Okay guys I have a question. I've owned many F-150s and I've done lots of leveling and lift kits at least five that I can think of off the top of my head. The question I have is, has anybody taken a 6112 Bilstein set it for stock height, and then put the spacer on top so as not to preload the spring and provide a softer ride? I've got a spacer now providing 2 in of lift. I want to go to two and a quarter to 2 and 1/2 in of lift in the front and changing up the blocks in the rear so that I maintain 3/4 of an inch higher rear stance than front because I go camping a lot and throw a lot of gear in the back. I'm going with 5160 in the back and I want to get a set of Deaver Leaf springs. But the front stock struts with 2 Inch spacers on them with a disconnected sway bar right exceptionally smooth. But I know Bilsteins are better because I've had many sets of the 5100 series on previous F-150s. Can someone please lean in and tell me if you've done the aforementioned modification to 6112 struts?

 

Its a common misconception on here that adjustable height stuts get stiffer as you increase the ride height. This causes many people to assume that you are "preloading" the spring. Using the 5100s as an example, when you move the spring mount upwards on the shock, you are simply moving the spring upwards. This is how you gain ride height. Any 'preload' of the spring would be counter-intuitive to what the 5100s are designed to do, which is to allow increased ride height. The shock itself is designed for the increased travel when raising ride height. As you assemble the strut, you are not compressing the spring against any sort of height limiter other than the total travel of the shock itself. There is no preload, You can test this with the truck on the ground by measuring the compressed spring height of the stock strut and the compressed height of the spring in the 5100s at the max ride height setting. They will be nearly identical.

If you truly want a softer ride, you can do something similar to what I did. I bought a custom spring from Detroit spring. I ordered a softer spring rate, but longer uncompressed length. I sized everything appropriately so that my front end sits ~2" higher than stock, but using the lowest height setting on the bilsteins. 2 benefits here: increased suspension travel (what I really wanted) and a softer ride. Note I said softer here, but the correct word is more responsive. The spring doesn't really contribute much to what most people consider a "soft" ride. Its the valving on the shock. The 5100s have a stiffer valving than stock, so naturally the ride feels stiffer. The spring is going to compress to whatever load is needed to carry the weight of the vehicle. If you have 1200lbs of load on the front left tire, the spring is going to push back 1200lbs. No more, no less. However, if you hit a speed bump, a shock with softer valving is going to allow for more suspension movement than a shock with a stiffer valving. Springs respond to load, shocks respond to motion (i.e. bump is the road).

This is way over-simplified. People spends their automotive careers trying to perfect suspension response. TLDR: If you are buying an adjustable height shock anyway, it would be silly to throw a spacer on top of it. You are not preloading the spring with and adjustable shock. I personally don't like spacers. Tons of junk on the market, and it adds just another point of failure.

 

If you truly want a softer ride, you can do something similar to what I did. I bought a custom spring from Detroit spring. I ordered a softer spring rate, but longer uncompressed length. I sized everything appropriately so that my front end sits ~2" higher than stock, but using the lowest height setting on the bilsteins. 2 benefits here: increased suspension travel (what I really wanted) and a softer ride. Note I said softer here, but the correct word is more responsive.[/QUOTE]

some great points. Thank you. What do springs run from Detroit spring? Id really like to replace my broken ones with the ones you describe and 5100’s or 6112’s