OK. Well, I don't have the service manual. So where can I find the torque values on line? Or where can I buy the service manual?
Bilstein 6112/5160 Installed (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter Robert B
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OK, time to install these bilsteins. I've watched a few videos and read the factory service manual. Videos make it look super simple, of course. My truck has hydraulic swaybars and you have to relieve the pressure in the system before you take the suspension apart, otherwise the truck can end up leaning to one side or the other. The valves are located halfway down the drivers side frame rail. On my 2018 they're two 8mm bolts. Undo them 3 1/2 turns, so 1 1/2 total turns each. Yes, count!
Ok, now get the truck up in the air, remove the rear wheels and contemplate this. I'm not swapping out the springs, so I didn't bother to remove the swaybar linkage or e brake cable. I did support the rear pumpkin with a big jack stand so it wouldn't sag.
Now break free the upper shock bolt. Oh, you can't because the shock shaft spins. Service manual calls for a special tool, which I don't have. Luckily one of the videos covers this and I use a set of vice grips on the dust cover of the shock, not actually pinching the shaft itself. Like this...
Put it there and it'll spin around and jam up against the truck, then you can sneak your 22mm wrench onto the top nut and take it out. Take out the 19mm bolt on the bottom and lever the stock shocks off. I think mine were leaking, with just over 28k miles on them. They're Tokico's, which are living up their reputation of being To-Leakos.
Ok, snake the bilstein in, making sure you've got it clocked so the remote reservoir doesn't hit anything. Get the top nut started, then droop the rear axle to line up the lower bolt and get it started. Now you get to have some fun, where you have to hold the top of the shaft of the bilstein so you can tighten the upper shock nut. Space is very limited but I was able to use the same vice grip and grab the slotted top of the shaft and then tighten up the shock. To put it mildly, this sucked. It also wasn't really covered in any of the videos I watched, they just glossed over this. You can just see my vice grips here
Ok, get the wheels/tires back on, drop the rear of the truck and now torque the rear shock bolt to 72 ft lbs. Time for the front. There are two ways to do this, either take the two bolts out of the bottom of the lower A arm where it goes into the hub, or pop off the tie rod end and the upper ball joint where it goes into the upper A arm. I did the lower A arm but think the upper A arm might be an easier way to go.
Anyways, take out the two lower bolts going into the knuckle. Then take the nut off the lower strut bolt. Now loosen the two nuts holding the inner of the lower A arm in place so it'll pivot. Now loosen the upper swaybar bolt and take out the lower swaybar bolt completely. Also not shown on any of the videos is this bracket right here, which covered up my front inner upper strut nut
12mm takes that off and tuck it out of the way. Remove the lower strut bolt. Remove the four 14mm nuts holding the strut in place. Curse a bunch as you try to wiggle the entire assembly out, then make sure to not drop the assembly on your foot.
Stock vs Bilstein 6112
Eagle eyed viewers will notice I've got the front bilsteins on their lowest ride height possible. Supposedly this will yield a 1" lift. I don't want a lift as I have to sneak this under my 4 post lift and only have ~3.5" of clearance with the stock suspension. I just want to level the truck out. Ok, now grab that incredibly heavy bilstein strut and try to snake it back in. Curse a LOT! This also sucked and the bilstein upper hat has a specific way that it clocks, in fact there's an arrow and "Out" pointer on it. So make sure you're paying attention to that, another thing that none of the videos pointed out. Ok, muscle that bad boy into place and get the two outer upper nuts started. Now lever the lower strut eyelet into place and drive the bolt through, loosely install the nut.
Get all four of the upper 14mm nuts tightened down and torque them to 33 ft lbs. Now put that bracket back on with the 12mm bolt. Now get ready to board the struggle bus as you attempt to line up the knuckle with the lower A arm and get those two bolts back into place. I actually called a friend to help with this but managed to get the drivers side in before he showed up. Torque these bolts to 221 ft lbs. Yes, you read that right, that's what the factory service manual calls for. Now lever the swaybar eyelet back into the A arm and line it up to place the bolt in place. Do NOT attempt to actually get this bolt into its home, just get it into the eyelet. Torque the inner A arm nuts to 103 ft lbs.
Now move to the passenger side, which is much more of a PITA. The swaybar linkage on this side is very different than the drivers side and it also kept getting pulled up by the hydraulics and getting in the way. The bracket on this side doesn't obstruct the upper strut nuts, so leave it alone. Do the same on this side but getting the stock strut assembly out and the bilstein back in was a whole lot harder.
My friend showed up thankfully and helped me get the lower bolts into the knuckle and the swaybar eyelet into the A arm and the bolt started.
