1.5 leveling kit and 2/3 lift question

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16plati

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These are tempting. Wonder how ride quality is compared to stock and stock+spacers. Guess that's the $524 question.
It’s slightly stiffer with the lift and 35s. Still very comfy at highway speeds
 

Black

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These are tempting. Wonder how ride quality is compared to stock and stock+spacers. Guess that's the $524 question.

From a design and engineering standpoint leveling struts like the 5100s are far superior to a strut spacer set up.

Your ride will be worlds better with the Bilsteins vs factory struts with a spacer.
5100s vs Bilstein 4600 paired with a spacer you will likely not notice the difference on these trucks.

Granted I have a 16 so you are in a bit of a different ball game than me and I think someone mentioned you having CCD so that adds even more difficulty to your scenario.
I have 5100s from an F150 up front for 2” of lift and the 4600s with a 2” Readylift Spacer in the rear. I absolutely love the stance, ride quality, braking improvement, and Offroad capability I gained. I have 33.5x11.5 tires and have plenty of clearance with zero need for trimming.

I wanted 2” of lift front and back.
If the 5100s gave a 2” option to the rear I would not be using spacers.
As soon as someone gives us a full coilover package I’ll be going that route so I can loose the spacers.
 

EricExpedition

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It’s about 79.5” measuring at the front portion of the roof rails. I don’t have any decent pics yet as I just put it on last night. I have already purchased the Bilstein 5100 set except with F150 fronts. Factory shocks in the front are leaking and I certainly won’t be going to the dealer for that, non ccd here.

11b3e1a39b8aff8ce0a8f722464a3be8.jpg


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Looks awesome!! So this is with the ReadyLift 3/2? Where did you order the Bilstein 5100s from? What do you mean F150 fronts? Are you setting the 5100s at stock height with the spacers or totally replacing the spacers?

Sorry for all the questions, but I have Bilstein 5100s on my F150 and I'm excited this is an option for our Expeditions now. I got mine several years ago from AJUSA and they were considerably cheaper -- around $300 -- but I don't see the Expedition ones on their website yet.
 

95cobby

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Looks awesome!! So this is with the ReadyLift 3/2? Where did you order the Bilstein 5100s from? What do you mean F150 fronts? Are you setting the 5100s at stock height with the spacers or totally replacing the spacers?

Sorry for all the questions, but I have Bilstein 5100s on my F150 and I'm excited this is an option for our Expeditions now. I got mine several years ago from AJUSA and they were considerably cheaper -- around $300 -- but I don't see the Expedition ones on their website yet.

That's with the 3/2 ReadyLift only. They will be coming back out once the shocks get here. I went with the F150 fronts as they provide more lift in the front than the ones that Bilstein lists on their site for the Expedition and my wheels/tires would not clear with the ones specifically for the Expy. I'm thinking I will have the rears set at the max 1.5" (possibly with a 1/4" or so shim to prevent cali lean) and the fronts either at the 2" or 3" setting. I ordered the 5100s for the Expy from shockwarehouse.. and the F150 fronts from the cheapest place I could find online, several places selling them.
 

EricExpedition

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From a design and engineering standpoint leveling struts like the 5100s are far superior to a strut spacer set up.

Your ride will be worlds better with the Bilsteins vs factory struts with a spacer.
5100s vs Bilstein 4600 paired with a spacer you will likely not notice the difference on these trucks.

Granted I have a 16 so you are in a bit of a different ball game than me and I think someone mentioned you having CCD so that adds even more difficulty to your scenario.
I have 5100s from an F150 up front for 2” of lift and the 4600s with a 2” Readylift Spacer in the rear. I absolutely love the stance, ride quality, braking improvement, and Offroad capability I gained. I have 33.5x11.5 tires and have plenty of clearance with zero need for trimming.

I wanted 2” of lift front and back.
If the 5100s gave a 2” option to the rear I would not be using spacers.
As soon as someone gives us a full coilover package I’ll be going that route so I can loose the spacers.

I've been waiting to see if the 2.5" kit allegedly ICON was suppose to be coming out with is ever going to happen.

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/1809-2018-ford-expedition-family-adventure
 

EricExpedition

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That's with the 3/2 ReadyLift only. They will be coming back out once the shocks get here. I went with the F150 fronts as they provide more lift in the front than the ones that Bilstein lists on their site for the Expedition and my wheels/tires would not clear with the ones specifically for the Expy. I'm thinking I will have the rears set at the max 1.5" (possibly with a 1/4" or so shim to prevent cali lean) and the fronts either at the 2" or 3" setting. I ordered the 5100s for the Expy from shockwarehouse.. and the F150 fronts from the cheapest place I could find online, several places selling them.

Is the Bilstein F150 version a direct bolt-on for the Expedition? You won't have to modify? I would be interested if FOX had anything if that were the case. It's funny how on our FX4's they don't even come with Rancho shocks. But I think it was just a sticker on the F-Series the past few years anyway. Haha.
 

95cobby

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Is the Bilstein F150 version a direct bolt-on for the Expedition? You won't have to modify? I would be interested if FOX had anything if that were the case. It's funny how on our FX4's they don't even come with Rancho shocks. But I think it was just a sticker on the F-Series the past few years anyway. Haha.

So far from my research yes, but don’t hold me to that. I’ll find out soon enough.. I do know there’s a few in here that have already done it as well. The thing with the fox coilovers is yea they prolly fit but then what ya gonna do about the rear? I thought about that but without having a matching rear option I wouldn't want to go that route yet.


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Black

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Here is a video that does an great job demonstrating my a leveling strut such as the 5100 is superior in design to a strut spacer.

I can only speak to the 2015-2017 models as that is what I have and am running 5100s from the F150. They are a direct bolt on. Any F150 front strut or coilover assembly will bolt right in with no issues.
The issue that comes into play is the F150s have a different spring rate than the Expedition. My initial install I set it to the highest perch mount (spec’d at 2” of lift for the F150). I gained 4” of lift which is way too much lift for these rigs. So I had to pull it off and do it again. Taking a wild guess and erring on the side of caution I chose the 2nd spring perch height (spec’d at .79” of lift for the F150). I gained 2” of lift which is exactly where I wanted to be and am very happy with my setup.

That being said since the 15-19s share a part number with the new Bilstein 5100s spec’d for the Expedition though the ride height possibilities are different tells me that the F150 5100s will bolt up just fine. The question is what notch will give what ride height and there is no way to really figure that out until some tries it out with an 18 or 19 and learns the hard way like I did or gets lucky on the first try.

As for running a spacer on a 5100 at the stock ride height setting.
You can’t safely run a spacer on top of a 5100. The 5100 body and shaft are not the same length as the factory shock. Even though there is a factory ride height setting the spring perch ring is not the same height as factory and the body and shaft being longer adding a spacer to the top will likely bend your shaft. Bilstein states specifically not to run a spacer on 5100s.
Granted when I did my setup there were no 5100s for the rear of the Expedition so I have 4600s with a 2” spacer. 5100s and 4600s of corresponding models are valved identically. The body and shaft of the 5100s are just longer to accommodate the lift properly while the 4600 is the same as OEM.
 
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