Gearing up to put the 5100's on the rear end of the truck.

Does it matter if the rubber boot is up or down?

Thanks.

 

boot go's down.

 

Excellent. Thanks for the quick response.

 

if you already have a spacer kit installed can the 2 inches on these shocks be used or would it be better to leave them at 0? the truck is already level.

 

can't use the lifted settings on the 5100's with a level kit. one or the other.

 

i would set to zero, spacer+ 2" snap ring makes horrible cv angles, or remove spacer, set at 2" (harsher ride though)

 

thats what i pretty much thought. but i should be able to use the 5100s set at 0 correct?

 

Yes

 

So I am guessing these 5100's are a good replacement for the factory socks? My truck rides like poop here lately.

 

I had the same question. In almost all appications I have seen, the rod is always up due to gas/oil leakage. I remember the Edlebrock IAS shocks as the "first" shock to be mounted boot down and it had something to do with it being mono-tube vs. twin-tube (or the other way around...I forget). I said F-it and just called Bilstein. I spoke to a woman in the support group who told me that the rod and boot can go either direction (as long as the eyes are the same which it is for the rears of the F150).

Although I called Bilstein, I too would like to know some opinions on here...
I still may go boot up but we'll see this weekend when I put them on.

 

Boot up or boot down, it doesn't matter. Just think about it. A lot of companies call for either. Also remember shocks with mounted resiviours like the Bilstein 5150s can not be mounted any other way than with the res at the top.

 

In the unlikely event that I've come up with a new way to install shocks I'll detail how I put mine in. If this idea has been posted then just ignore me.

THIS IS FOR REAR SHOCKS:
1. I left the wheels on to do this. Remove the upper and lower bolts. You'll need a 15mm wrench and 18mm socket. I used my impact wrench with the 18mm socket to do this. Now remove the old shock.
2. Take the new shock out of the box BUT LEAVE THE PLASTIC STRIP ON THAT KEEPS IT COMPRESSED.
3. Position the shock and install the lower bolt. Hand tighten the nut. In my case I decided to turn the bolts around so the nut was easier to tighten.
4. You are going to notice that the upper mount point doesn't line up with the upper eye of the shock yet. At this point jack the rear of the truck up. Put your jack on the frame. Jack it up to the point where the shock eyelet lines up with the mounting point.
5. Now slip the bolt in (once again I turned the bolt around for ease of access since I left the tires on). Hand tighten the nut.
6. Tighten down the nuts to 66 ft-lb (90 N-m). My torque wrench shows both ft-lb and N-m.
7. Now you can cut off the shipping strap and lower the vehicle.
8. Repeat for the other side.

Total time for this shouldn't be more than 20 minutes.

Good luck. Hope this helps the "do-it-yourselfers" out there.

 

My shocks are mounted with the boot up. I have the same Bilstein shocks.

 

i have mine boot down. someone said that they called bilstein and was told that the proper orientation is so that you can read "bilstein" on the shock correctly.