Now put the wheels back on and drop the truck. Cycle the suspension some. Torque the lower strut bolt to 133 ft lbs. Torque the upper swaybar bolt to 100 ft lbs and the lower one to 103 ft lbs. Toyota didn't do a captive nut on the lower swaybar bolt the way they should've and it's basically impossible to hold the 21mm nut in there. I managed to jam it with a wrench and get it done.
Don't forget to tighten up the KDSS 8mm bolts! Onto the measurements. I haven't really driven the truck more than up and down my street so hopefully it'll settle some. It got lifted more than I expected, almost 2" up front and 1" in the back.
And a pic of the truck now that I'm done
Ok, so I'm in my early 50's and pretty fit but do have a few auto immune diseases that can cause me problems. I'm not ashamed to say that this job really kicked my ass. I was seriously gassed by the time I was done. I don't think it helped that I skipped breakfast AND lunch and wasn't paying attention to drinking water. That's on me, that was dumb. I got focused on finishing the job before I had to leave to pick my son up from school and that wasn't smart. I should've stopped for a lunch break and drunk a bunch of water. I think for heavy jobs like this on this truck I need to ask a friend to help me. And eat food. And drink water.
Anyways, on my 1 block drive the truck definitely feels more controlled, not as bouncy and the brake dive is mostly gone. Drove maybe 5 miles to drop my son off at Ju Jitsu. Definitely less brake dive, firmer ride and better handling. Also made an appointment to have the alignment done Monday. I made all the marks on the lower A arm cams and they weren't disturbed but I'd rather have it double checked.
Ok, now get the truck up in the air, remove the rear wheels and contemplate this. I'm not swapping out the springs, so I didn't bother to remove the swaybar linkage or e brake cable. I did support the rear pumpkin with a big jack stand so it wouldn't sag.
Now break free the upper shock bolt. Oh, you can't because the shock shaft spins. Service manual calls for a special tool, which I don't have. Luckily one of the videos covers this and I use a set of vice grips on the dust cover of the shock, not actually pinching the shaft itself. Like this...
Put it there and it'll spin around and jam up against the truck, then you can sneak your 22mm wrench onto the top nut and take it out. Take out the 19mm bolt on the bottom and lever the stock shocks off. I think mine were leaking, with just over 28k miles on them. They're Tokico's, which are living up their reputation of being To-Leakos.
Ok, snake the bilstein in, making sure you've got it clocked so the remote reservoir doesn't hit anything. Get the top nut started, then droop the rear axle to line up the lower bolt and get it started. Now you get to have some fun, where you have to hold the top of the shaft of the bilstein so you can tighten the upper shock nut. Space is very limited but I was able to use the same vice grip and grab the slotted top of the shaft and then tighten up the shock. To put it mildly, this sucked. It also wasn't really covered in any of the videos I watched, they just glossed over this. You can just see my vice grips here
Ok, get the wheels/tires back on, drop the rear of the truck and now torque the rear shock bolt to 72 ft lbs. Time for the front. There are two ways to do this, either take the two bolts out of the bottom of the lower A arm where it goes into the hub, or pop off the tie rod end and the upper ball joint where it goes into the upper A arm. I did the lower A arm but think the upper A arm might be an easier way to go.
Anyways, take out the two lower bolts going into the knuckle. Then take the nut off the lower strut bolt. Now loosen the two nuts holding the inner of the lower A arm in place so it'll pivot. Now loosen the upper swaybar bolt and take out the lower swaybar bolt completely. Also not shown on any of the videos is this bracket right here, which covered up my front inner upper strut nut
12mm takes that off and tuck it out of the way. Remove the lower strut bolt. Remove the four 14mm nuts holding the strut in place. Curse a bunch as you try to wiggle the entire assembly out, then make sure to not drop the assembly on your foot.
Stock vs Bilstein 6112
Eagle eyed viewers will notice I've got the front bilsteins on their lowest ride height possible. Supposedly this will yield a 1" lift. I don't want a lift as I have to sneak this under my 4 post lift and only have ~3.5" of clearance with the stock suspension. I just want to level the truck out. Ok, now grab that incredibly heavy bilstein strut and try to snake it back in. Curse a LOT! This also sucked and the bilstein upper hat has a specific way that it clocks, in fact there's an arrow and "Out" pointer on it. So make sure you're paying attention to that, another thing that none of the videos pointed out. Ok, muscle that bad boy into place and get the two outer upper nuts started. Now lever the lower strut eyelet into place and drive the bolt through, loosely install the nut.
