Tampa Bay Area Tacomas BS Thread

I was born, raised and currently living in the 727.

 

We could have a mod day. Plenty of able people

 

My carport is available. I need to swap out my rear third anyway, so I can get all that stuff sent up to ECGS. The poor OGT is about buried under leaves and bird shit. Her fault though. She's the one that decided to have an electronics problem that I can't diagnose.

 

I’m thinking about getting a Jacktech spring compressor and doing it myself.

 

You can also do it by jacking up your LCA, removing the nut from the top of the shock and then letting the LCA down. Installation is the reverse.

 

I’ve seen that. I guess as long as the lca doesn’t slip off the jack post, it could be okay.

 

Since you have to take the spindle loose from the LCA anyway, it shouldn't be an issue with a floor jack...a bottle jack might be a little sketchy but it should be pretty solid with a floor jack under the ball joint stud. If you don't have a floor jack...

The offer stands. My driveway is free, and I need to swap my rear third and I think I have a leaking wheel cylinder, so I'll probably replace them both while I have the lines disconnected, so we could have some folks get together for a mod day. Many hands make light work.

 

Lee, that is awesome! I'll keep the thread posted as to my progress.

No stranger to tech days. Swapped various NC Miata suspension bits at least twice, did a clutch on an NA Miata on the garage floor, numerous brake jobs, lifted a Subaru Forester (of all things) with a buddy in my own carport. Even tackled a home-brew alignment with some help. When we had that one realigned professionally it was still within spec, but not as precise as the alignment rack.

Most of the stuff I've done has been suspension, most of it has been at stock height or lower, so it goes back together easily. The lift was an eye opener, trying to coax a taller strut assembly in was a challenge, but we did it! The 5100s for my truck will be on the .85" setting, so I'm hoping it's fairly simple and doesn't require too much flexing to get them back in place.

I've got a line on a Jacktech

$650 SK-3000 Strut Spring Compressor

SK-3000 compressor, so I'm going to attempt it at home with spare labor provided by my homeboy.

Edit: I'm wondering if my little 1.5 ton aluminum HF jack will go high enough to get the truck off the wheels. It's been completely adequate for the Miata and the wife's sedan. Going to have to check that out real soon.

 

The trick to getting the taller coilover in there is to realize you will have to get it aligned anyhow and just suck it up and loosen the LCA alignment cam bolts so you can rotate the LCA down. Once you do that it's a piece of cake. Just don't tighten them back up until everything is together and it's sitting at ride height.

As far as jack height...a block of wood or two and you're good to go. But, yes, I have the HF floor jack that has the extra high lift and is extra heavy to pick up . I still usually use a block of wood though, just to minimize the metal to metal contact.

 

The HF low profile jack reached on my 2nd gen with a 3" lift, but the regular hf jack doesn't.

I had pushed my LCAs down with a pry bar when I did my lift. My coils were already in the shock though.

 

We had to pry down on the LCAs in the forester (well, stand on the knuckle and grunt) to get the assembled strut in. It was a challenge, but it got done.

My plan is to follow (roughly) the instructions in ToMoCo's workshop manual: remove the skid plate, remove the sway bar and separate the tie rod end ball joints from the knuckle and go from there- pull out the assembled strut and disassemble it on the fancy spring compressor. If it won't come correct on reassembly, the LCA bolts come out.

 

IIRC, I just stepped on the ball joint mount when I did the lift on the OGT. The weight of my fat ass was enough to press it down enough. When I did the T4R, I loosened the cam bolts. It was a lot easier. In both cases I paid to have the coilovers pre-assembled. Now the rear coils on the T4R were a real PITA. The right side was slightly easier but in both cases, I had to use ratchet straps to compress the coils to get them in place. I knew the upper shock mount was going to be a beotch, but I thought the coils would be simple, just let the rear axle down, slip them in and then jack it up until I could get the shock on the lower mounts. I didn't get that lucky.

 

You probably don't need to take the tie rod ends off the spindle. Once it's disconnected from the lower ball joint you could probably just rotate the spindle out of the way and put a bungee or a strap on it to keep it there. It worked for me, but then the 1st Gen Taco and 3rd Gen T4Rs have the steering rack behind the diff.

Edit: well, thinking about it if you're 4WD you probably will have to remove the tie rod end. Should still work if you're a Prerunner though.

 

I was hoping it would be easy for the rear coils. The front should be the same as the Taco. I think the passenger side LCA was always harder to push down. The rear shocks are the Taco were a pita. I had to cut them off. Hoping the v 4Runner is easier.

 

Well, it was probably just my bad luck with the coils, and I'm a 3rd Gen, so your mileage may very. The shocks though, I had to crush the metal dust shields on the factory shocks with a C-clamp until they were pinched down on the piston shaft keeping it from spinning to get the top nuts off. The whole thing was a pain.

 

I'll have to take a closer look when the weather warms up here. I want to do it soon before the liquid salt makes everything rusty. Eventually plan on moving down your way where it's warm and salt free

 

Warm? You mean hotter than the hinges on the gates of hell for 9 months out of the year, haha. But I guess it is fairly salt-free as long as you don't drive in the salt water mud or back your boat/PWC trailer into the water up to your rear bumper.

 

I like the heat. I'd much rather fry than freeze. I was in Clearwater last September and it was great. It was weird seeing people wearing hoodies while it was still 80° though.

 

Wait until you see us bundled up like Eskimos when it hits 60*, lol. Or weirder yet, people like @Timbo's Customs who will be wearing a heavy winter coat below 50* ...and still be wearing shorts.

Honestly, I can't really say with much certainty since my doctor put me on a medication that made me a lot more heat tolerant, but it seemed like it was pretty mild last summer.

 

We have guys like that up here. 10° outside still wearing shorts. I'm the opposite. I wear jeans all year round no matter how hot it gets.