2015 Silverado Bilstein 6112's/5100's Upgrade Completed

Neumonic · May 14, 2019

Thought I would post an update - ordered Bilstein 6112's and 5100's in early April, received everything this past Friday so I decided to get right to it and proceeded to perform the swap the very next day. Installing the rear shocks was super easy, took about 45 minutes...Moved to the fronts, very simple as well. Had both assembly's out in about an hour then went to an tire and auto place to have them swap springs and struts, waited about an hour and went back home only to realize they didn't put them together properly. Decided to go to the local auto parts store and rent spring compressor and corrected each strut/spring assembly which took less than an hour. Putting the fronts back together was pretty easy, probably less than an hour. This project with proper tools is about a 3 out of 10 in difficulty for a person that has done some wrenching imo.

Back story - I had spacers under the factory Rancho's to see what that would do for me height wise and I really liked the stance, they gave me an 1 1/2" lift. Sadly, I felt it made the ride even worse the longer I had them in place. Like many others, I waited and waited for the 6112's to come and almost gave up and started to look at other options.

Impressions/Results - I went with the second from the top setting, my front is just about exactly where it was with the spacers so this setting gave me right around a 1 1/2" lift which made me very happy. Took the spring compressor back to the parts store and then took about a 10 mile cruise, it was immediate that I knew my patience waiting for this combo had paid off! Truck drove and rode great...Sunday wife and I went for a cruise and probably put another 25 miles on the new setup, still happy. Today was the big day, drove my route to work which takes me into the city where the streets are total sh_t! The setup was a huge improvement and passed the test, I can finally get back to enjoying my truck.

Later this week I will have the alignment checked/corrected then I have a nice trip to the farm planned for this weekend where the truck will have some light off road use.

diegosaurus · May 14, 2019

Thanks for the info. I thought the 6112's came with springs? I've been thinking about doing this switch but wanted to see what the reviews were first. Currently riding on stock ranchos.

Neumonic · May 14, 2019

1 hour ago, diegosaurus said:

Thanks for the info. I thought the 6112's came with springs? I've been thinking about doing this switch but wanted to see what the reviews were first. Currently riding on stock ranchos.

You are correct, the 6112's come with springs labeled Bilstein, it is my understanding they are made for them by Eibach. The springs are by far a beefier spring vs stock and allow for an amazing ride coupled with the 6112 imo.

If you are considering this swap, I would highly recommend. I had just over 60K miles on my Rancho's and despised them for at least 40K of those miles.

mcdavis · May 14, 2019

3 minutes ago, Neumonic said:

You are correct, the 6112's come with springs labeled Bilstein, it is my understanding they are made for them by Eibach. The springs are by far a beefier spring vs stock and allow for an amazing ride coupled with the 6112 imo.

If you are considering this swap, I would highly recommend. I had just over 60K miles on my Rancho's and despised them for at least 40K of those miles.

If the 6112's come with springs, why did you swap springs?

Neumonic · May 15, 2019

12 hours ago, mcdavis said:

If the 6112's come with springs, why did you swap springs?

You have to reuse the factory top mount and isolators which means you have to take apart the factory strut to put together the new assembly with the new springs and Bilstein struts.

mcdavis · May 15, 2019

10 hours ago, Neumonic said:

You have to reuse the factory top mount and isolators which means you have to take apart the factory strut to put together the new assembly with the new springs and Bilstein struts.

Thank you. I thought it was a straight swap.

Neumonic · May 15, 2019

9 hours ago, mcdavis said:

Thank you. I thought it was a straight swap.

When I was getting tired of waiting I did look around at other options and admittedly looked at combo's already assembled for less of a hassle, after going through the process of taking the original equipment off and putting together the new setup and reinstalling it was pretty simple but I do have the tools for a job like this minus the spring compressor. Auto parts store charges a deposit then refunds you the majority when you return it, I ended up paying something like $5 to rent the strut spring compressor set.

mcdavis · May 16, 2019

19 hours ago, Neumonic said:

When I was getting tired of waiting I did look around at other options and admittedly looked at combo's already assembled for less of a hassle, after going through the process of taking the original equipment off and putting together the new setup and reinstalling it was pretty simple but I do have the tools for a job like this minus the spring compressor. Auto parts store charges a deposit then refunds you the majority when you return it, I ended up paying something like $5 to rent the strut spring compressor set.

Did you get it aligned, make any noticeable difference?

matt76cmich · May 17, 2019

Curious how much of a better ride it is over 5100s on all 4 corners. I'll be looking into shocks before too long here.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Neumonic · May 17, 2019

22 hours ago, mcdavis said:

Did you get it aligned, make any noticeable difference?

Getting the alignment done in a couple hours, I will report back after some miles!

Pivot · May 17, 2019

1 hour ago, Neumonic said:

Getting the alignment done in a couple hours, I will report back after some miles!

Nice. I'm thinking of doing the same stuff. Finger on trigger with 6112/5100(R) for me. Very little input on people running 6112 up front. Looking forward to hearing feedback after alignment. I'm back and forth between 3rd and 4th (max) setting.

Pivot · May 17, 2019

John, you running stock blocks in back or swapped those out earlier when you had spacers? I'm thinking a 2" block in back and that should give me a slight rake at max and a hair more at 3rd setting.

dubwise · May 17, 2019

@Neumonic Any idea which spring compressor you used? The coil diameter on the 6112's springs are frigging massive. I didn't feel comfortable with the way the hooks fit over the coils using the standard MacPherson style spring compressor that the parts store rents. Pic of what I'm talking about attached.

Neumonic · May 20, 2019

On 5/17/2019 at 1:50 PM, Pivot said:

Nice. I'm thinking of doing the same stuff. Finger on trigger with 6112/5100(R) for me. Very little input on people running 6112 up front. Looking forward to hearing feedback after alignment. I'm back and forth between 3rd and 4th (max) setting.

The ride did improve even more after the alignment, so glad to be rid of the Ranchos and the front spacers!

As you know, I went with the 3rd setting and got every bit of 1 11/2" of lift.

On 5/17/2019 at 1:57 PM, Pivot said:

John, you running stock blocks in back or swapped those out earlier when you had spacers? I'm thinking a 2" block in back and that should give me a slight rake at max and a hair more at 3rd setting.

Yes, I am running stock blocks in rear as I was looking to be closer to level.

I have a 75lb sand bag in the bed, always run with that. I have right under a 1" rake with my current setup.

I think you will be happy with the max setting and a 2" block in the rear if you are looking for about a 2" rake with an empty bed.

On 5/17/2019 at 4:57 PM, dubwise said:

@Neumonic Any idea which spring compressor you used? The coil diameter on the 6112's springs are frigging massive. I didn't feel comfortable with the way the hooks fit over the coils using the standard MacPherson style spring compressor that the parts store rents. Pic of what I'm talking about attached.

That looks just like the one I rented from Advance Auto Parts, the pins won't go over the coil wire but if you set it up correctly you should be able to work with this.

I believe I had mine on each side holding the second coil from the top and the second coil from the bottom, once you start to tighten be sure to tighten each side evenly and you should see the hook on the compressor "seat in" on the spring as you start to compress. I used an impact gun with my tank set around 100psi - 110psi and did not have the gun set on kill and it worked out great for me. You will basically grabbing 4 spring coils on each side iirc.

I would confidently do this again, just be sure to recognize the notch in the top of the strut mount faces the engine as the bolt pattern is specific. and you want the very end of the top of the spring directly under the stud facing you.