Get all four of the upper 14mm nuts tightened down and torque them to 33 ft lbs. Now put that bracket back on with the 12mm bolt. Now get ready to board the struggle bus as you attempt to line up the knuckle with the lower A arm and get those two bolts back into place. I actually called a friend to help with this but managed to get the drivers side in before he showed up. Torque these bolts to 221 ft lbs. Yes, you read that right, that's what the factory service manual calls for. Now lever the swaybar eyelet back into the A arm and line it up to place the bolt in place. Do NOT attempt to actually get this bolt into its home, just get it into the eyelet. Torque the inner A arm nuts to 103 ft lbs.
Now move to the passenger side, which is much more of a PITA. The swaybar linkage on this side is very different than the drivers side and it also kept getting pulled up by the hydraulics and getting in the way. The bracket on this side doesn't obstruct the upper strut nuts, so leave it alone. Do the same on this side but getting the stock strut assembly out and the bilstein back in was a whole lot harder.
My friend showed up thankfully and helped me get the lower bolts into the knuckle and the swaybar eyelet into the A arm and the bolt started.
Now put the wheels back on and drop the truck. Cycle the suspension some. Torque the lower strut bolt to 133 ft lbs. Torque the upper swaybar bolt to 100 ft lbs and the lower one to 103 ft lbs. Toyota didn't do a captive nut on the lower swaybar bolt the way they should've and it's basically impossible to hold the 21mm nut in there. I managed to jam it with a wrench and get it done.
Don't forget to tighten up the KDSS 8mm bolts! Onto the measurements. I haven't really driven the truck more than up and down my street so hopefully it'll settle some. It got lifted more than I expected, almost 2" up front and 1" in the back.
And a pic of the truck now that I'm done
Ok, so I'm in my early 50's and pretty fit but do have a few auto immune diseases that can cause me problems. I'm not ashamed to say that this job really kicked my ass. I was seriously gassed by the time I was done. I don't think it helped that I skipped breakfast AND lunch and wasn't paying attention to drinking water. That's on me, that was dumb. I got focused on finishing the job before I had to leave to pick my son up from school and that wasn't smart. I should've stopped for a lunch break and drunk a bunch of water. I think for heavy jobs like this on this truck I need to ask a friend to help me. And eat food. And drink water.
Anyways, on my 1 block drive the truck definitely feels more controlled, not as bouncy and the brake dive is mostly gone. Drove maybe 5 miles to drop my son off at Ju Jitsu. Definitely less brake dive, firmer ride and better handling. Also made an appointment to have the alignment done Monday. I made all the marks on the lower A arm cams and they weren't disturbed but I'd rather have it double checked.
Last edited:
FrazzledHunter
SILVER Star
Incredible write-up thanks for posting as I'd like to do this to mine. I don't think I can do the front myself but the rear shocks are within my grasp. There's probably something fundamental I'm not understanding but how do you get lift on the rear with just new shocks, i.e. without changing out the springs?OK, time to install these bilsteins. I've watched a few videos and rear the factory service manual. Videos make it look super simple, of course. My truck has hydraulic swaybars and you have to relieve the pressure in the system before you take the suspension apart, otherwise the truck can end up leaning to one side or the other. The valves are located halfway down the drivers side frame rail. On my 2018 they're two 8mm bolts. Undo them 3 1/2 turns. Yes, count!
Ok, now get the truck up in the air, remove the wheels and contemplate this. I'm not swapping out the springs, so I didn't bother to remove the swaybar linkage or e brake cable. I did support the rear pumpkin with a big jack stand so it wouldn't sag.
Now break free the upper shock bolt. Oh, you can't because the shock shaft spins. Service manual calls for a special tool, which I don't have. Luckily one of the videos covers this and I use a set of vice grips on the dust cover of the shock, not actually pinching the shaft itself. Like this...
Put it there and it'll spin around and jam up against the truck, then you can sneak your 22mm wrench onto the top nut and take it out. Take out the 19mm bolt on the bottom and lever the stock shocks off. I think mine were leaking, with just over 28k miles on them. They're Tokico's, which are living up their reputation of being To-Leakos.
Ok, snake the bilstein in, making sure you've got it clocked so the remote reservoir doesn't hit anything. Get the top nut started, then droop the rear axle to line up the lower bolt and get it started. Now you get to have some fun, where you have to hold the top of the shaft of the bilstein so you can tighten the upper shock nut. Space is very limited but I was able to use the same vice grip and grab the slotted top of the shaft and then tighten up the shock. To put it mildly, this sucked. It also wasn't really covered in any of the videos I watched, they just glossed over this. You can just see my vice grips here
Ok, get the wheels/tires back on, drop the rear of the truck and now torque the rear shock bolt to 72 ft lbs. Time for the front. There are two ways to do this, either take the two bolts out of the bottom of the lower A arm where it goes into the hub, or pop off the tie rod end and the upper ball joint where it goes into the upper A arm. I did the lower A arm but thing the upper A arm might be an easier way to go.
