Trucks are the popular vehicles measured in US unit sales because of their abilities to tow, haul and transport your favorite recreational equipment cross town or cross county. With the right suspension, your truck can do even more while continuing to offer comfort, safety and utility.
As an example of the benefits of upgrading your truck suspension we are installing Bilstein’sB8 6112 front leveling kit and matching rearB8 5160 shocks with remote reservoirs on a 2017 Ford F-150 FX4 to increase the ground clearance, suspension travel and style of this late model truck so that its owner can continue to use the truck for his business during the work week and enjoy more trails, camping and motorcycle riding on the weekends.
Bilstein has a storied history with wins in virtually every motorsports series supported by R&D, engineering and manufacturing facilities around the world. As an OE supplier Bilstein has long term relationships with BMW, Porsche, Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz to name a few. Their suspension technology and quality have been recognized as some of the best available and with those qualities in mind we launched into the install with the help of Daniel at OC Motorsport.
The steps to remove the stock suspension and replace it with Bilstein B8 shocks is straight forward; though having a lift, impact gun and a hydraulic press make a big difference.
Daniel started at the rear of the truck and made quick work of removing the stock shocks and fitted the Bilstein remote reservoirs to the monotube rear shocks with the supplied parts and reinstalled the pair with factory hardware.
Moving to the front of the truck Daniel had a much larger task and started with removing the lower strut and control arm bolts, followed by the upper mount bolts to drop the shock and spring assembly from below.
Daniel set the lower spring perch for an approximate 1.5’ lift and then compressed the stock assembly to remove the upper mounting hat for reuse with the Bilstein front leveling system.
Daniel assembled the Bilstein Leveling system with the matching Bilstein spring and new foamy bump stop in the press.
With the new components in place Daniel secured the top nut and took the assembly over to the truck to reinstall it using the provided hardware.
Daniel re-inserted the Bilstein shock and spring assembly from below and secured all of the mounting hardware to factory torque specifications. Next stop-same process on the passenger side of the truck.
With the Bilstein Front Leveling Kit in place Daniel moved the F-150 over to the alignment rack to adjust the front suspension geometry.
After the installation and alignment Daniel took the F-150 for a test drive and proclaimed it ready for action. Truck owner Scott took the truck off road that weekend and reported to be very impressed with the Bilstein B8 set-up, stating that the ride is very comfortable on the highway and more stable on his favorite desert trails.
Many thanks to the OC Motorsports Team for their installation services.
To learn more about Bilstein please visit: https://www.bilstein.com/us/en/
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