Coil spring orientation/ pigtail direction

[GLENDALE TAHOE]

I have a 6" lift on my 03 Tahoe and noticed the rear driver side was sagging due to a worn out original shock. Instead of buying a new expensive oem shock I installed Bilstein 5100's on both sides. I have Full Traction heavy 6" lift coil springs but because the 5100's are much softer than the oem shocks, the rear end sagged 2" at least. So I installed 2.5” spacers under the coils. It brought the rear up, but the driver side rear is .5" lower than the passenger rear at the wheel well. The front end remained level.
So my question is, do the pigtails on the coil springs need to face a certain direction?
I just did the springs on my foxbody Mustang and they are supposed to be positioned a certain way but I couldn't find an information on this regarding the Tahoe.
If anyone has had experience with this please lmk.
Thank you

 

[TheAutumnWind]

bilsteins are not softer than original shocks. Traditional Shocks alone do not effect ride height in any noticeable way.

Did you have auto ride shocks with an air compressor and bags on the shock body? THose effect ride height. The spring cup does have a partcular way that the spring should sit in it IIRC. Not sure how spacers would effect that. Id imagine that it would no longer matter.

 

[GLENDALE TAHOE]

No, I didnt have auto ride shocks. The oem shocks I replaced most definitely effect ride height. (Ac Delco 580-354). Chevy has a different part #.
Like I said, when I installed Bilstein 5100s it dropped the rear over 2" so obviously there is a big difference between them and the oem shocks that came on my Tahoe at least.

 

[rosythorns]

Have 2004 Tahoe that I bought from an auction. The drivers rear side was sagging about 3 inches compared to the passengers. It has the original shocks and springs. I replace the springs with the moog 81069 which gave an adequate rare lift and listened up the driver side sagging, however it’s remains lower than the passengers. I kept the original shocks and I’ve been always wondering if they have anything to do with the ride height, however, everything I have been reading has been saying it shouldn’t until I read this post. I’m willing to replace the shocks but a bit confused about whether I should buy them Belstein 4600 or 5100 series for the rear. My truck is not lifted on the front. The frame is not bent and other than the possibility that the shocks being the culprit, I have no idea what else could be.

 

[TheAutumnWind]

Have 2004 Tahoe that I bought from an auction. The drivers rear side was sagging about 3 inches compared to the passengers. It has the original shocks and springs. I replace the springs with the moog 81069 which gave an adequate rare lift and listened up the driver side sagging, however it’s remains lower than the passengers. I kept the original shocks and I’ve been always wondering if they have anything to do with the ride height, however, everything I have been reading has been saying it shouldn’t until I read this post. I’m willing to replace the shocks but a bit confused about whether I should buy them Belstein 4600 or 5100 series for the rear. My truck is not lifted on the front. The frame is not bent and other than the possibility that the shocks being the culprit, I have no idea what else could be.

That is called the chevy lean. Not uncommon obviously. Drivers side tank weighs that side down. Is the tank full? Check it nearly empty?

You could use either 4600 or 5100s. They are valved differently. Linear vs digressive.
"
Linear Valving
Liner valving is characterized by a high flow rate at low shaft speeds. The oil flow resistance increases as the shaft speed increases. Thus, the faster the shaft speed, the stiffer the shock.
Our linear piston has approximately three times the bleed on the compression side as the rebound side. Bleed refers to the amount of oil flowing through the piston and around the shim stack. The rebound side is usually noted by a small, faint, minus sign (-) in the casting. This means that if the valvings were to be built with the same series of thicknesses and diameters on both sides of the piston, the side with the minus sign will always have the greatest amount of damping force, because it has the least amount of bleed. (The piston can also be inverted to create a low bleed compression, with a high bleed rebound.)

Digressive Valving
Digressive valving is characterized by a low flow rate at low shaft speeds. This results in more oil flow resistance. The resistance rate increases as shaft speeds increase, but only to a pre-determined level. At that point, the resistance tapers off and as the shaft speed continues to increase, the resistance remains constant. This eliminates unnecessary resistance and provides more control as the vehicle encounters irregularities in the road’s surface."

Motorsports – The Science Behind the Valve Stack - Bilstein Canada

The art of shock tuning has long been considered a “black magic.” While this is somewhat true, there is an actual science behind the construction of a valve stack. With roughly 400+ shims in BILSTEIN’s tool box, ranging from 10.5mm to 60mm in diameter, and .10mm to .80mm in thickness, there are...

bilsteincanada.com

 

[TheAutumnWind]

Shocks should only effect resting ride height in any meaningful way in a scenario when you have air bladders like the stock auto ride system or additional helper springs like Monroe Load Adjusting Shocks.

 

[rosythorns]

Have 2004 Tahoe that I bought from an auction. The driver’s rear side was sagging about 3 inches compared to the passengers. It has the original shocks and springs. I replace the springs with the moog

 

[rosythorns]

Have 2004 Tahoe that I bought from an auction. The driver’s rear side was sagging about 3 inches compared to the passengers. It has the original shocks and springs. I replace the springs with the moog

That is called the chevy lean. Not uncommon obviously. Drivers side tank weighs that side down. Is the tank full? Check it nearly empty?

You could use either 4600 or 5100s. They are valved differently. Linear vs digressive.
"
Linear Valving
Liner valving is characterized by a high flow rate at low shaft speeds. The oil flow resistance increases as the shaft speed increases. Thus, the faster the shaft speed, the stiffer the shock.
Our linear piston has approximately three times the bleed on the compression side as the rebound side. Bleed refers to the amount of oil flowing through the piston and around the shim stack. The rebound side is usually noted by a small, faint, minus sign (-) in the casting. This means that if the valvings were to be built with the same series of thicknesses and diameters on both sides of the piston, the side with the minus sign will always have the greatest amount of damping force, because it has the least amount of bleed. (The piston can also be inverted to create a low bleed compression, with a high bleed rebound.)

Digressive Valving
Digressive valving is characterized by a low flow rate at low shaft speeds. This results in more oil flow resistance. The resistance rate increases as shaft speeds increase, but only to a pre-determined level. At that point, the resistance tapers off and as the shaft speed continues to increase, the resistance remains constant. This eliminates unnecessary resistance and provides more control as the vehicle encounters irregularities in the road’s surface."

Motorsports – The Science Behind the Valve Stack - Bilstein Canada

The art of shock tuning has long been considered a “black magic.” While this is somewhat true, there is an actual science behind the construction of a valve stack. With roughly 400+ shims in BILSTEIN’s tool box, ranging from 10.5mm to 60mm in diameter, and .10mm to .80mm in thickness, there are...

bilsteincanada.com

Awesome! I feel better now that I could use the 5100s… Can I also use the 5100s (part # 24-186643) on the front without having to lift the front end (i.e. new keys and stuff)?

 

[rosythorns]

Have 2004 Tahoe that I bought from an auction. The driver’s rear side was sagging about 3 inches compared to the passengers. It has the original shocks and springs. I replace the springs with the moog

Sorry posted by mistake.. it’s a repetition to my first one!

 

[TheAutumnWind]

You can run 5100's on the front. They are typically listed as "0-2
" lift or some such notation.

Hmm This one is saying 2-2.5. You used to be able to get that info for the 4600s also.

Part Number:24-186643
Collapsed Length (IN)12.54
Extended Length (IN)16.30
Collapsed Length (MM)318.5
Extended Length (MM)414.0