Anyways, take out the two lower bolts going into the knuckle. Then take the nut off the lower strut bolt. Now loosen the two nuts holding the inner of the lower A arm in place so it'll pivot. Now loosen the upper swaybar bolt and take out the lower swaybar bolt completely. Also not shown on any of the videos is this bracket right here, which covered up my front inner upper strut nut
12mm takes that off and tuck it out of the way. Remove the lower strut bolt. Remove the four 14mm nuts holding the strut in place. Curse a bunch as you try to wiggle the entire assembly out, then make sure to not drop the assembly on your foot.
Stock vs Bilstein 6112
Eagle eyed viewers will notice I've got the front bilsteins on their lowest ride height possible. Supposedly this will yield a 1" lift. I don't want a lift as I have to sneak this under my 4 post lift and only have ~3.5" of clearance with the stock suspension. I just want to level the truck out. Ok, now grab that incredibly heavy bilstein strut and try to snake it back in. Curse a LOT! This also sucked and the bilstein upper hat has a specific way that it clocks, in fact there's an arrow and "Out" pointer on it. So make sure you're paying attention to that, another thing that none of the videos pointed out. Ok, muscle that bad boy into place and get the two outer upper nuts started. Now lever the lower strut eyelet into place and drive the bolt through, loosely install the nut.
Get all four of the upper 14mm nuts tightened down and torque them to 33 ft lbs. Now put that bracket back on with the 12mm bolt. Now get ready to board the struggle bus as you attempt to line up the knuckle with the lower A arm and get those two bolts back into place. I actually called a friend to help with this but managed to get the drivers side in before he showed up. Torque these bolts to 221 ft lbs. Yes, you read that right, that's what the factory service manual calls for. Now lever the swaybar eyelet back into the A arm and line it up to place the bolt in place. Do NOT attempt to actually get this bolt into its home, just get it into the eyelet. Torque the inner A arm nuts to 103 ft lbs.
Now move to the passenger side, which is much more of a PITA. The swaybar linkage on this side is very different than the drivers side and it also kept getting pulled up by the hydraulics and getting in the way. The bracket on this side doesn't obstruct the upper strut nuts, so leave it alone. Do the same on this side but getting the stock strut assembly out and the bilstein back in was a whole lot harder.
My friend showed up thankfully and helped me get the lower bolts into the knuckle and the swaybar eyelet into the A arm and the bolt started.
Now put the wheels back on and drop the truck. Cycle the suspension some. Torque the lower strut bolt to 133 ft lbs. Torque the upper swaybar bolt to 100 ft lbs and the lower one to 103 ft lbs. Toyota didn't do a captive nut on the lower swaybar bolt the way they should've and it's basically impossible to hold the 21mm nut in there. I managed to jam it with a wrench and get it done.
Don't forget to tighten up the KDSS 8mm bolts! Onto the measurements. I haven't really driven the truck more than up and down my street so hopefully it'll settle some. It got lifted more than I expected, almost 2" up front and 1" in the back.
And a pic of the truck now that I'm done
View attachment 3122177
Ok, so I'm in my early 50's and pretty fit but do have a few auto immune diseases that can cause me problems. I'm not ashamed to say that this job really kicked my ass. I was seriously gassed by the time I was done. I don't think it helped that I skipped breakfast AND lunch and wasn't paying attention to drinking water. That's on me, that was dumb. I got focused on finishing the job before I had to leave to pick my son up from school and that wasn't smart. I should've stopped for a lunch break and drunk a bunch of water. I think for heavy jobs like this on this truck I need to ask a friend to help me. And eat food. And drink water.
Anyways, on my 1 block drive the truck definitely feels more controlled, not as bouncy and the brake dive is mostly gone. Drove maybe 5 miles to drop my son off at Ju Jitsu. Definitely less brake dive, firmer ride and better handling. Also made an appointment to have the alignment done Monday. I made all the marks on the lower A arm cams and they weren't disturbed but I'd rather have it double checked.
I was surprised about that as well. Overall it got lifted more than I expected, I’ve only got 2.5” of clearance under my lift now.
Only thing I can think of is the bilsteins are more of a high pressure shock, so don’t sag as much as the factory shocks?
Only thing I can think of is the bilsteins are more of a high pressure shock, so don’t sag as much as the factory shocks?
