Directed at me? I wasn't complaining; I was stating that I didn't know that a shock advertised as stock height was higher than stock height when installed, regardless of the price of the shock. I didn't think I was attempting anything custom by putting 2wd shocks on a 4wd truck, certainly not to the degree of modifying a suspension component. I'm happy with the shocks.

 

If it is not the spec’ed part for the particular vehicle you are installing them on that is considered a custom installation. You may also void the warranty on the installed part. That is entirely up to the manufacturer.

 

I don’t think we’re too concerned with warrantying, especially that guy that machined new grooves in his shock lol. Our primary concern is re-engineering Bilstein’s oversights. Plus, ever warrantied any auto part? It’s a royal pita.

 

I have had a 40 year relationship with Bilstein. I will not have an issue with warranty over two additional snap rings being cut in to the body. Unless the shock were to snap at that point which is extremely unlikely.

 

Curious if the same is true for the 12th gen version of the 5100s.

 

How are the machined grooves holding up? I’m debating doing this to mine as well to have the front end sit a little lower. Either that or removing the spring collar and have the spring perch sit directly on the snap ring (like the OEM struts did).

 

Just wanted to bump this with my own experience (after looking at this and numerous other threads). I bought 2wd 4600's, and found them to be 1" shorter than factory 4wd shocks (fully assembled with collar in place). From what I read, the motion ratio is about .66 so 1" shorter shock body yields about a 1.5" drop at the wheel.

When everything was disassembled, I measured the collar that came with the Bilsteins. The total height is 1", but when i placed it in the lower perch, it is the bottom portion that the perch rests on (which is .5"). So wherever the snap ring is, the perch (at least the one that came with mine) rests .5” above that due to the collar.

I'm not sure if those collars differ between 4600/5100s or 2wd vs 4wd but thought I'd throw that out there. I've been super busy with work, so i havent gotten around to installing them yet, but I'll report back. I'm actually going to run a 3/8" spacer on the top since I'm not sure I want the full 1.5" drop, but am looking to get more like just 1". Using that motion ratio above, should give me that.