Billsteins With DJM Arms?

[M Hankel]

Just did the Bilsteins on my truck yesterday. I had to bend the tabs of the DJM arms wider to fit the wider sleeve of the new shocks. Had to buy new bolts as well, went with 2.5" x 7/16" and they worked perfect.

Other then that it was straight foward. They definatly ride better then the djm shocks ive had. After 1.5 years they were completely blown and the bushings completely gone on one side. It still doesnt ride GREAT, but its definatly better and much more stable on the highway..I dont get the ****** side to side on bumps, which im guessing was from the missing bushings on the djm shocks. They have much better rebound than the new djm shocks as well.

Glad to hear they helped the ride. I think if I ever have these re-valved I'd go with about 20% more compression and 30% more rebound dampening.

Mine still has a little bit of side to side (boat in the water feel) at highway speeds. The new rear Bilstiens really helped with that though. If mine was lower it would sit on the front Z71 bump stops and probably ride better lol. Currently my arms are about 1/2" - 3/4" from the bump stops.

Mike

 

[Nickleahy23]

ya i drove some more today and the normal roads i always take are much better, corners better as well..I dont think i need to touch them anymore, its better than before and thats good enough for now lol..

i dont know if i can even go any lower..the tops of my fender liners have scrapes from big bumps in the front lol..nice djm shocks...i have my bolts almost all the way out, all of the way out on one side actually..i almost wonder if i was to crank it back up 2 inches and do 2" spindles, if i would get the stockish ride im looking for..i feel that with barely any torsion pressure on the control arms from the bars, its just a sloppy ride..

i may look into the z71 bumps..i always forget to measure how far my arms are from my stock stops..ill check that tomorrow and see if the z71s would even touch

 

[Yuko04]

Check out the energy suspension ones NICK.... Bump Stops - 99143

 

[charlie4170]

For the rear Bilstiens I got these: 24-143806, but I dont think they would work if you're really low in the back. At my ride height (in sig pic with Belltech 5305), the shock dimension sitting still was 17" without the DJM shock relocation brackets These Billstiens fully compressed were 16". The DJM brackets will add 2" of extension to the shock so that would only leave 3" of suspension compression before the shock bottomed out. I fabbed up some custom extensions and modified the DJM shock brackets so that I now have 5" of usable shock compression. Basically I wanted the axle to hit the frame before the shock bottomed out.

If I were to do it again I would go with a stiffer front Bilstien for the DJM arms and a shorter version of this same shock for the rear. I will say that these rear Bilstiens ride AMAZING!!!!!! Can not stress enough how much better these rear Bilstiens are than the Belltech Nitro shocks I replaced.

Mike

Did anybody ever find the shorter shock MHankel is looking for? I just bought Tony's 3-6 drop kit and BIL 24-143806 rear shocks. The kit so far is looking good, but I'm not happy with the way the shock looks. At ride height, the shock is too close to bottoming out for me.

 

[04blackout]

At ride height, the shock is too close to bottoming out for me.

This is exactly what I thought too. The ride is real harsh like its bottoming out on every little bump, and judging by the 7.5" stroke the BT's have, they're less than 3" from bottomed out at ride height, but have more than enough down travel... I wont be hanging a rear tire in the rocks anytime soon

 

[NORCAL SS]

shock is supposed to be 20.5 extended and i designed my kit around the belltech street performacne rear shocks because it rides smooth.

 

[04blackout]

Hey Tony, are the new rear springs really THAT much better than the 5305's that ive got?

 

[NORCAL SS]

my 6 inch springs with the belltech sp shocks by far is the best riding set up. I went thru 150 sets and now doing another run of them. Not one complaint

 

[04blackout]

And just to make sure I didnt miss anything, using the BT shocks with the 6" springs does not require shock extensions right?

 

[NORCAL SS]

no you didnt. I do like using extenders for shock angle when doing a 5 inch or more drop but not required.