6112 or 8112 and spring options…

I drive a pig. 2019 DCSB TRD OR. I’ve got steel bumpers with bar work, winch in front, swingout on rear with tire carrier, steel skids, rock sliders, RSI Smartcap, ikamper mini, roof rack, and a 13gal water tank in bed with a wood drawer system and camping gear. The tent and water tank are not always on the truck. Just maybe 6-8 mos of year.

The truck is both a daily driver and a offroad camping exploring rig. Dirt roads, washboard, tight rocky and muddy PNW mtn roads.

I’m looking to replace my front shocks. Currently on Elka 2.5 with no reservoirs. Rears are Ironman springs with the 3rd leaf taken out. And Ironman rear shocks.

I'm think of either 6112 or 8112 Bilsteins. If I order a pair, do I get to request which springs? I’m not sure if 6112 plus 650lb springs will cut it. My rear is lifted 3” if not more. Or do I go for 8112 with 650 or 700 lb springs?

can’t do rear shocks yet unless I go with cheaper 6112s.

thanks for any advice!

 

Chances you need 700# springs is slim and will void the warranty on the 6112s
6112 should be fine for your needs. If you’re looking at the 8100 series, those are pricey and I’d be looking at Fox…and get them tuned as another option.
Yes, when you order them you should have the option of spring and if they will be pre assembled. Get them assembled.

may also want to get your truck weighed so you can pass that on to whoever you buy from.

 

If you go with the 8112’s get the 700lbs springs. I’m running the 8112’s with 650lb springs and my front end is a little soft. My truck is a little lighter than yours. alloy rci skids, winch, bumpers and sliders.

I put on the 8112’s after 4 years running the 6112’s. The 6112’s actually had better on road handling, more connected, but stiffer. The 8112’s float like a cloud, but feel a little disconnected on road and have more body roll in the corners. New models come with adjusters though so that may help. 6112’s are impressive for their price point off-road, but the 8112’s are sublime. The rear 8100’s triple bypass shocks are in a class of their own. Currently have 50k on the setup with icon rxt stage 2 leaf pack.

I think the 8112/8100 are the nicest bolt on application you can run right now, the out of the box tuning is really good. Bought mine from wheel every weekend and they can swap springs and offer other tuning options.

 

Why are you replacing re-buildable shocks? What's wrong with the Elka's?

 

The Elkas have been nice. They replaced a set of Ironman Foam Cell Pros up front that were a bit stiff even with their IM 3” lift medium springs. The Elkas do better on washboard at speed and give me a bit more droop, but with in town driving they have more brake dive and lean when taking corners. (I usually run without a front swaybar since the sway bar kept pulling out of the relocation block brackets after off-roading.)

 

8112's or another brand of 2.5's imo. Your trucks too fat for 6112's and those aren't designed for 700lbs springs anyway.

 

Also, stay with 650 springs on the 2.5's

 

Not sure if you have your heart set on the Bilstien but the Dobinsons MRR 3way adjustable might be what you’re looking at.

Or since you have the Ironman FCP rears, why not get them in the front too. With your weight they’ll probably hold up really well.

I’ve got the FCP with OME 660# springs and am really happy with them. The normal springs are 720 or 820#.

 

You know you can just get those re-valved, right? Will be significantly cheaper than just buying all new coilovers.

 

I started out with the FCPs front and rear. I initially had the heavy front springs then swapped them out for the medium 3" lift springs. Better but still a bit stiff.

 

Yep. I figure by the time I ship them, pay for re-build and re-valving, wait for them to get worked on and sent back, I'll have spent the cost of new 6112 Billies or half a set of 8112 Billies. And if parts are on back order, etc... who knows when I'd see the shocks again.

 

I thought your name looked familiar, we had a conversation about this in the past right?

if you still have them and can find a set of cheap OME springs, you could try swapping and see if you like the change. It’s night and day for my truck and feel.

 

Yep, we've talked about the FCPs in the past. I'll see if I can source a cheap set of OME springs. Same coil length at the ironman ones?

 

I really thought your name was familiar.

The OME are longer. While I didn’t do it right away, I finally lowered the spring seat and am really happy with the ride. I got a set of the 2886z springs for 30 off FB.

