Second gen rear shock install...

I'll know that for next time.
If you could only have seen me the day of.

 

doing this now.....fronts will be on tuesday

 

fyi for 5-Lug trucks your will most likely need to take off the wheel and put the truck up on stands, unless you're less than 4' tall and hella skinny.

 

or slammed

 

5100s are on the back porch. looks like a hour job

 

only tighten to 15 lbs-ft torque on top?

 

Thanks for the write up. I just did this and it took about 30 minutes. I'd seen other instructions on the net that showed the wheels off and all kinds of uneccessary crap. Glad I found this.

I can't believe how much smoother the 5100s are over the stock TRD OR shocks. Went for a high speed rip on a rough dirt road behind my place and it greatly reduces chatter and increases traction. You can see when you pull the old shocks out how much skinnier they are and subsequently how much less oil would be in them, so it's no wonder the 5100s perform better. Got a guy installing my fronts on Wednesday, so I'm really stoked to feel it then, especially since I'm ditching a spacer lift in the process.

 

I have never changed my shocks on my 2005 Taco,any suggestions on types and/or brands i should look at,i do very little off roading,thanks for any advice,since i found this website i have been doing some of my own work,plugs today,tommarrow the differentials and if i get realy brave i might trey to change the tranny oil.

 

Bilstein 5100's front and rears are your best bang for your buck.

 

Thanks JD i will check into these.

 

JD i looked at your build ,nice job,ill be happy to get more of my maintainance done and get a shell on mine,thanks for the info on the shocks,,im really glad i found this forum.

 

No problem. Thanks for the compliments. Let us know how it goes.

 

Those Blistens are a little pricey for me,might have to go see my freind Les Schwabb lol

 

You can pick up a set of lightly used stock trd shocks on here for dirt cheap. That's another option.

 

Try some liquid wrench. Then take a breaker bar and go as much as you can without messing anything up.

 

Has that nut and bolt ever been off before?

 

Just replaced my stock Bilsteins with 5100's
My stock Bilsteins had the 5 mm wrench at the top so I've got a quick question about removing them, or how they were supposed to be removed... I got to the top of the stud, could no longer keep the 5 mm wrench on top of the stud but still had threads to undo on the nut. I ended up just using a hack saw and cutting the stud but there's got to be a better way to get the shocks off... I did try using channel locks on the shock itself but couldn't get enough grip. Just curious how you're supposed to get them off without destroying the shock.