5th gen Rear Coils on 4th gen

[hunterdan]

After digging in and doing some research, it seemed 5th gen rear coils were drop in replacement options, and offered a variable rate coil compared to what we have for the 4th Gen stock. Their Off-road Package (ORP) springs offered an inch of lift over their normal ride height option. When digging into it further, the ORP rear coils are stupid cheap, like $25-30 a piece cheap, part number 68262684AB.
The issue I was facing was that last summer I replaced the rear shocks and coils with Bilstein 4600s and superlift 2" coils. The 4600s were too short, literally nearly completely extended at just normal ride height. So, I had to add an extension. The rear, with the superlift coils, sat higher than I wanted, somewhere around 2.5" total lift over factory. Gave me a lot of rake, and I believe these coils were stiffer than OEM. While initially, they seemed to ride better than what I had, OEM shocks, springs and 1.5" spacer. I started finding that the rear did not want to stay planted. Likely source was probably the control arms, but I was still sitting higher than I wanted in the rear. If I had a constant 500+ pound load in the bed, it likely would have sat closer to where I wanted. So, after doing some digging, I decided to order the ORP springs from @AllMoparParts.com and had them here in 2 days, ordered a set of knockoff rear control arms, and had already had a set of rancho rs7mt shocks delivered. I went with the ranchos because the specs on them list them as a progressive rate valving instead of digressive, hoping they'd ride a little softer than the 4600s. Saturday evening I tore into my truck and had the driver's side stuff replaced. Sunday morning, I knocked out the passenger side. Quick drive around the block to get things to settle, was showing I was sitting at about 1.5" of total lift over factory. Much closer to where I wanted to be. Ride quality was still up in the air. It's hard to try and isolate the front from the rear, especially when traveling at higher speeds. I didn't want to make any judgement until I can test it out on certain parts of roads I use to drive to work. Where these bumps would cause the rear to want to skip and shift towards the outside at highway speeds. Well, after a drive into work, I can confirm that the truck is far more planted in the rear, the rear suspension feels less harsh over small to medium bumps in the road. The 5100s up front feel stiff, and jarring. I'm really disappointed I spent the money I did on these, and wish I'd have gone a different route to begin with. So, all that said, if you're looking to lift the rear of your 1500 about 1.5", go with the coils I listed. The price is similar to that of a spacer lift, but with better ride quality, and should handle heavier loads slightly better, being a variable rate. The following pics are before removing the superlift coils.

 

[hunterdan]

The following pics are from after I installed the ORP springs, new shocks and control arms. I can also confirm that any axle hop I had, is now gone. So, I can do burnouts without the rear shaking itself apart.

 

[hunterdan]

Installed a set of 2021 rebel front struts, the OEM yellow Bilsteins, yesterday. Front dropped to about 3/4"-1" higher than my stock ride height. However, ride improvement over the Bilstein 5100s and the Moog cc81764 springs set at position 5 is drastically improved. I suspect the biggest issue I had with the 5100s was that the Moog spring being a variable rate, had compressed to the stiffer end of the spring when preload was applied. This meant it was like riding on 800lb springs, extremely stiff, and with the coils collapsed very close together, was likely nearing coil bind whenever it did hit a bump. So, now my truck is essentially sitting on a 5th gen rebel suspension. It rides noticeably better, but it does appear to me that the spring rate on 5th gen trucks is slightly softer, likely due to slightly lower curb weight of 5th gens over a similar 4th Gen. I'm not exactly crazy about it being lower, but at the same time, the ride has significantly improved over what it was, and I am not disappointed with that. Plus, it makes it a lot easier to get stuff out of the bed, which is kind of where this whole project started.

 

[canadianhemi17]

After digging in and doing some research, it seemed 5th gen rear coils were drop in replacement options, and offered a variable rate coil compared to what we have for the 4th Gen stock. Their Off-road Package (ORP) springs offered an inch of lift over their normal ride height option. When digging into it further, the ORP rear coils are stupid cheap, like $25-30 a piece cheap, part number 68262684AB.
The issue I was facing was that last summer I replaced the rear shocks and coils with Bilstein 4600s and superlift 2" coils. The 4600s were too short, literally nearly completely extended at just normal ride height. So, I had to add an extension. The rear, with the superlift coils, sat higher than I wanted, somewhere around 2.5" total lift over factory. Gave me a lot of rake, and I believe these coils were stiffer than OEM. While initially, they seemed to ride better than what I had, OEM shocks, springs and 1.5" spacer. I started finding that the rear did not want to stay planted. Likely source was probably the control arms, but I was still sitting higher than I wanted in the rear. If I had a constant 500+ pound load in the bed, it likely would have sat closer to where I wanted. So, after doing some digging, I decided to order the ORP springs from @AllMoparParts.com and had them here in 2 days, ordered a set of knockoff rear control arms, and had already had a set of rancho rs7mt shocks delivered. I went with the ranchos because the specs on them list them as a progressive rate valving instead of digressive, hoping they'd ride a little softer than the 4600s. Saturday evening I tore into my truck and had the driver's side stuff replaced. Sunday morning, I knocked out the passenger side. Quick drive around the block to get things to settle, was showing I was sitting at about 1.5" of total lift over factory. Much closer to where I wanted to be. Ride quality was still up in the air. It's hard to try and isolate the front from the rear, especially when traveling at higher speeds. I didn't want to make any judgement until I can test it out on certain parts of roads I use to drive to work. Where these bumps would cause the rear to want to skip and shift towards the outside at highway speeds. Well, after a drive into work, I can confirm that the truck is far more planted in the rear, the rear suspension feels less harsh over small to medium bumps in the road. The 5100s up front feel stiff, and jarring. I'm really disappointed I spent the money I did on these, and wish I'd have gone a different route to begin with. So, all that said, if you're looking to lift the rear of your 1500 about 1.5", go with the coils I listed. The price is similar to that of a spacer lift, but with better ride quality, and should handle heavier loads slightly better, being a variable rate. The following pics are before removing the superlift coils.
View attachment 569572
View attachment 569573View attachment 569574