Just curious, are you looking for new shocks due to shock fade, handling or just the extra weight?

This link gives good details about spring rates- https://accutuneoffroad.com/article...aFM4lUHSKobexQ1zOtcURRiCWbz053VT2OL6bbUKlyt5K

 

Have you reached out to a shop about this? It's usually not that expensive. My last rebuild/revalve cost me $350CAD per shock, including new seal heads and spherical bearings (basically a full rebuild with all new parts). Sure, you might be without them for a week or two depending on shipping. But you're about to spend $1200USD to solve, at max, a $600USD problem. And if you give the shop a heads up, they will make sure they have all the parts in stock before you take them off your truck. Rebuild takes like an hour or two per shock. Just saying...

 

Because the 8112 kit is a zone specific shock the ride zone valving is a bit softer... I've actually been working on my own valving specs for the past 5 years which I'm finally at a level of confidence that I am revalving 80% of all 8100s that are shipped... and it's possible you may see some of my valving incorporated into future models. That being said in my extensive testing there are applications were the factory valving is phenomenal, and i do not like the idea of revalving all shocks just to say you did it, if you are not improving it. If you'd like you can send yours in and i can put my updated valving in it, which does make it a bit "stiffer" although i hate using terms like stiffer or softer to describe damping because folks assume softer is better and end up paying alot of money for large shocks that do the same amount of damping that a tiny shock would. The big thing is matching the valving to the extra spring force and dialing it in to your driving style and vehicle setup.

650 lb/in springs are the absolute max for a 6112 shock and truthfully they are best with stock rate springs. There is a heavy load variant 4runner 6112 that utilizes a 700 lb/in spring with valving that matches and i have fit that on tacomas in a pinch but it's not ideal... though its significantly better than running 700s on a standard spec 6100. I actually didn't believe shops were putting 700s on 6100s the same way i didn't believe folks would put OME springs on 5100s until i saw it in person, it just didn't make sense to me.

As a general rule of thumb 650 lb springs are good for 80-140 lbs of additional front end weight while 700s will handle anything 150 lbs and above. Keep in mind that the 8112s have a lift range that you must stay in or it will negatively effect your zone engagement, although this lift range is also where a traditional coilover rides best... folks think about offroad obstacles as rocks that come up on the trail that the suspension needs to compress to overcome, however just as likely is a depression in the trail and if you dont have enough down travel your truck falls into it which will also ride poorly.
Not everyone is a good fit for 8112s to be totally up front. The 8112s can outdrive the vehicle itself and you will probably want to look into bracing the front end components as well. After testing over a dozen shocks blind on the same trail with the same vehicle and putting 75k miles on my personal set that have been above 340 degrees with no leaks I don't see a downside to the zone control setup and I'm excited to race on it soon. The 2.5 remote reservoir Elkas were ranked a bit below a 6112 setup in our blind objective testing so you can't go wrong either direction as long as you are keeping your spring rates matched to your additional front end weight to avoid coil bind.

The biggest benefit of the 8112 front piston design is that it's the only mass produced piston that allows true directional bleed. Typically bleed is accomplished by drilling holes in the main piston and allowing some oil to bypass the valving initially which helps with quick changes of direction and overcomes some of the friction from seal stiction, however as rebound events are typically 3x the force of compression events the requirements for bleed on both directions of movement differ. For instance a tacoma shock might have 9mm^2 bleed shim on compression and a 4.5mm^2 bleed shim on rebound, but with the 1 way valve in the piston that brings your compression bleed to around 13.5mm^2 and your rebound bleed can stay at 4.5mm^2. This allows you to generate tons of shaft speed without it feeling wobbly and out of control. Foxes steel piston does use a bleed shim on only one side which will have a higher propensity to flow on compression which is sort of directional bleed as well, but almost all tuners remove this piston entirely which is a whole other rabbit hole i could get into with the square port shape affecting damping curves even with identical flow to other port shapes.

Additionally, i would like to say that before our testing i assumed the Ironman shocks would be horrific and undriveable. I was wrong about them and pleasantly surprised at them not being undriveable at all. The company itself is also very cool and i was won over by the employees being true enthusiasts and overall cool guys, though i still don't carry their products.

None of that forgives them for being named Ironman and having The Hulk as their logo.