Doc, random question, but do you happen to also be an M3 and urS4/6 guy as well?
Yes. Plus Porsches etc. It's been awhile since I've had an M3 or UrS, I wish I'd kept my last E36 M3, but I needed to sell it to get my 911. So that was a worthy swap
Got the truck aligned, despite making sure my marks on the cams were in the right places, the lift alone was enough to screw up the alignment. Everything needed to be adjusted, so definitely plan on an alignment when you're done. I went and double checked the torque on the swaybar endlinks since I've put some miles on it, everything's good.
Ok, have a question. Ever since I did the install I can feel/hear noise coming from the right front of the 200. I've been over all those bolts three times now and everything is torqued properly. I did torque the lower strut bolt and swaybar endlinks with the wheels on/200 on the ground.
What am I missing here?
What am I missing here?
What is the sound like? Clicking? Probably CV damage during install... Squaks? Could the UCA bushing from aftermarket UCA if you did that...
A click/rattle. Not all the time. Typically I’d think it was a swaybar endlink noise.
Would suck if it’s an axle! How can I tell?
Found it!
I got these used from another mudder, who was kind enough to move the spring perches for me. By moving the perches down that must've given the top nut some play. I didn't think to check it when I first got them, that's on me.
Lesson here is, don't make assumptions! I assumed that the noise was coming from something I'd taken apart, so I kept checking and rechecking all the torque on those bolts. I should've looked elsewhere, knowing that all the other bolts were properly torqued. I tightened this one down and checked the one on the left side. While not showing threads, I was able to tighten it down some too.
Test drive completed, everything feels perfect!
I got these used from another mudder, who was kind enough to move the spring perches for me. By moving the perches down that must've given the top nut some play. I didn't think to check it when I first got them, that's on me.
Lesson here is, don't make assumptions! I assumed that the noise was coming from something I'd taken apart, so I kept checking and rechecking all the torque on those bolts. I should've looked elsewhere, knowing that all the other bolts were properly torqued. I tightened this one down and checked the one on the left side. While not showing threads, I was able to tighten it down some too.
Test drive completed, everything feels perfect!
Question for you all if you don't mind,
After reading through this entire thread today I was set on going with the Bilstein kit on perch 5 and the OME 2721 rear springs.
I just ordered the 6112/5160 kit from shocksurplus(said it was in stock) without rear springs.
I was about order the 2721 rear springs and noticed on all the retail sites that it says 0" of lift??? I was under the impression from this thread that it would net me about 1.75-2" rear lift with these springs??(no added weight)
Any help y'all, I'm trying to get this ordered and buttoned up. Thanks
After reading through this entire thread today I was set on going with the Bilstein kit on perch 5 and the OME 2721 rear springs.
I just ordered the 6112/5160 kit from shocksurplus(said it was in stock) without rear springs.
I was about order the 2721 rear springs and noticed on all the retail sites that it says 0" of lift??? I was under the impression from this thread that it would net me about 1.75-2" rear lift with these springs??(no added weight)
Any help y'all, I'm trying to get this ordered and buttoned up. Thanks
On stock weight you are 100% right... 2721 5th perch is the way to go...
Just curious why do the retail sites list the 2721 as zero lift though? It's confusing
Because the springs are "medium load" and are rated for additional weight, netting 0" of lift. You're looking for lift with no additional weight, these would be incorrect.
I'd confirm myself, but I have several sets of rear springs for my other vehicles and use Dobinson springs
Dobinson 2" lift no load
In my case, stock weight w 3rd row 2016, the bilstein shocks on stock springs gave me 0.5” rear lift, which was unexpected and has also been reported on this thread. The 2721 gave me 1.5”. This gave me too much rake for my taste, 5th Pearce for a setup like that would be correct. Any additional fixed rear weight the 4th perch…
the OME spring information is infuriating because they give you so little data.
I have the 2722 springs with a 12.5g aux tank behind the axle and sliders. Sits up probably .5" higher than the front on 5th perch in the rear. Perfect rake for me. The spings handle well with the addition load and make towing much more comfortable and squat less. I also have airbags installed, but have not needed them yet. Felt like ordering these springs was a complete guess.
I have the 2722 springs with a 12.5g aux tank behind the axle and sliders. Sits up probably .5" higher than the front on 5th perch in the rear. Perfect rake for me. The spings handle well with the addition load and make towing much more comfortable and squat less. I also have airbags installed, but have not needed them yet. Felt like ordering these springs was a complete guess.
Follow the advice here. +1.5-2” is right.
Yep I sure did, got it all ordered and sitting in the garage waiting for wheels and tires. Will update after everything's on, thanks!