Hey, your truck looks good! Thanks for the tip on the rear springs!! That's an awesome idea and super cheap. I went the spacer route initially on my 2017 1500, started to get a lot of noise upfront from my struts, swapped out the struts for RC coilovers (which a lot of people like to crap on), but they ride fantastic! The quality is actually pretty impressive as well. I picked mine up for around $450 CAD, but if you're in the US I suspect they're a bit cheaper. They ride a bit stiffer than OEM but in a great way, I found the front suspension to be way too soft with slow rebound. I do some mild-modedate offroading with my truck (so spacers were a terrible idea!), and while the RC struts are a bit stiffer, they offer MUCH better control while going over larger bumps and drops off-road, I no longer bottom out constantly, and the quicker rebound allows for proper dampening over rougher terrain at moderate speed.

The on road handling actually vastly improved as well. It still glides over potholes and takes speed bumps very nicely, it's hard to explain, but it's firmer, but very smooth.

I see you aren't happy with your 5100s, not sure what ride height you're looking for, but I would highly recommend the RC loaded struts. I was skeptical about them before ordering, but they are genuinely great for my application. Less body roll going around sharp corners, and feels more planted on the highway. After the swap from my 2" spacers to the 2" loaded struts, I did gain some height. I think Im sitting closer to 2.5" of lift upfront with them, even after they've settled. Had them in for about a month and a half now so any settling is over, so if you're looking to replace your 5100s (assuming you had them set at the "lifted" setting, I think they max out at 2.8 if I recall?) the RC loaded struts might be a good option to try. I seriously cannot recommend them enough if you're doing it on a budget. They are excellent for the price. I'm still on OEM UCAs and ball joints, and my angles are surprisingly good, just a very minor angle to them but absolutely nothing I would worry about, very close to stock angles surprisingly and no risk of breaking or damaging anything with about 2.5" of lift from them, I might even be at about 3" with these struts as they are definitely more than the 2" they are listed at, they barely did settle.

I did also go with spacers in the rear and was wanting to swap them out for proper springs at some point this summer, so your post on these 5th Gen off-road springs is extremely helpful!! I would really like to have some progressive springs back there, so I am super thankful you've figured this out for us all, especially for that price. If I remember right, I put a 1.5" spacer in the rear. When I had the 2" upfront and 1.5" rear spacers, the truck had a decent rake still, but with the RC struts now and still 1.5" rear spacers, I am almost perfectly level.

Unfortunately 1" from the progressive 5th Gen springs might leave the rear slightly lower, so I may have to figure something out with that, but I really like the idea of getting rid of the rear spacers and going to a longer spring.

By the way, how are you finding the Ranchos now after having them for a bit? I had Ranchos in the jeep I had before and was quite happy with them. I'm still using stock shocks which is a bad idea even with only 1.5" rear lift, so I want to get some 2" extended rear shocks in there soon, but I'm torn between going with Rancho, which I liked on my Jeep, or going with the RC N3 rear shocks, to match with my front struts setup.

Anyways, thanks again for figuring this out!! This might be the route I have to go now, and that price is a fantastic way to do it! Too bad no one makes 0.5" rear spacers to my knowledge, because the progressive springs with a 0.5" spacer would give me the same ride height im at now though, if I could find a .5" rear spacer.

 

[hunterdan]

Hey, your truck looks good! Thanks for the tip on the rear springs!! That's an awesome idea and super cheap. I went the spacer route initially on my 2017 1500, started to get a lot of noise upfront from my struts, swapped out the struts for RC coilovers (which a lot of people like to crap on), but they ride fantastic! The quality is actually pretty impressive as well. I picked mine up for around $450 CAD, but if you're in the US I suspect they're a bit cheaper. They ride a bit stiffer than OEM but in a great way, I found the front suspension to be way too soft with slow rebound. I do some mild-modedate offroading with my truck (so spacers were a terrible idea!), and while the RC struts are a bit stiffer, they offer MUCH better control while going over larger bumps and drops off-road, I no longer bottom out constantly, and the quicker rebound allows for proper dampening over rougher terrain at moderate speed.

