Adjusting Fox 2.5 Coilovers

Hmmm, I will have to take my truck in then to get the pressure checked on them. I dont need to take the shocks off the truck to have them checked/recharged do I?

 

I went in and had my pressure checked on mine and one was at 60 and the other was at 120....got them up to 200 now and they are fine.

And you dont want any more than 3" out of these or you will get horrible ride, popping, and put too much of an angle on alot of parts that wont like it.

 

Yeah thats what I figured, thats why I want to make sure that I have them set at exactly 3". I only measured real quick before I put the lift on while everything was still stock. From the center of the hub up to the bottom of the fender on the drivers side it measured 20.5", and on the passenger side it was 21" Does that sound about right for the stock suspension on a 3 month old tacoma? If so then I would want both side to be at about 24" to be level and 3" of lift right?

 

ehh Im not real sure, I measured mine from the ground to the bottom of fender.

 

FoxRacR17 - How did you adjust your shocks? Did you have to disconnect the UCA from the spindle? What spanner wrench did you use? How did you lube the spring contact areas? I was installing mine today - I didn't have a wrench so I used a 5/16" punch but I ended up breaking the punch after about 1/2" of adjustment (and yes, I had the smaller ring up and out of the way). I was going to PM you but I think many would benefit from your insight. TIA!

 

Sorry if this is late man, got called into work today and just got home (working 8 days straight now, NO TIME FOR MY TRUCK ) Anways I havent recieved those spanner wrenches yet from that website i posted earlier so what I did was use a big ass phillips screwdriver that actually fit PERFECTLY inside of those holes for the adjuster collars, after a little wd-40 in certain places it was SO easy to turn those things with that screw driver. I took some pictures (sorry about the crappy quality, I saw your post when I just got home and ran outside and took some pics with my cell phone and a flashlight, also excuse my epic ms paint skills)

This first pic shows my spanner "wrench"


This picture shows my spanner "wrench" in the hole and two spots to wd-40. It also shows where my truck is sitting right now, from ground to bottom of the fender i am sitting at just under 39" on both sides with 285/70/17 tires, I'm not sure if its a full 3" of lift, but it rides really nicely, my CV's arent bad at all (arent even touching on the drivers side) and the only place that i rub pretty bad is the cab mounts when i'm backing up and turning or going over a big bump while turning. Does 39" sound right for 3" of lift with 33 tires?


This last picture shows the final spot to wd-40, I sprayed all along that silver ring as this whole bottom piece rotates as one with the spring and adjuster collar when you move the adjuster collar. I was having a bitch of a time with the passenger side coilover, it was WAY hard to turn and would spring back a little bit after i took the screwdriver out, but after I put some wd-40 here it turned really easily. I noticed that fox also added some holes down here, very smart on their part, if I wanted when i get my real spanner wrenches I could use those up top, and then stick that big ass screw driver down there and move the hole thing as one piece so that there is not so much stress on the adjuster collar alone


Hope this helps out man. Remember that if you are putting more preload on these things (making the spring tighter=more lift) then definitely lift the front tires off the ground so that you take some of the load off the spring and it should turn easier.

 

You are the man! Thanks - I was having that same nightmare - thanks for the tips!

 

I was told (by All Pro) to set the Driver's side to 3.5" and the Passenger side to 3.0.

 

No problem man. Post some pictures when your all done. And If you could some through measurements. I kinda wish that I would have been a little more careful with measuring my truck before I started so that I would know if I was exactly at 3" or not. But I'm happy with where it sits right now, rides way better then it was after I got it back from firestone for alignment. I really think that they screwed with my C/O's, I keep racking my brain as to why in the world they would, but I know what my measurements were before I brought them in, and when I got it back from them both sides were sitting at almost 41" from ground to fender! Last night I dialed them both down so that both sides were just under 39" and it rides waaaaaaaaaaaaay better and doesnt make the clunking noise I was hearing (unless I try to get it airborn in which cause it just bearly faintly makes it, I have to be listing to hear it ). I just wish that I knew if I was at the 3" limit or not because my tires rub pretty bad on the cab mounts when backing up and turning or turning while hitting a big bump/dip.

 

I wouldnt go with that, When I had both sides set to only 2.5" it rode HORRIBLE, and not to mention that my CV angles were atrocious.

 

yea my tires rub my cab mounts while backing up or over bumps while turning like you said... kinda sucks

 

Yeah, I am planning on making a trip to Demello offroad sometime in the near future to get those things cut back and boxed up. Hopefully then it will eliminate most of the rubbing and I can have some articulation for offroading.

 

Did you get a good alignment? I did the Pep Boys dealio and this is what they delivered to me... Caster in the 5's! I would have asked them to do it again but I had a dinner engagement. Roger? What were your caster numbers like?



I also pushed your tool design a bit.

I started with a 5/16" punch but it proved to be to brittle to take a little bend.


Then, following FoxRacR's lead, I took a #3 screw driver from Sears and ground off the tip so that it would have as much contact with the inside of the hole. This was a great call since the tip was hardened and the shaft was less brittle. Also note that I used a shock spanner with a rubber hose cut open so as not to scratch up the black anodizing.

 

BUMP this thread, I have the same coilover setup on my 04, do you need to jack up the front or can you let the tires sit on the ground? And you only need to put the punch in the 2nd to top collar correct? And which way do you turn to go higher? Thanks in advanced! My front is at 38.3" and the rear sits at 39.5"

 

Def get the tire up and off the ground.....that'll relieve the pressure on the shocks! I've got icons and to crank up you'd spin it right tighty and down would be lefty loosy! Hope that helps!

 

Thanks ^^

 

Hi I just installed my Fox 2.5 C/O last week. I already had a 3 inch suspension lift in the front but it was time for me to upgrade. When I measured the ride height with the old shocks it was about 37 3/4in from the ground to the fender. after the installation I measured again and I was a in taller than that. I drove home and let it sit over night. I had no problems with anything. but I went out and measured the next day and I was at about 36 3/4. so I lost almost 2 inches as the shocks and C/O settled. Then while driving I also get that clunking sound while driving over bumps and it sounds like metal on metal.

I checked everything was shaking my truck trying to figure out where it was coming from and I couldn't figure it out. I checked all the bolts that were loosened during the installation and all were good so I don't know where the noise is coming from. Im going to adjust the suspension so that it is back up to around 3 inches so my tires stop rubbing and hopefully the clunking goes away.

Does anyone else have any ideas as to why there is a noise coming from these shocks? I just feel like I should have saved my money at this point and kept my old suspension. I am 100% sure I installed everything correctly as well. Just really annoyed because my truck sounds like it gonna rattle apart ever bump I hit.

 

The violent clunking that you hear when going over bumps is likely the shocks topping out or extending all the way. This is not the best thing for the longevity of a coil over shock and it’s easily cured with limit straps.








(top bolt is a temp) Lots of people just bolt the strap to the bottom shock bolt and let the strap rub on the tie rod and rack and pinion boot. I built tabs to put the clevis on the bottom so that the strap wouldn’t hit anything. There isn’t much room in there but it was worth the work to keep the shocks from beating themselves to death.