Bilstein 6112

Interested in this as well.

 

^ will do. It will be the following weekend. Long story here: I always liked the ride on the 5100's with the Eibach 620's. Good offroad and not too bad onroad. Recently I developed a clack noise whenever the suspension compressed. I didn't think it was the shocks and others said lca bushings, sway bar, etc. Well I'm not running the SB since I started troubleshooting this issue. After disassembling the front suspension, lubing the bushings and inspecting everything it still had the noise. So I put the OEM Bils shocks on and no noise! Yea except now running the stock shocks have their limitations. I tried mixing a small preload spacer and 1/2" top spacer and it road very well. I liked it a lot but could only net about 1.7" lift and worked well if you take it fairly easy offroad. I even spent 4 days in Death Valley with that setup. So then I put the Eibach spring on the OEM shock which rode pretty good until you hit a speed bump or anything where the road drops suddenly. The spring overwhelmed the shock and so it would top out easy resulting in a bang! Same thing that happens if you have too much preload on a stock length shock with poor valving. So just to see I put the 5100's back on with new top hardware and the noise is back. Time for new shocks. I even tried going to Bilstein for warranty but they wanted pictures and when they saw the Eibach spring on there the guy said DENIED! (I blew that) I tried to explain how much better they work with that spring to no avail. So I was about the buy another set of 5100's till I saw this and other threads on the 6112's. The good thing is I got a LOT of practice switching out front shocks now, and I have a better understanding of how the front shocks and springs work together. Cant wait to put those bad boys on and should carry the lifetime warranty since I wont be using another spring. One more time! I'm sick of F@#King with this. Just trying to decide between the 3rd or 4th position. I want about 2-2.25" lift after settling. That seems to be the sweet spot for me since everything else is stock and the alignment is set at that height.

 

Wow, hopefully the 6112's get you squared away.

From everything I've read the #3 setting can settle down from 2" to 1.75" after a few months on a 4x4. I'm probably going to run that setting for the time being just to keep driveline angles and alignments acceptable until I decide what I want to do with the rear suspension. You'll probably want to look at the #4 position for 2"+ of lift.

I'm a tad nervous about the install since I've never swapped coilovers out before. I'm going to go the non-spring compressor route and let the lower control arm do all of the work for me like I've seen in the multiple videos posted on this site. Do you use this method?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E6u7dC7EHg

 

yes it works well. I use a small floor jack and get it to where its starting to lift up the side I'm working on. Then take the 2 bolts off the lca holding it to the hub assy and the top bolt off the shock. Then SLOWLY lower it down to take the tension off. make sure you loosen the LCA cam bolts (mark them in case) too to allow it to swing all the way down. A little tricky when raising it back together getting the top shaft to line up with the hole in the top shock mount but not bad. Take your time you should be fine. Now that I wrote that I watched the video and it's all there. I didn't see that one. Well done whoever did that

 

That's about what I got too.

 

Thanks for the tips. If all goes according to plan, these bad boys will be installed next Saturday.

 

Same day for me. Looks like mine are on the way.

 

just received the 6112 kit. Holy smokes those are some big ass shocks. Makes the 5100's look puny. I wish they had threaded the lower spring perch though instead of the clip positions. I'll post some comparison pics and report after installing. Maybe tomorrow evening or Sat. Cant wait.

 

Awesome! I said the same thing when I got mine in, I couldn't believe how big they were.

Also wanted to ask since you've got experience with installing yourself. The only question I have about the install process is that people recommend to mark the cams before your loosen the LCA's where they attach to the frame. Do I just need to mark the Cam and the LCA with a sharpie, loosen the bolts, then once install is complete re-align my marks and tighten everything back down? That's the only step I'm not really sure of.

Thanks.

 

while most of that sounds good, I just loosen them a little then go about the install. You dont need to loosen them too much. If the lca's dont drop enough them loosen some more. The cams never move for me so I don't worry about it. If your lifting then for sure you need an alignment. I just put mine on yesterday afternoon. post coming.

