Improving Towing Capability with Hellwig and Bilstein Part Two

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The big Hellwig front anti sway bar is heavy.  Howard does a vertical press with it.  Howard is super strong and embarrasses us all on a daily basis. 
The bar is attached at the center bushings first, it bolts into the stock mounting locations and uses higher durometer than stock urethane bushings. 
The end links are bolted up.
The Hellwig bar fits cleanly, just like stock other than being much bigger.
The front shocks are Bilstein 5100 series monotube gas shocks.  We gave a detailed description of the 5100 series in our last story and they are absolutely loaded with great features and sell for a great price.  The front 5100 series shocks for the Silverado are ride height adjustable and can raise the truck 1.8″ over stock or just enough to level it out. 
Chris Eimer at Eimer Engineering did the shock switch over.  Changing the front shocks is a little involved. Chris first loosened the brake and ABS sensor line mounts to let things droop more without putting stress on the wires and lines.

Next Chris loosened the ball joint bolt as the upper control arm outer pivot had to be removed to allow the suspension to droop enough to remove the shock.

 
A few hard blows to the side of the upper control arm near where the ball joint attaches were needed to pop the ball joint's tapered shaft loose.  This allowed the lower control arm to drop low enough that the shock could be removed. 

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