i installed my bilstein 5100 adjustable ride height shocks today. i bought my shocks from http://www.topguncustomz.com/ these shocks came only with the stock height snap ring groove or the snap ring groove for 2" lift. i didn't want the whole 2" as i will only be running 33" tires. i had a local machine shop machine a groove that was 7/8" of an inch above the stock groove. this gave me 1 3/8" of lift. i guessed at the 7/8" not being sure if the relationship between the amount of lift and height of the lower coil support was linear. it worked out right about where i wanted it. it is pretty close to linear. i think the 2" groove is 1 3/8" above the stock groove. so if you want to get a custom lift height just take the percentage of the 2" full lift that you want, multiply by 1 3/8" (or whatever the actual height of the 2" lift groove is), and get a custom groove machined at that height. the shop i used charged me 1/2 hour of labor for $32.50. i also had the local ford garage swap out my shocks once i had the strut assemblies off the truck. they charge 1/2 hour of labor that came to $78 with tax. i could not find a suitable coil spring compressor locally, and figured it was worth it to spend $78 on labor versus $100+ to buy a safe spring compressor. plus i only live 1/2 block form the ford dealer, so it was pretty convenient to drop off and pick up the struts. i'm going to have them do the alignment also. they get $49 for a front end alignment.

i still need to get the front end aligned, so i'll have to see what the final lift height is after alignment.

 

Good idea! I work in a machine shop and could do it myself. I have not lifted the front with 5100s or leveling kit because I don't like the level or front higher look. Please post some pics! I would love to raise the front on mine but still have the front a tiny bit lower than the back.Way to think outside the box

 

i guess it's not that popular of an idea since most people want the full 2", but there's another guy that did that exact same thing a long time ago. can't remember his name, but it was in one of the dozens of 5100 threads i read.

 

i did get the idea of a custom lift height snap ring groove off of the forums. i can't remember if it was this one or one of the others. i don't remember seeing dimensions in the original post, so i thought i would put them out here. the truck is getting aligned tomorrow, i'll try to get some pics and post when i get it back.

 

after alignment i lost about 1/4 inch of lift, so i have a net of just over 1 inch of lift, maybe 1 1/8". i have a couple of pictures of before and after and a couple of the drivers side front suspension, but this page says that i cannot post pics.

i posted the pictures on my profile.