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Front Shock Replacement

hpracing10

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hpracing10 Enthusiast

hpracing10

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I need to replace the factory red shocks on the front of my '03 silverado. I replaced the rear shocks about a year ago with Bilstien Heavy Duty shocks. I was searching around yesterday for Bilstien shocks for the front of my truck and I came across the Heavy Duty shocks for the front. These would be the same series I have on the rear. I also found Bilstien 5100 series offroad shocks. Behind the price for these shocks it says 2" lift. Does this mean I can install these 5100 series shocks on the front of my truck and it will give me a 2" lift up there? If so, that would level my truck out and that would be great if it could be accomplished with shocks. Anyone know anything about this?

 

Also, when I go about changing the front shocks, any tips or tricks I should know? Or is it pretty straight forward? I have changed shocks on vehicles before but not on a 4WD pickup with torsion bars. Should I just get the truck up on jack stands, take off front tires and unbolt the old shock and in with the new or is this not the way to do it? Please help me out! Thanks

dewfpo Senior Enthusiast

dewfpo

Posted
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I replaced my OE stock shocks with the Bilstein replacements (not the 5100's). The Bilstein's helped the rear a bunch, especially when going over rough expansion joints. Much better than the stock shocks. They did make the front end ride more rough though IMO. I would have preferred to keep the stock shock dampening in the front and just change the rears to the Bilstein's if I had to do it over again.

 

The 5100's won't lift anything. Springs and Torsion bars give you lift, not shocks. The 5100's are 2" longer so that if you have a 2" lift you won't bottom out the shock.

 

I installed all four of mine without even lifting the truck with a jack. I just turned the front wheels full lock to access each side.

 

As always, your mileage may vary.

 

DEWFPO

hpracing10 Enthusiast

hpracing10

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After a little research, I have found that the 5100 series shocks only provide lift on newer trucks with the coil-over shock design on the front instead of torsion bars, like on the GMT900 trucks. What I am wondering now is which Bilstein shock is better for my application? I do some towing, nothing too heavy though and very minimal off-roading. Should I go ahead and go with the 5100 series shock on the front of my truck, or should I just go with the Heavy Duty series like what I have on the back now?

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