installed my 5100's today. went ok. only had one snafu on the last shock and the last twist of the wrench. always happens like that. the last screw, or the last bolt or the last part always have greif associated with them. whoever wrote that rule need to be shot.

took longer than hoped for but i wasnt in a rush and spent much time tool hunting. did the swap at 230 miles on the truck, all of them extended back to full length, although quite slow. nothing close to the bilsteins. also you may be interested to hear that my left rear rancho was blown and leaking!!

pics to follow shortly

 

That is unreal that brand new shocks could be that bad. My steering stabilizer should be here on Monday afternoon. I can't wait to get that baby installed. Glad to hear you got yours installed. Have you taken it for a spin? Are you happy with the ride?

 

ya i drove her around for bit. im pretty sure its way better. i think i need the 5100 steering stabilizer cause i can feel the wobble (very slight) over certain roads/bumps. Im sure it doesnt get better with time

 

Well, it's understandable you're still extended and mine didn't. Mine had 4 times the mileage of yours!!!

 

But one was leaking bad

 

Yeah, you got me beat there...

 

heres some pics.

 

Looks like the Rancho pissed itself knowing it was going to be replaced so soon!

 

LOL...that is funny stuff.

 

Shame.... Shame..... I don't see where you Wire Tied the bolts

 

Wire tied the bolts?

 

I was trying to kid with you....... You're an A&P and used to Safety Wiring many a fastener.

 

i had a feeling it was something along those lines. sorry its late here. when i hear someone say wire tie i think of zip tie. as opposed to safety wire. i dont do much safety wire on my truck, but i did safety my boat anchor shackle

 

My Goof! I used the wrong term. Shame on me
I too Safety wire the pin on a shackle for items like that.

Have a good night and enjoy your new Baby.

 

btw, figured i might as well share my snafu on the bilstein install to prevent anyone else from having the same thing happen. on the front(s), the top of the shaft will allow a 6mm hex driver to prevent the shaft from turning while torquing. well...on the last turn of the ratchet wrench, i accidentally applied some sideways force aka "english" on my hex driver ( i was using a socket drive hex on a 3/8 ratchet) and sure enough, due to the extremely thin sidewall, the hex broke through a side of the shaft. very minor, more of a small split. just enough to make the internal wrenching feature useless, and p*ss me off for a while. Luckily final torque had been set and the only other time this could present an issue is when removal is needed. (hopefully a long time). but when its time to remove the shock i can always just clamp on the the shaft with a vice grip cause clearly i wont care about the shock if its being replaced.

probably the worst of the outcome was that i knew i had a flaw and i stopped at autozone and picked up some nice rubber vacuum caps to go over the shaft(s). gave it a real nice finished look and helped me forget about my slip. oh well. hope this helps someone else avoid the same.