front shocks

How do you change front shocks

 

The front has struts which contain the suspension spring in the assembly. So you need to remove the old spring/strut assembly, rent a spring compressor to get the spring off the old strut, install the spring on the new strut, then install the new spring/strut assembly. If you don't want to bother with the spring compressor/spring swap, you could buy a whole new strut assembly with new spring. Going this way is easier but more expensive, you are buying parts you already have, plus you can't always be sure you're getting the same spring in the replacement. Some might argue that the spring will sag or fatigue by the time the strut needs replacing, so the spring should also be replaced. But I think this is only true for trucks that get wheeled a lot or otherwise the springs have been really worked hard... or in really old trucks where time has taken its toll on all of the suspension parts.

 

I didn't look through these thoroughly.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/front-shock-install-how-to-2nd-gen-4wd.117453/

 

I've done a few of these. It's not as bad as it seems at first. Set a whole day aside and keep TW handy. The second one will take about 1/4 the amount of time the first one takes you. You'll feel pretty accomplished after the job is done.

 

Youtube, anyone can be a mechanic nowadays. Good luck!
https://youtu.be/I8JAA-6_WCU

 

I did this last week and the video above was a good reference. I also wrote out and printed these steps to have them handy to simply make it easier. There are also a few torque specs in the sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12Z60rR0MSJGP5HVBEOH8kKC_UcChPa2_paVi_rw3DFE/edit?usp=sharing. I had bought a new assembly with coils installed so didn't need the spring compressor. The first took about 3 hours and the second 1 hour, and I'd never done anything like this before ... NOTE that if you're installing the bilstein 5100s there's an allen slot in the top of the shaft you can use to keep it from spinning as you tighten the 3 top bolts.

 

Why does it say 2013-2016, and not maybe, ya know, 05-2020