 

Thank you! So I need to mark after the truck has been jacked up with tires off of the ground at full droop.... do all of the work... lower the truck back down to ride height... re-jack the truck up to full droop... then re-align my marks and tighten everything down to torque spec?

Anxiously awaiting your follow up post!

 

The 6112's are on. I couldn't stand it so I got out of work early yesterday and put those bad boys on.
last shot of the 5100's


Comparison shots 6112 - 5100/Eibach (toytec) - stock OR - You can see the 5100 and 6112 shocks are about the same length. About 3/4" longer then stock. I measured full droop at approx 25" (hub center the fender) before and after the switch. FYI stock is about 24". In my opinion you should have at least 2" left from when it rests to full droop otherwise the ride suffers and it will top out easy the closer you get the full droop.



I started out on the 4th clip position but quickly realized it was too high. So I had to do over and go to 3rd (did I say I wish it was threaded earlier). I knew it would settle but was at least 1/2" higher then I wanted.

So I tied up the spring to the coil bucket and when I lowered it it held the spring up. then tape the seat up. Not too bad since I already had everything out.


Now at position 3 it right where I had it with the 5100/Eibach. Which according to my measurements is about 2.3" lift? Its a little higher then others but maybe because the bed always has about 200 lbs on it for work stuff and the Tonneau and the heavy sway bar is off? If it settles 1/4" I'll be happy I'm at 22.5" hub to Fender and 22.3" dr side with 1/4" top spacer. If someone wants to look at those measurements and compare please do because I never measured hub to fender stock just ground to fender and added 1/2" for the 32" tire? It's right where I wanted it including a little settling is ok


Here's how it sits now. 37.5" ground to fenders front and rear. If I completely unload the bed it raises the rear about 3/4".

I hope to not have to do this for a long time. I only drove around a little but its nice to have it working good again with no clack noise. The ride is better then the 5100/Eibach but not drastically. What I noticed is the small imperfections are a bit smoother like stock but bigger bumps and dips get absorbed better. Will update later after off road where they should excel.
*** BTW it looks I have no need for the Eibach springs anymore. If $$ is a little tight Pair them with a new set of 5100's and your good as I was for 5 years (it's a big improvement to use them over the stock springs - more usable travel, just adj accordingly to their 1.6" lift to start) If anyone is interested in them PM me. I was always happy with that setup until the shocks started to go.
Hell Yea time for a cold one.

 

Glad the install went well! Sounds like they're great all around shocks. Am I reading your signature right that you've got the factory TSB 4-leaf pack + a Deaver 3 leaf AAL? My intent was to install mine at #3 like you to level the truck, but I'm wondering if that would leave me nose high?

 

I plan to do 3rd notch with a modified Dakar leaf pack in the rear. Hoping to get close to 2" all around.

 

I think I'll stick with #3 like I've planned. If I'm nose high a bit, it is what it is. I plan to take care of the rear suspension very soon anyway.

 

yes except the overload spring is removed. If the rear is stock you'll be a little nose high but if you are going to lift the rear then you'll be good. I like a little rake. 1/2" to 1" looks best IMO. If I empty the bed I should be there. You could do the 2nd setting and it would look good, then when you do the rear it will have settled a bit and move up to the 3rd. It's not bad to move it once you get the hang of it. What are your measurements stock at both ends? Hub center to fender? Unloaded

 

Question to all. I'm wondering does everyone put the wheels on and lower the truck for the suspension to settle then torque the cam bolts? I've always torqued them while it's still raised? Does that matter? Maybe that's affecting the lift and ride??

 

I'll pull those measurements tomorrow.

Good questions! Bump for answers.

 

I was told to torque them with the truck lowered back down with the tires on the ground. 100ft lbs. Also check and retorque them after the alignment.

 

Yea That makes sense since they do alignments that way - easy if its on a rack? On the ground you would have limited room to work the torque wrench so I'll drive it up on 4x6's to get it off the ground when I get a chance. Except I tweaked my knee so its going to have wait a bit. Heck maybe I'll go for another alignment after a little settling? Standing by for Ikonik's report.