Im in the market for 4 new shocks cause all mine are sweating and bad..

Im looking to spend a bit on them but not 100$ per shock
I was thinking about getting Bilstien 5100s
Will those be good on a 2wd stock height 97 f150

 

as far as I know they dont make 5100's for the front of our trucks?? I could be wrong,

I'm looking at the 4600's for mine. $75/ea roughly.

 

5100's are for lifted trucks for our body style. You'd have to get the bilstein hd's if you want shocks like the 5100's. Same shock, just different colors and for stock height applications.

 

Ah okay
Are 4600 the same.thing as hds

 

IIRC they have regular 4600 series, and HD series... The ones I Was looking at were just normal 4600 series and were $75ea. I think the HD ones were right around $100ea. I was just looking at them on monday. Getting ready to order some myself.

 

No, the 4600s are the ones below the hds. That's why the hds are the same as the 5100s.

 

I found a set on topguncustomz site, 4 of the regular 4600 series for $262 shipped for my 4x4, might be a little cheaper for 2wd version

 

Ya I drive thru a landslide area everyday to work and it feels like im driving through the desert going 100

 

When doing the front shocks I have to take the coil spring off don't I?
So if I were to buy a 2" leveling coil spring I could just put it on

 

no the only thing you have to remove is the shock itself. I replaced the ones on my 97 2wd w/o any problems. The front are easy, the rear are a pain in the **** b/c you just have that little window in the frame to reach the top nut. One of mine had boogered up threads so bad I ended up having to take a torch and cut it off. Set the bushing on fire too... haha! Fun times.

 

Yea takes all of 5 minutes to change the fronts, it'll take about 5 hours or so to do a coil spacer install. Rears like he said^ are a pain to do, it took me like an hour and half to do mine because the shock nut had rusted itself in place.

 

I have a coil compressor
Don't I just take the old coil off and the new one on

 

Not that easy, you have to take the spindle off or undo it either from the upper or lower balljoint, disconnect the tie rod most likely, and the sway bar to be able to drop the control arm low enough to get it back in. And good luck using the coil compressor, they're hard to fit up in the coil pocket. It's easier to just disconnect everything and step on the lower control arm until you can push it down far enough to get it out.

But adding a 2" coil spacer will kill the smooth ride your trying to achieve with those new shocks.

 

lol that's why I just busted out the torch.

I agree

 

I took a dremel too it to cut my shock out haha.