Skyjacker system is in - WOW!

[Dane]

I just finished putting the rear Skyjacker springs and Bilsteins in. I gotta tell you the ride difference is HUGE! When I did the front a few weeks ago, I really liked the improvement, but the combo of the Skyjacker front coils, upper and lower links, rear leaf springs and Bilstein shocks together makes the truck ride like a Cadillac I sheet you not



Parts list :

Skyjacker 2. 5" Kit - D2522S

Lower links DLL232

Upper links DUL252

Bump stops BP40

Dual front shock kit DS390

Rear leaf springs DR76

U-bolts 698



Bilstein front - BE5-6681-H5

Bilstein rear - BE5-6682-H5



Some notes from the field -



Skyjacker

What amazes me about Skyjacker is how good the parts are, but how incredibly inept their shipping department is. Thank God their tech support is friendly, competent and very willing to ship parts out quickly to correct mistakes.



www.skyjacker.com



Bilstein

These guys REALLY have their ducks in a row. Before the lift kit I was running Bilstein BE5-2549 fronts and BE5-2550 rears. These made a big difference in the unloaded tank like ride from our HD Rams suspension. The BE5-2549 and BE5-2550 were specifically valved for our 3/4 and 1 ton trucks. I was worried when I found out the Bilsteins for lifted 3/4 and 1 ton trucks used the same valving as the 1/2 ton lifted trucks. Usually this just don't work. After discussing my worries with Don at www.eshocks.com he suggested I talk to Shane at Bilstein racing tech support. Shane assured me the new 5100 series shocks for our lifted trucks would work as well on light duty as well as heavy duty suspensions. I now gotta agree with him One interesting note from compairing the new to old Bilsteins is that the new front 5100 series shock is valved lighter on both compression and rebound, but the new rear is valved tighter on both compression and rebound.



www.bilstein.com





Gotchas-



The rear springs come with degree plates bolted to the top of the spring pack. These WILL NOT work with the supplied U-bolts Turns out the degree plates are for the 4. 5" lift and should be removed and the bolts hack sawed to length for the 2. 5" lift. If the degree plates are removed the supplied U-bolts work fine. Woulda been nice if the instructions told me that...



What's next:



Dual front shocks - after running a week or so to get used to the ride, I'm going to bolt on the second front shock supplied by Skyjacker (junk!) If the ride/handling improves, I'll order a custom valved (80/30) 7100 series from Bilstein to go in the second shock position in front.



Air Bags - Due to the new rear springs not using lift blocks like the factory springs, my air bags are now 5" too short. This must be fixed before I can use my cabover in Baja. I've been in touch with Air Lift , and their tech support says I can bolt an air sleeve in place of the bags. Now I just have to fine the right length sleeve.



Documentation - The front D25 spring install has been well documented by some other TDR members, but I did not see anything on doing rear springs. I took a bunch of pictures and will post them as soon as I can get them developed, scanned and posted.

 

[DHRA]

You didn't believe me about the shocks? They are great!

 

[TomGolden]

Dane, glad you also like the Skyjacker lift and the improved ride. I

am using the Skyjacker Nitro shocks all around, but definitely

want to go 100% Bilstein!!



I wanted to clarify your post though... You are currently running a

single front shock, the newly designed Bilsteins for lifted trucks.

You also said you would add the second front shock (one of the

Skyjackers) in a bit, and if you like that better than the single

Bilstein, you would then order an additional pair of Bilsteins for

the front, but they would be different than the Bilsteins you

currently have on the front. Why? Why would you not just get a

second set identical to the ones you currently have on the front?



I'm not a shock guru, and since your truck is basically identical to

mine, I really want to fully understand what's going to be the

best setup for my truck at the right time.



Thanks,

Tom

 

[Dane]

Tom,

Sorry I wasn't more clear on the front shock thing, I skipped a lot of english classes in school



The reason for a different second shock is two-fold.



1) The mounts are different for the second shock.



2) I don't want to over damp the front suspension, which is likely If added another shock with the same damping as the primary shock. The 7100 series Bilstein (AK7110SB) has the same physical travel and mounting configuration as the Skyjacker second shock, but I can get it in a custom 80/30 valving according to Shane at Bilstein



http://www.bilstein.com/products/7100specs.html



and



http://www.eshocks.com/bil_ORgd.asp?Manf=All#Ratings



This way the second shock only adds minimal damping to the first except on the bumps that try to accelerate the wheel quickly. Clear as mud huh?