Bilstein 6112

Nice!!

When I talked to the guys at surplus, they told me that they had gotten a shipment of 100 in and I was #35 lol. Some guys are so backordered its terrible.

 

Well, I was pretty damn surprised when the jack was released for the last time. I measured the front at just under 35 1/2 inches wheel well to ground before install. The back was right at 35.

After the 6112/5160 combo with Deaver stage 2s I’m at 40 in the front and 41 in the back.

Of course, they’re going to settle some. My tail end was also squatted before b/c of the GFC and worn out stock setup.

10 hours total with a fair amount of bullshitting in between. New tires and alignment are this coming Tuesday.

Before and after:

 

Just got mine from wheelers after two month back order. Install was more frustrating than complicated but very doable. Mild vibration between 15-25 mph, hopefully cb drop takes care of that. As far as ride quality goes I’m blown away. During install I found out 3/4 struts were busted so hard to remember what it should’ve ridden like. Ended up with more lift than anticipated but am very happy with the stance, height, and slight rake. Usually have a tent up top but rolling with 6112 6/5 notch, 5160, 265/75R16 duratrac and Dakar heavies. The Dakar’s are not harsh even without the tent so if you are on the fence just go with the heavies.

 

I got Wheelers super bumps in front and rear flip kit with super bumps in rear. No complaints here.

 

I just installed my rear 5160's last week. Still waiting on the 6112's to arrive. I sat there for hours trying to unstuck those top shock nuts. I realized I couldn't after 3 hours and took the cut them off. I really wanted to avoid cutting incase i needed the rear shocks for whatever reason, but had to bite the bullet on this one.

 

Would they not budge, or did they spin?

 

Had to cut both of mine off also. They just spun and couldn’t hold it in place.

 

I used a vice grip at the absolute top of the shaft to hold it while i removed the nut. I pulled the dust cover down to give access.

 

I destroyed one trying to get the nut off and was quick to get the sawzall for the other side.

 

That's correct...the top of the rear shocks have a little nub sticking above the top bolt. If you don't use some vice grips to hold it in place while you try to loosen the bolt then the shock will spin continuously while you try to loosen the bolt. I got mine off in a couple mins with some vice grips and PB blast.

 

My nuts were stuck. everything was spinning as one. The top notch to place vice grips broke after a half-assed loosening attempt.

 

I know that feeling. A few hours later into the install I ended up screwing up the crown nut on the rack and pinion connection.

 

They do - but i literally used the vice grips to grip the shock shaft, right at the top (above the top of it's travel)

 

Went in for alignment today and couldn’t get it within spec at top notch and going to have to go with aftermarket UCA.

 

Hehe!!
I got them assembled on the first clip for now. I am changing everything that's old on the front end out all at once, Camber adjusters, lower control arms and all the hardware, outer tie rods and so on. New bolts and everything. Im paying my local shop to deal with all the hassle of breaking bolts loose or cutting them. Just let them cut the bolts and install the new oem ones. Still waiting on parts but everything will get installed soon. Im sure it will feel really different with the new front end assembly.

 

Where did you find these?

 

https://www.shocksurplus.com/ They currently show out of stock. The person that I was in contact with said that they are getting close to 100 each shipment. So even they are running on tight availability. I happened to be on the website at the right time and sent an email asking about in stock items at the right time.

 

So are we supposed to put the clips at different levels? There are two instructions, the one I got of the bilstein website today does not say to have them at different circlip positions, WTF? I got the other instructions from a off road retailer, they have different model numbers at the top. First one found on bilstein website for tacoma. Second one found at other retailer's website
So first I had them installed at the same position with a spacer and it was able to be aligned, now that I removed the spacer and have them at different circlip positions alignment is more difficult

 

So this has been an overall question that a lot of people have asked over the past couple of years. Having the 6112's in a Second gen, I can give you a brief overview of two different modes of thought. When the 6112's came out for the second GEN Tacoma, it was very widely accepted for them to be on the exact same clip and have a 1/4 top hat spacer on the driver side to compensate for the Tacoma lean. I still have that quarter and spacer on my driver side to this day since I installed them four years ago. On the third generation Tacoma's, it was widely accepted to move from the top hat spacer to separate clip settings. This might be due to the third-generation Tacoma having factory lift that is 1 inch higher than the second-generation Tacoma's. When looking at your first set of instructions, they are the instructions for a 2nd gen 6112 with 5 clip settings. The second set of directions are for the third-generation 6112's with 6 clip settings so I can understand the differences being told between the two of them. Seeing that you have a 2015, technically you can do either of the two options since a lot of people on here with second-generation Tacoma's have done both and had positive results just understand that alignment may be a little bit more difficult. Do you currently have an aftermarket upper control arm to help with alignment?

 

No I have stock UCA, but interestingly after looking at my suspension a little more clearly the inner tie rods are different from left to right. You see I had an accident a while back and I think that the shop replaced the passenger side inner tie rod with an incorrect part. After some research it appears they replaced the tie rod with a 2x4 tie rod instead of a 4x4 tie rod, maybe that's what is causing the problem.
First pic driver, second pic passenger ( I had the accident on passenger side, and that's the side they are having the problem aligning)