their own coils that you can get for 2 or 2.5. here's a link to the complete set but I'm sure they'd sell just their coils: https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/p452/HS_Coil/Bilstein_5100_kit.html -- If you got these coils and put them on the bottom notch we'd have the same front end setup. I was on some old, old, old shocks and I'm extremely happy wiht the ride. Note I also have the progressive AAL and may switch at some point to the dakar pack but for now i'm good.

 

I love my Icon coil overs!

 

Bilstein pro lift kit springs, 725#. First notch will net you 2.5", second notch 3.2".

I have mine set on the second notch for additional weight. Probably 2" all around.

Truck rode awesome without front weight and even better afterwards!

 

Can anyone explain to me how the math on spring rates and sag never seems to work out?

Say you have 725 lb springs supporting a 200 lb additional weight over stock. You would think 200 lbs / (725 lb per inch per spring x 2 springs) = 0.14" of additional sag over a stock setup but people regularly report 0.5-1"+ of sag like @will.i.was

 

Well there are some additional contributing factors in my case which I believe will cause a bit of additional sag.

Sliders - 160lbs
Rear hitch+beaver tail - 100lbs
Front bumper+winch - 180lbs

And I have a TON of gear inside the cab as well.

Before the bumper I had my 5100 on first clip, about 2" lift, after setting to second clip + bumper I got the same 2". So essentially I dropped .7" as second clip should net 3.2" and first clip 2".

I do see where your coming from and I have no idea where the extra few mm went lol

 

Yeah but if anything the rear hitch weight would raise the front slightly. The sliders should be equally split between axles, same with anything inside the cab. Working backwards to lose 0.7" off two 725 lb springs you would have to add 1,015 lbs to the front axle or 2,030 lbs to the cab.

 

Thinking about this more - I think the control arms must act like levers that amplify the load? Load is carried through the frame to the control arm mounts and then cantilevered out to the wheels so maybe that's why?

 

I just did this yesterday. I set my 5100’s on the second from bottom and put Toytec 2.5 coils on. I took the rear 2” block off and added Icon 1.5 AAL’s with rear 5100’s. I also took the sway bar off. The ride feels much better and sits a bit higher.

 

Did you have the bilsteins cranked to the top notch before you got the toytec 2.5 coils? Are they the "Eibach 2.5" from pro lift springs"?

 

Answering my own question - the ratio between the distance from the spindle

Answering my own question - the ratio of the distance from the LCA mount to the spindle and the LCA mount to the frame divided by the distance from the shock mount on the LCA to the frame LCA mount is the leverage ratio on the shock. Should be about 5 if someone feels like looking up a diagram or measuring. So the springs experience about 5x the load added to the front axle.

 

Where did you buy the bilstein coils? Would like to look into those coils. Thank you.

 

I did have them set at 2.5 and it was a harsh ride with no travel left. My coils are Toytec 2.5 from Bilstein’s website I believe.