Can Third Gen Coilovers Fit First Gen? '04 Taco Double Cab 2wd Prerunner

Hey Everyone,
I really need new front coilover's bad. My buddy has OEM coilovers from his 2018 tacoma he replaced for aftermarket ones, and his only have about 20,000 miles on them. He said that he would give them to me, and we tried to get them to fit, but the holes were too wide for my first gen taco.

Is there any way that we can do any sort of modification to make them fit? Any help would be appreciated as it would save me the cost of getting new coilovers.

 

Are you in CA bay area by any chance?

 

While I haven't put my hands on 3rd gen coilovers, the likely answer is no.

Your best bet is to get yourself some new Bilstein 4600 shocks. If you also need new springs I believe 880's are the stock height.

 

They won't bolt right in, no. The amount of work to make them fit...you'd be better off just buying some cheap aftermarket replacements from Monroe or something.

 

I am guessing you lack the skills at this time to make them work??

Paying some one it is much cheaper to buy the correct parts Ball park figure an easy $300.00 or more for both sides plus alignment.

 

I'm in SW Florida, unfortunately.

 

How much work, if we were to go ahead and mod it to fit, would it take? I appreciate your initial response but a general ballpark would be awesome too

 

I don’t think you’ll get a good answer - it’s not worth the work to run stock parts so nobody considers it. Without parts and truck in hand to look at, I can’t even be sure it could be done.

 

The top hat bolts aren't gonna line up for one thing, and I'm not even really sure they use the same 3 bolt top hat mounting that we do. You will have to look at the coilovers and see what would need to be done.

But @0xDEADBEEF is right, it's a lot work for something that's not even really an upgrade and might not even be possible in the end.

 

I'm not even sure where to begin something like that- You'd either have to modify the coilover itself or the truck. Modifying the truck would be rather destructive, would require donor coil towers from a junkyard truck, no guarantee that the resulting suspension geometry would work, etc.. I don't know what you'd have to change on the coilover- it's not like you can just make it shorter or longer and then somehow attach a 1st top cap to it.. It's just a bad idea the whole way around, and ultimately you're not gaining anything. You'd have a wrecked truck or a wrecked coilover.

If you need something today and don't have any money, Monroe makes a "strut assembly" - a shock and coil spring you can just swap in there. They aren't known to be great quality, and the last few times I've heard of people trying them, they haven't been happy with height of the truck afterwards. IIRC they sit like 1" lower. People were trying to get the same part but for a 4runner but I think had the same results (which isn't surprising).

If you can wait a couple of days- you can get Bilstein 4600s. If you just get the shock- you'll need a shop to compress the coil spring and swap the shock for you. Or you can get the shock, a new coil, and the top cap separately and still have the shop assemble all that for you, and just swap them in. This is likely your best option, IMO.

 

$175 for front/rear OE style suspension kit, not going to last you as long as your initial shocks did but it's cheap and will get you rolling

https://www.carparts.com/details/To...AUlYIyG1U0pvsJlMh-hoC2LwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Sounds good thanks for the info. I was thinking that I could just swap the strut mount from a third gen, and then put the third gen coilovers right in there. Or, are you saying that I would have to get the things that the coilovers attach to out of a junkyard and then somehow weld it on/bolt it into where the old ones used to be, and then put the third gen coilovers in? And you are saying that the ride quality might be f***ed up because of all the modifications? Sorry again about the request for more info but this is helping me learn about suspension and make an informed decision on how to move forward

 

Post pics side by side of the suspension setups. That will help determine what needs to be done.

If the 3g setup bolts up to the LCA the same as the existing coilover then half your battle is over and you can try just swapping the top hat over.

As others have said though, probably be happier just grabbing some Bilstein 4600's and slapping them on. They're cheap and ride pretty great. Not to mention the 3g is heavier so the 700lb coil spring that comes on them will likely not ride very comfortably unless you have considerable weight up front on your 1g.

 

Tacoma's have coilovers. Struts, while similar, are a different type of suspension component. (See this link for the difference).

The coilover towers/mounts are welded to the frame. So you'd be cutting them off and getting 3rd from a donor truck. That's no small modification, and would be way more costly than a proper set of 1st gen coilovers. You'd be pulling the engine out, etc.. just to get to the inside of the frame rails. It's not impossible, but if I was cutting all the front suspension components off, I sure as hell wouldn't be installing 3rd gen IFS components- I'd either be swapping a solid axle in, or some other custom solution.

This is also an excellent point. For reference (OP) the stock 1st gen coilovers are like 550 or 600. At least the most aftermarket adjustable coilovers (Kings, etc...) are 600 lbs.

There are an overwhelming multitude of reasons not to do something like this.

 

Awesome Andy, thanks so much for all your information. That is what I was looking for. And like you said, modifying the coilover would probably cause serious damage to it. thanks for all the info. I wish it fit

 

Lets keep it simple.

No.

Some deductive logic.

2nd & 3rd gens do interchange. If 3rd's would fit on 1st's, that means 2nd's would fit on 1st's too.

Since 2nd's had a 10 yr run and no one around here has put them on 1st gens, that begs the question why.

Answers given above. Not worth it.

 

Hey you are in Largo! I'm down in Sarasota. Do you have any spare gen 1 parts or any toyota tacoma contacts/places where I can get work done?

 

Never owned a 1st gen. so no parts. And my 2nd gen is just a poor mans 5 lug.

What kind of work?

I don't have any shops that are Toyota specific, but do have some other places I've suggested to folks for various tasks. Although I'd think Sarasota area would have a good bit of the same these days.

 

Hey everyone, what do you all think about these? https://gainesville.craigslist.org/pts/d/gainesville-tacoma-front-struts/7430357480.html

 

Also Andy, what do you think of these?https://gainesville.craigslist.org/pts/d/gainesville-tacoma-front-struts/7430357480.html they are stock, I would probably remove the lift spacer.