so what’s a ballpark price for all 4 Bilsteins?
plus I would need to pay for labor.

I’m tapped out now. New truck.
175 miles on it. Swapped out OEM tires, wheel well liners, Husky mud flaps, ceramic tint all around inside, Linex bed, rubber bed mat, Tonneau cover. I can’t do the Bilsteins yet, but I have no idea what the cost is?

With that being said, I’ve been following this thread with great interest.
Besides leveling the truck, my limited experience in my new truck makes me wonder what is the need for Bilsteins. Ride quality has been great—so far. I have 175 miles—all highway.
I haven’t been over 60 mph. Nothing has happened to make me say, “OMG I need new shocks!” Good thing as I don’t have the funds now anyways, but I’ll start saving just in case.

 

$129 each for the front lift shocks. $85 each for the rear. That's amazon prices. They are a little more from other places. As for install, the rear should be cheap or you can do them yourself VERY easily. The front are more involved but only require a jack, jack stands, spring compressor (can be rented for $55 and you get that back when you return it so basically free), and a good set of metric wrenches. Make sure the wrenches come with an 18mm. A lot dont. And you will need an alignment afterward (guessing $60-80). I'd guess the cost to have a shop install them would be about $500 give or take $100. Took me about 4.5 hrs to do all 4 of mine with the tools I listed.

as for the reason, you get your truck level, better shocks, and the ride quality is vastly improved. The ride was ok before, but no where near as good as my 2012 titan pro4x. After installing the shocks, the ride is 1000% better and as good or better than my old titan.

 

Thanks. I would probably have my fronts set at 1.75. I know that might leave some rake, but that would be ok with me. I just paid extra for the 275/55/20 Cooper AT3 4s. So since a lot seem to add the Bilsteins to create a level truck and get bigger tires, would it look funny with the lift with the OEM size tires? Which is partly the reason for the 1.75 ht. choice if I was to do that.

 

I put my 5100's on at max lift and it's still showing some rake. Overall I love it and did the rear too. The front install isn't too hateful if you've done struts before and have a GOOD spring compressor. Helpful hint for the rears do not take the banding strap off the new shocks until after you have them installed. It's so easy to compress the shock to fit the mounts by pulling on one side of the strap outward to slip it the mount. Rear install should take no more than 20 minutes with hand tools.

 

it's funny how different these trucks can be. I set mine on max and I'm 1" higher in the front. As for the back, I jacked the truck up from the frame and removed the tires. The new shocks would have been too short with the bands. The shocks are really easy to move in and out anyway. I bolted the bottom in and just grabbed the top with one hand and pushed them down and used the other hand to insert the bolt. I had to push them in about 2" to get them to fit. Oh yea, the rubber boot on the shock goes on the bottom!!! I would have thought they would have made them to be installed on the top to protect the boot from debris, but I was wrong!

You are right about the front. Hardest part was figuring out the best placement for the spring compressors. The rest was just unbolting and bolting back up. Cant stress enough, make sure you have an 18 mm, 21mm, 8mm, and 10mm wrench!! Sockets of the same size help too. I have 3 sets of metric wrenches and 4 sets of sockets and NONE of them had an 18mm!

 

For the money these are good spring compressors. Just make sure you grease the threads and do NOT use an impact gun on them. Take your time.

 

I've been reading reviews for the past 7 months then finally decided on what to get for my 17 2.7 eco. I went with billsteins in the front set at the highest setting, 275 65 20 cooper at3 xlts . I got the truck back and man its alot rougher over bumps / wash board feeling over everything. I didnt put the rear blocks in yet wasnt sure I would need them and I dont have the billsteins on the rear yet. Would lowering the air pressure help with the ride quality ? Just looking for some opinions. Thanks!

 

here is a pic of the truck as well

 

What pressure are you running on your tires? Mine is a stiffer ride, but you cant feel the smaller bumps like you could with the stock shocks. Much less body roll and bounce with the blistiens. Right now, I'm running factory tires at about 35-37 PSI

 

its getting lined up as we speak so ill see what they are when I get home. Now they just came out and told me the truck is in spec and doesn't need lined up im all in the green with everything haha. I don't know how thats possible but they are going to drive it and see what they feel. Seems like the steering is sloppy to me. ( background in mechanical shop and autobody)