The on road handling actually vastly improved as well. It still glides over potholes and takes speed bumps very nicely, it's hard to explain, but it's firmer, but very smooth.

I see you aren't happy with your 5100s, not sure what ride height you're looking for, but I would highly recommend the RC loaded struts. I was skeptical about them before ordering, but they are genuinely great for my application. Less body roll going around sharp corners, and feels more planted on the highway. After the swap from my 2" spacers to the 2" loaded struts, I did gain some height. I think Im sitting closer to 2.5" of lift upfront with them, even after they've settled. Had them in for about a month and a half now so any settling is over, so if you're looking to replace your 5100s (assuming you had them set at the "lifted" setting, I think they max out at 2.8 if I recall?) the RC loaded struts might be a good option to try. I seriously cannot recommend them enough if you're doing it on a budget. They are excellent for the price. I'm still on OEM UCAs and ball joints, and my angles are surprisingly good, just a very minor angle to them but absolutely nothing I would worry about, very close to stock angles surprisingly and no risk of breaking or damaging anything with about 2.5" of lift from them, I might even be at about 3" with these struts as they are definitely more than the 2" they are listed at, they barely did settle.

I did also go with spacers in the rear and was wanting to swap them out for proper springs at some point this summer, so your post on these 5th Gen off-road springs is extremely helpful!! I would really like to have some progressive springs back there, so I am super thankful you've figured this out for us all, especially for that price. If I remember right, I put a 1.5" spacer in the rear. When I had the 2" upfront and 1.5" rear spacers, the truck had a decent rake still, but with the RC struts now and still 1.5" rear spacers, I am almost perfectly level.

Unfortunately 1" from the progressive 5th Gen springs might leave the rear slightly lower, so I may have to figure something out with that, but I really like the idea of getting rid of the rear spacers and going to a longer spring.

By the way, how are you finding the Ranchos now after having them for a bit? I had Ranchos in the jeep I had before and was quite happy with them. I'm still using stock shocks which is a bad idea even with only 1.5" rear lift, so I want to get some 2" extended rear shocks in there soon, but I'm torn between going with Rancho, which I liked on my Jeep, or going with the RC N3 rear shocks, to match with my front struts setup.

Anyways, thanks again for figuring this out!! This might be the route I have to go now, and that price is a fantastic way to do it! Too bad no one makes 0.5" rear spacers to my knowledge, because the progressive springs with a 0.5" spacer would give me the same ride height im at now though, if I could find a .5" rear spacer.

I ran the rough country 2" struts for about 70k miles and eventually they started to sag. That's when I swapped them out for the 5100s. But after several months I started running into a similar issue, I suspect the springs that were used to build my 5100s were cheap quality. The ranchos are nice. I have zero complaints about them thus far. I am running a 2" shock extension to keep the from stroking out on the shock on extension. Like I said, I ran the n3s for a while up front. They were good for probably about 50k before I noticed they started to sag and lose height. So far, with the 5th gen rebel struts, 5th gen springs and rancho shocks, I'm happy with the ride quality.

 

[DripJust]

Any experience or input if I were use 5th gen struts (loaded) with a 2" top hat on my 2009 4th gen ?
I was originally going to use my coils from the 4th gen struts and put them on the 5th gen struts but realized that would not work bc the perch heights are different and the 4th gen springs must be longer and would bind together on the 5th gen struts.

 

[hunterdan]

Any experience or input if I were use 5th gen struts (loaded) with a 2" top hat on my 2009 4th gen ?
I was originally going to use my coild from the 3th gen struts and put them on the 5th gen struts but realized that would nit work bc the perch heights are different and the 4th gen springs must be longer and would bind together on the 5th gen struts.

You'll probably sit at about 3" of lift, so you'd want to get a set of upper control arms for 2-4" of lift.

 

[Cableman]

The following pics are from after I installed the ORP springs, new shocks and control arms. I can also confirm that any axle hop I had, is now gone. So, I can do burnouts without the rear shaking itself apart.
View attachment 569575View attachment 569576View attachment 569577View attachment 569578

Those control arms made a difference also? I get that high speed side wiggle if i hit a bump on a highway turn, wakes you up!

 

[kurek]

I get that high speed side wiggle if i hit a bump on a highway turn, wakes you up!

Lifted? Mine did that until I dropped the panhard back to level with that Carli bracket.

 

[Cableman]

Lifted? Mine did that until I dropped the panhard back to level with that Carli bracket.

No just a front level, my truck sits low, laramie on 305/55/20s flares might make it look a little lower also.
Most trucks ive had always seem to do this with some speed hitting a pothole or something

 

[hunterdan]

Those control arms made a difference also? I get that high speed side wiggle if i hit a bump on a highway turn, wakes you up!

They seemed to make it much more controlled. I installed a new panhard bar late winter/early spring and it didn't seem to help much. Once I replaced a bunch of the rear suspension, it definitely seems better.