Sometimes I R Dum. Almost killed me this time.

So I have been running 6112's for 25k miles and get them right before I added a winch and mount. I decided to go ahead and swap the springs to the 650# heavy springs. Got the coilovers out with no drama in maybe 30 mins. Went ahead and changed brakes and was thinking I was going to be done in record time. The top hat nuts were rusted so I gave them a quick spray and grabbed impact. The little top stud is impossible to use when the nuts are stuck, I went to the standby heavy leather pad and vice grips. Yes I understand that can ruin a piston. Everything seemed ok, the top nut broke loose. Well, it apparently got stopped after a quick turn or two. The impact then quickly rotated the piston itself. I know now that they are threaded. It all happened quickly. The piston was no longer attached internally. My spring compressors somehow detached, and now the high pressure piston and spring were free to launch. It shot the top hat assembly up right past my face, maybe 15 or 20 feet into the air. My hand that was on the impact was somehow pushed out of the way without injury. It shattered the hex to 1/2" socket adapter. The shock oil shot out into my face and all over the truck. The assembly landed a few feet away. It took me a minute to understand what happened. Well, now I was a few days from a trip and had a blown 6112. I called 4wp and was told that I would have a replacement by Wed-Thurs at the latest (happened on a Sunday). Wed came and they STILL had not shipped, so I found another set at Toytec. They got one out same day and they still arrived 4 damn days earlier than the 4wp ones. After that I made a quick adapter with heavy 1.5" square tube to assemble the new ones on the shop press and it went great. Got lucky that the truck or I weren't hurt. Learned a few lessons.

1. Cheap spring compressors are dangerous and should not exist. I have used them half a dozen times and it was sketchy every time. A shop press is MUCH easier and safer with an adapter on the drive pin.

2. Don't wait until right before a big trip to change out parts. Somehow it will go south.

3. Some pistons thread in.

4. Don't use 4wp. Called the local store twice before ordering to verify stock and shipping times. They didn't seem to care at all then they still had not shipped by Wed.

5. Toytec is awesome and saved my trip.

 

Glad you lived.
I have countless of these stories and somehow... I lived.

 

Damn, glad you’re okay!

 

Glad you weren’t hurt!

 

Thanks for sharing so we can all learn from your mishap. Glad you're OK.

 

Yikes. I did 5100's on the weekend and used my father in-law's compressor. This is the only type of compressor I am willing to use myself.

 

That kind would be great. The cheap janky ones that are like a a piece of all-thread with 2 sets of hooks are dangerous. They flex when compressed and the hooks are never at the right angle to meet the spring, so they don't attach well enough to make you comfortable. If I did a lot, I would buy that kind. My press barely fits an assembled coilover with a short adapter for the bottom end up at the top of the press. It works well, but barely.

 

Last time I did 5100's was on my Titan and I did not have access to this compressor. I ended up having a shop build them and I was not going to mess around with the other style of compressor.

 

On the plus side, I have one used and one new extra set of springs

 

I disassembled mine while still attached to the truck.

It seemed less scary to do it that way than to play the hooks and bolts game.

 

Jack up the LCA and remove the strut center nut. remove the lower control arm ball joint bolts, loosen the LCA cam bolts, then the strut and spring will be disconnected and just come out. without using a spring compressor. It works brilliantly and goes back in the same way!

 

That works when disassembling, but not sure you could get them together easily that way. Getting the assembly up there with the spring loose sounds sketchy too.

 

Well glad you came out unscathed! Lol reminds me when I was messing with the garbage xreas on an old 4Runner and unbolted the banjo with the vehicle still on the ground. Got blasted with shock oil and felt like a dumbass. Or the times I’ve bought a rattle can with a bum nozzle and tried swapping one from a different can on. Both times the can blasted me real good with paint despite gentle handling. Never again.

Same, did this the last time I put on unassembled shocks and felt real comfortable with this method. Especially because you don’t have to compress the coil too much to get the top nut threaded before jacking up on the LCA more. Haven’t tried that to disassemble though, maybe a little more sketch.

 

Interesting. I expected it would take a lot of effort to get the unassembled unit in there. Now that I made an adapter, I will just use the press because it is so easy, but maybe I should have just gone that route.

 

Disassemble was a bit more nerve wreaking than assemble, but still not bad. I just needed a good hand on my bottle jack to control the descent / uncoiling.

Assembly was easy, but I did it on Bilstein's 650 pound spring. I wonder how difficult it would be if the spring overpowered the truck weight. The only issue is to have a hand on the coil while threading the piston through the tophat, while simultaneously pumping the jack.

 

All of the compressors Ive seen people use from Autozone / Advanced Auto loaner program are sized for passenger car springs . Even the ones Ive seen many people purchase inexpensively aren’t for taller heavier truck springs. There is a difference.

 

I was going to do this method as well until I remembered that I was a degenerate and installed a spacer lift that needed to be removed LOL

 

Got any aftermath photos?!

The shock oil on the face made me laugh

 

Have done it that way when swapping out for softer springs on my old Tacoma. Fairly easy I thought.