Bilstein 6112

Also for the needle bearing test, note not to engage 4x4 on dry pavement, not good on your front diff.

 

Yes, thats been the challenging part lol. Need to find a snowy/dirt road with some room to get the truck moving. Drives perfect from 0-25mph, then from 40+

My carrier drop will be here today so I'll toss it in tonight and report back. If thats not it, ill order up a bushing and probably toss it in this weekend and report back again

 

Engaging 4WD on dry patent won’t cause any issues as long as you don’t try to make any tight turns to cause binding in the differential. I do it if I haven’t used 4WD in a while to make sure everything is still working properly. Just click it on while your are cruising and see if the noise vibration goes away.

 

so if the noise goes away in 4wd would you put a diff drop in? or put a diff bushing in?

 

Diff bushing. Diff drops don’t do anything other than make the mounting the frame weaker.

 

Should not hurt the 4x4 high mechanism to test the needle bearings as long as you find a long straight dry pavement road to test. What you don't want to do is take turns on dry pavement corners or take dry exit ramp cloverleafs with 4x4 engaged.

 

Don't do that until you do the 4x4 test and see if it eliminates the vibration.

 

It is in fact the needle bearing folks. bummer.

 

Have you driven the truck enough to settle the front suspension springs?

About how may miles since install? What is the center hub to fender measurement?

 

maybe.. honestly probably not. the bearing gets MUCH quieter after a few min of driving as if it warms up

maybe... 300 miles. 23 3/4"

also, thanks for the diagnosis help!

 

Would 6112/5160 be overkill for a stock 3rd Gen if I’m just looking to level the front, while also improving the handling on and off road? Also looking at running 550lb springs as I don’t have my extra weight.

There’s probably a reason why I can’t find the answer to this. Haha

 

of course. it all depends on your budget. If you can swing it, go for it.

Im not sure about 550lbs springs. Do they have those? i thought they came with 600lbs and then you can upgrade to 650lbs or 700lbs.

 

Going to try to put this the best i can.

I was running the 3rd gen 6112 on my 2nd gen. Had them on the 6th setting with 600lbs springs. Was little to stiff for me.
Due to fuel prices going up, i decided to lower it to have a little rake going on. Put the springs on the 3rd setting. I will say the ride got a lot more comfortable, but at the same time more body roll (i run no sway bar). We also went off road on some gravel roads (Latrobe road if anyone is from norcal). I was running it at my usual speed and i did hit the front bump stops, but i was kinda going quick. Came home and adjust the springs to the 4th clip setting to not bottom out anymore or not as much. I do this not using a spring compressor but using the jacking up the LCA method. On the 3rd clip setting it went smoothly, but on the 4th clip i can tell there was a lot more tension/compression on the spring. As i was lifting up the LCA, it was picking up the truck off the jackstands. Didn't happen with the 3rd clip setting.
Next day i drove around on the 4th clip setting and it was firm again. The ride quality got "worse" for me again. So i lowered the springs back to the 3rd setting.
Im happy with the ride quality now. Got an alignment done. And so far im getting about 1.5 mpg better, according to my scangauge. Just going to have to be little more careful not to hit the bump stops as much. Or maybe get the TRD Baja bump stops. They are a little smaller, desinged to work with the 6112.

Not sure if this info will help anyone.

 

I was expecting this type of answer. Thanks thought.

I thought I saw somewhere that 550lb springs were a thing, maybe I made it up. Idk?

 

If anyone cares, it was in fact the needle bearing that caused the vibration. Swapped it for the ECGS bushing this morning and got it up to speed and the noise is gone!

 

Is a needle bearing upgrade required with this?

 

Is it required? No. Will you have any issues? 50/50. Just do it while you're in there and the truck is apart. It will save you time and money in the long run. It's a $60 part.

I regret not doing it when I lifted it. My truck went back in the shop 10 days after the lift install for the bushing swap.

The biggest bit of noise is that I got an ear full from my GF about how I ruined a perfectly good, brand new truck cause of this bearing vibration.

Save yourself the headache

 

How much lift ?

 

Started out at 2 3/4” by the end of the week it had settled to 2 1/2” and now, 2 weeks later I’m sitting at 2 3/8” of lift

 

Guess I’m doing it.