Toyota TRD OEM lift kit

My dealer told me--I'm not making this up--that they're not allowed to mount any tires larger than the ones that came with it.

 

Ya that makes sense considering his complete unwillingness to budge on tires. Yet the certified pre owned ones in their lot had the exact tires I wanted or bigger on them lol

 

Little interesting bit of info here. The TRD OEM lift kit rear shocks; they will hit maximum extension when the rear suspension fully droops with 2" AAL's installed. I thought these were extended shocks?



Only got the AAL's and rear shocks done. The AAL's kicked my ass. Compressing the AAL's in the leaf pack bent both of my Harbor Freight 8" C-clamps. Keerist! Going to take those back tomorrow and see if I can exchange them for another set of cheap Chinese manufactured crap.

Installing the AAL on the left rear was a bit of a challenge with the brake lines. I ended up dropping the axle on that side as far as it would go without stressing the brake lines, and then I braced the bottom axle shock mount with wood blocks. Then I moved my floor jack to the front portion of the rear leaf spring and compressed it upwards. This gave me enough room to insert the overload spring with the AAL on top of it, and the leaf bolt so I could feed that up through the leaf's above it.

Tomorrow I will replace the front shocks and MAYBE remove the needle bearing for the ECGS Bushing installation.

I'm getting too old to be crawling around on all fours doing this shit. Hot, sweaty, greasy, but I love it. And I'm saving several hundred dollars doing it myself.

 

I did all the work myself too. It’s a bitch to do the AALs for sure, haha. Next up for me is the ECGS bushing since I’ve got vibes.

As for the rear shocks, they were designed for a 1” lift so it doesn’t shock me they max out with the 2” you put on. My AAL is a 1.5” and it seemed to be ok. Good luck!

 

Hillandale Monroe

 

So those are rebranded 5100’s, which Bilstein says can only handle a 1” lift in the rear. However even though many ‘experts’ swear 2” is ok, Bilstein doesn’t recommend.
They would say move up to the 5125 series for the rear. But thats just the info I read that Bilstein wrote … For warranty purposes dont tell anyone you used a 5100 (Your TRDshock) with a lift over 1”.

 

Finished!



Had to jack the shit (compress the spring) the new shock on the passenger side. Not sure exactly why. Everything was lined up properly. The driver's side went with no issues.



Have an appointment with one of the 'Taco dealers this Tuesday for the required alignment.

 

Needless to say I need a needle bearing. got an appointment with the dealer that installed the lift. Asked them about the possibility of using the ecgs bushing. They said no. I said well that’s kind of dumb…. I feel like I’ll just be back in there on your dime. They said if that is what happens then that is what happens.
I’m gonna buy the ecgs and just bring it in, maybe sweeten the deal with a box of donuts.

 

Hey guys, is my TRD lift kit installed incorrectly? This is a pic of my front spring.....

 

So I assume these are not adjustable and 2inch in front you get no matter what even if you want like 1.5inch. Not saying that’s what I want… just curious.

 

So apparently there are two sets of lift kits, the first one had a stop order, and that was the one with the restrictions on DCLB, 2wd, etc. However, after toyota released the second one, there was no more limitations, and my dealer said they were "universal". Can anyone corroborate this?

 

They are adjustable - there is 3 positions on the shock for the spring seat height - 1", 1.5", and 2" of lift.

 

That looks like your right passenger side shock/coil. The bottom end of the spring needs to be facing the rear. Yours is facing the front. It needs to be rotated 180 degrees.

Truth be told, when I installed my TRD OEM shocks using my OEM spring, the bottom end of my passenger side coil spring is not perfectly pointing to the rear of the vehicle, as the installation manual states. I'm not sure of what the ramifications are if the bottom end of the coil spring is not facing the rear of the vehicle.

 

I would be really interested to know as well since even though I’ve got the first gen shocks, I bet the dealer would never know the difference in the event of needing work done.

 

The pic is actually the driver side. However, it does seem "off" by 90 degree. However, the images online show a similar configuration. I am not sure which way is right...I'll stop by a dealer and check.

 

I have the installation manual for the TRD lift kit. When I get home later, I can post the page that indicates the bottom spring end should be oriented to the rear of the vehicle.

 

I know the general manual mentioned that the spring must be in rear. This also applies to the trd lift kit as well? If so, please post so I can share with the dealer!

 

Screenshot of page 7 of the TRD Lift Kit installation procedures. Specifically item 7(a) below::

 

Thanks I'll see what they say tomorrow....

 

Looks like my passenger side is correct, but the driver side is off by 90 deg....