Bilstein 7-9" Struts Installed

J-man67 · January 11, 2010

My stock front struts were shot!! Install took about 2-3 hours. I set them at the middle setting of 8". Once I get all my parts for the rear, I will probably end up putting it up to 9". Should have that all done in the next few weeks....although I might wait until it warms up. It was 17* this AM when we (buddy helped) tearing it down. My ass is still cold! Borrowed a spring compressor from Autozone. It was brand new so lucked out there. I thought about letting them keep my 50 buck deposit and keeping them, but I have my eyes on a different set. The truck rides GREAT, my clunk is gone(struts were completely dead), and I am happy again. Well, here are a few pics. Tow mirrors go on tomorrow!! :o)

blackout07 · January 11, 2010

Very nice! Did you gain any height with the current setting? Let us know how they ride, as I may be interested in a set of these some time in the future.

J-man67 · January 11, 2010

Very nice! Did you gain any height with the current setting? Let us know how they ride, as I may be interested in a set of these some time in the future.

I might have gained a 1/4". I forgot to note the measurements, and when I measured after wards, they seemed the same. They ride great! I took it out on some access roads, hit some train tracks, some speed bumps, and they really rode nice. I am very happy with them. Now its time to attack the rear as I HATE the cali lean. Bringing it up about 2-3".

SeirraRR · January 11, 2010

Looks good. I have been thinking about getting some Bilstein to replace my leveling blocks sometime.

08 onyx black · January 11, 2010

Very nice! Did you gain any height with the current setting? Let us know how they ride, as I may be interested in a set of these some time in the future.

I might have gained a 1/4". I forgot to note the measurements, and when I measured after wards, they seemed the same. They ride great! I took it out on some access roads, hit some train tracks, some speed bumps, and they really rode nice. I am very happy with them. Now its time to attack the rear as I HATE the cali lean. Bringing it up about 2-3".

Justin, where did you buy them at and if possible can you tell me the cost

J-man67 · January 11, 2010

Very nice! Did you gain any height with the current setting? Let us know how they ride, as I may be interested in a set of these some time in the future.

I might have gained a 1/4". I forgot to note the measurements, and when I measured after wards, they seemed the same. They ride great! I took it out on some access roads, hit some train tracks, some speed bumps, and they really rode nice. I am very happy with them. Now its time to attack the rear as I HATE the cali lean. Bringing it up about 2-3".

Justin, where did you buy them at and if possible can you tell me the cost

I got them from Cognito for 150.00 each.

stlavsa · January 16, 2010

Very nice! Did you gain any height with the current setting? Let us know how they ride, as I may be interested in a set of these some time in the future.

I might have gained a 1/4". I forgot to note the measurements, and when I measured after wards, they seemed the same. They ride great! I took it out on some access roads, hit some train tracks, some speed bumps, and they really rode nice. I am very happy with them. Now its time to attack the rear as I HATE the cali lean. Bringing it up about 2-3".

Justin, where did you buy them at and if possible can you tell me the cost

I got them from Cognito for 150.00 each.

Looks better than the strut n extension (im still running it too) Prolly throw those on with the new tires when the weather breaks. $300 for the set is pretty reasonable are there any others you looked at besides bilsteins.

stlavsa · January 16, 2010

oh n you gonna go get it aligned?

J-man67 · January 20, 2010

Looks better than the strut n extension (im still running it too) Prolly throw those on with the new tires when the weather breaks. $300 for the set is pretty reasonable are there any others you looked at besides bilsteins.

Yeah, looks better then the extension, although I never had a problem with it. CST uses the same type of lower extension, but no one says anything about that one....go figure. If my struts didn't blow, I would still have them. Just saw the Bilsteins as an option and decided to try them out. Luckily, they sold them to me by themselves. Didn't look at any others, b/c Bilstein is the only manufacturer that makes these longer struts. They built them for Cognito to use with their 7-9" and 10-12" kits. Other kits come with replacement struts, but they aren't big enough.

oh n you gonna go get it aligned?

I did get it aligned the next day. Probably didn't have to, since I set them at 8". The alignment shop said it wasn't off too far at all. I felt safer getting it done though. Also had the tires rebalanced b/c my local NTB is a bunch of tards and they screwed up my last balance. Trust me, they got an ear shot, I vibrated all the way to MA and back last month. I was PISSED!

stlavsa · January 21, 2010

Looks better than the strut n extension (im still running it too) Prolly throw those on with the new tires when the weather breaks. $300 for the set is pretty reasonable are there any others you looked at besides bilsteins.

Yeah, looks better then the extension, although I never had a problem with it. CST uses the same type of lower extension, but no one says anything about that one....go figure. If my struts didn't blow, I would still have them. Just saw the Bilsteins as an option and decided to try them out. Luckily, they sold them to me by themselves. Didn't look at any others, b/c Bilstein is the only manufacturer that makes these longer struts. They built them for Cognito to use with their 7-9" and 10-12" kits. Other kits come with replacement struts, but they aren't big enough.

oh n you gonna go get it aligned?

I did get it aligned the next day. Probably didn't have to, since I set them at 8". The alignment shop said it wasn't off too far at all. I felt safer getting it done though. Also had the tires rebalanced b/c my local NTB is a bunch of tards and they screwed up my last balance. Trust me, they got an ear shot, I vibrated all the way to MA and back last month. I was PISSED!

I never had a problem with the strut extensions either. people like to find ways to gripe about the fabtech, mainly cuz its bigger than the other 6" kits and people r jealous! I was wondering if bilstein was the only ones who make them, which is what i was getting at when i asked that question... thank you.

J-man67 · January 26, 2010

No problem man! I took a long drive the other day. I am def happy with these struts. Now, I am looking forward to installing the rears. Ordered them from Cognito as well. I'm pretty sure both of the Fabtech rear's are toast...at least it feels/sounds that way.

silverbullet2005 · January 27, 2010

The Bilsteins look great, The BDS kit came with 6" longer replacement struts to avoid the use of spacers. To be honest I've never seen the lower spacers like you removed, just the top spacers like ProComp uses etc. What are your plans for lifting the rear up a bit more? I thought about air shocks but don't know of any companies who offer an air shock for a 6" suspension lift.

J-man67 · February 2, 2010

The Bilsteins look great, The BDS kit came with 6" longer replacement struts to avoid the use of spacers. To be honest I've never seen the lower spacers like you removed, just the top spacers like ProComp uses etc. What are your plans for lifting the rear up a bit more? I thought about air shocks but don't know of any companies who offer an air shock for a 6" suspension lift.

Thanks, so far I love them. I wish the Fabtech came with some of the "extras" the other kits come with, but what are you going to do? Yeah, the spacers were a little different, although a couple other lifts do use the same contraption. CST being one of them. They worked fine, just wanted to get the stock struts out. To get the rear up, I am doing a shackle flip. That will net me 4" of lift, then I am adding a 2" zero rate. I am keeping my 1 1/2 AAL in as well. That is about 7 1/2" over stock, so should be about an inch-inch 1/2 higher in the rear. Also ordered some 7-9" Bilstein shocks for the rears from the same Cognito kit that I sourced my fronts. I also thought about air shock, but I could not find any. I then started looking at airbags with lift extension blocks. I like to stretch the suspension out a couple times a month. I figured any decent articulation would rip the air bags, so I threw that idea out and researched the shackle flip. Just waiting on a few days of some warmer weather.