Dobinsons Suspension Upgrade 07 Tahoe 4x4

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tahjoe

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I recently decided to lift the front of my 07 Tahoe using Bilstein B8 6112 adjustable struts [47-310858] set to 2”.

For the rear, I was looking at installing Dobinson’s 2” rear coil springs [C09-045]. Any recommendations on rear shock absorbers that can handle the added rear coil spring height + 2” front end lift? From what I can tell, the Bilstein rear shock absorbers are only made to handle a 1” rear lift.

(May not be necessary, but I also plan to replace the OEM front upper control arms with Freedom Off-Road control arms for 2” lift [50-6703FU])

Thanks in advance
 

Drgracin72

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I don't have an answer for your question, but was curious on your impressions of the 6112? on road and off-road.
 
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tahjoe

tahjoe

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I don't have an answer for your question, but was curious on your impressions of the 6112? on road and off-road.
My bad, should’ve been more clear. I haven’t purchased the front 6112's yet. Holding off until I figure out the plan for (and cost of) the rear shock absorbers.

My thought process is that the 6112s set halfway would be a more comfortable ride than the 5100s set at the highest notch, but I could be wrong. Will let you know how they perform if I decide to go with that setup.
 

Trey Hardy

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My bad, should’ve been more clear. I haven’t purchased the front 6112's yet. Holding off until I figure out the plan for (and cost of) the rear shock absorbers.

My thought process is that the 6112s set halfway would be a more comfortable ride than the 5100s set at the highest notch, but I could be wrong. Will let you know how they perform if I decide to go with that setup.
Bilstein should have rear shocks for a 2-3” lift maybe look for some for a Silverado if they ain’t popping up under a Tahoe
If you got the money foxs are supposed to ride good also but bilsteins are half the price of foxs and I’ve had good luck with the 5100s in my past experience
The control arms are a good idea but not really needed until you get up to 3+” of lift but it won’t hurt. If you want the best ride quality uniball control arms are the way to go though I run fabtech uniballs and they have been great so far these are 3-4 years old and no issues what so ever!

Beware though I ran the adjustable bilstein lift struts in the past on my Tahoe and they ride like shit my Monroe’s were too soft and spongy the bilstein 6112 were too damn stiff if anything I’d opt for the 5100 series with a 2” leveling kit under the strut so you don’t have the same experience as me and doing the job 2-3 times
 
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tahjoe

tahjoe

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Update: After looking at @Trey Hardy older posts ( thanks @89Suburban ) it seems the Silverado 5100s should fit a 2" rear lift. Just ordered them (24-285896) and will follow up once I install. Appreesh.
 

Trey Hardy

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Some quality Coil overs are the way to go though in my opinion between the coil overs and uniball uca the ride was night and day difference but at the same time most coil overs are around 1500$ plus the control arms puts you at around 2000$ or so. So it’s definitely the more expensive option but the best way to go through my past experiences
 
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tahjoe

tahjoe

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Damn, bummed to hear the 6112s didn't work out. I looked at the Fox 2.0 Performance Series Coilovers but liked the adjustability concept of Bilstein. I figured with the 6112s I'd be able to account for any imbalance in the settling rate b/w the front and the rear. The concern is that the front would settle faster causing a more aggressive rake than I'm after.

What setting did you have your 6112s on? And were they always paired with the Silverado 5100s in the rear? I'm wondering if the stiffer rear shocks could've contributed to the rough ride.

Appreciate the rec on the uca - I'll look into the fabtechs. This is my "weekend driver" so I have some time to upgrade the components, but I would like to do it right. Will start with the struts / shocks / springs and do the rest over time. Installing a new rack and pinion / intermediate drive shaft tomorrow so it's been an expensive week for the 07.

Edit: If I were to go with the 5100s in the front, could I just buy a new coil spring instead of using the spacers?
 
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Project Workshop

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On the rear I have used the Fox 2.0's paired with Moog 81069 springs and Fox 2.5 DSC's paired with the Dobinsons C09-037. Both worked great on and off road.

I run the C09-037 due to the constant extra weight I am hauling (spare tire carrier, cargo box, etc.) If you are not carrying the extra weight the C09-045 are recommended.

It took a bit of trial and error to get a combo I was happy with, but I highly recommend this setup.
 

Trey Hardy

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Damn, bummed to hear the 6112s didn't work out. I looked at the Fox 2.0 Performance Series Coilovers but liked the adjustability concept of Bilstein. I figured with the 6112s I'd be able to account for any imbalance in the settling rate b/w the front and the rear. The concern is that the front would settle faster causing a more aggressive rake than I'm after.

What setting did you have your 6112s on? And were they always paired with the Silverado 5100s in the rear? I'm wondering if the stiffer rear shocks could've contributed to the rough ride.

Appreciate the rec on the uca - I'll look into the fabtechs. This is my "weekend driver" so I have some time to upgrade the components, but I would like to do it right. Will start with the struts / shocks / springs and do the rest over time. Installing a new rack and pinion / intermediate drive shaft tomorrow so it's been an expensive week for the 07.

Edit: If I were to go with the 5100s in the front, could I just buy a new coil spring instead of using the spacers?
All you gotta do is adjust the collar to raise and lower the fox or any aftermarket coil over? It adjusts the preload on the coil spring

And yes you can get the mood heavy duty spring and I believe it’s an inch.
Are you scared of leveling kits or something? Because I have THREE stacked on my 13” lifted Silverado and Dailey drive it and ALWAY ran a upper AND lower leveling kit on my Tahoe from the time she was stock till I lifted it (I like to stretch my lifts obviously) also the coil overs I have on my truck came off the Tahoe and are too short for the lift that’s why I have 2 stacked on top once I get home and get buddy 7-9” coil overs on that he sent me I’ll only have the 2” on the bottom or possibly the 3” up top depending on how she sits with them.

TBH the 6112s are kinda a pain to adjust there’s a clip on there that’s only got 2-3 slots on the shock to adjust but you have to compress the spring to do so and I’ve had some sketchy experiences using coil spring compressors plus you would have to pull them off the truck to adjust them where the coil overs you can just take the weight off the shock and adjust the collar with your spanner wrench.
I got my fabtech arms off amazon when they went on sale I believe they were like 500-550$ but usually 600-700$
Also a side note my uca came off a 2018 Silverado so if you happen to find a cheaper deal on the fabtechs for the
14-18 years they will work on your Tahoe no problem. I also got my icon coil overs used off a 2019 gmc at4 and they worked no issues the at4 are 2” higher from the factory so instead of being 3.5” they were more like 5.5” coil overs so with the leveling kit on them I was able to pick my lift up to 8.5” give or take

As far as the settings I tried all the settings of the 6112 and was not happy with the ride at all I felt like I was being beat to death and my new Monroe’s I replaced them with felt like I was riding on a sponge way too soft. Before I would hit this one set of doubled up train tracks every week going to work and I would slow down to 40 with both hands on the wheel and felt like I was dancing left to right on the road where after I did the coil overs and control arms I hit that biotch going 75 driving with my knee sipping coffee and ain’t skipped a beat she stayed planted the whole time due to the extended downward travel she gained it felt way more controlled then the previous setups. This was also with the upper 2” and lower 1.5” leveling kits installed I’ve Baja this Tahoe down the beach and on the side of the road a couple times going 60-70 and she just soaked it up like it weren’t shit!

Note the fabtech arms require you to ream your spindle out some for the tapered pin in the uniball but that’s no big deal but may be a issue if you ever decide to go back stock which I doubt you will once you see how big a difference it’ll make. I weren’t spending 50-100$ on a reamer bit I ended up using a drill bit and “wollowed” the hole out a lil at a time until I got it where it needed to be. If your worried about this you could always swing by a machine shop and they could help you out with this part if you feel uncomfortable but it’s really not hat hard at all
IMG_3389.png
Also I highly recommend getting locking alignment cam plates so you never have to worry about knocking your alignment out of wack once you get her all together and get it aligned the stock slider ones SUCK IMG_7460.pngIMG_5786.jpegIMG_8310.jpegto be honest I don’t remember the last time I’ve even greased these bushings on the control arms! Once in a blue moon i spray some lubricant in the uniball joint but I ain’t even done that in a good while! I got them June of 2021 and they were USED when I got them and I’ve put probably 100,000 miles on them since then and again zero issues with the joint or the bushings and they don’t make a sound! Before the RC arms I had would creek and squeak and would drive me insane

Don’t let the reviews on those uca scare you off of them there’s one guy with a blue truck who said they were junk cause the bolt broke on a dirt road but from the looks of the pic he obviously diddnt ream the spindle to fit the tapered bit into it so it had too much leverage and wasn’t fully seated into the spindle (operator error) my buddy has these same uca in his Silverado and travels all around nc he’s had em since 2019 and never had one issue out of his either he’s the one who put me on to them
 
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