Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

Removing 2 bolts and loosening 2 nuts seems so much easier than all that!

 

When I initially installed my suspension, I loosened the LCA and separated it from the lower ball joint. It was pretty easy.

@wi_taco told me about how easy it was from the top side, so I gave it a try today. I only removed the sway bar bolt from one side, but not sure it was even necessary to do that. Other than that, it’s really only removing the one upper ball joint bolt, and the brake/abs wire brackets.

So if we’re counting the important bolts, it’s basically one bolt, and swing it up. Nothing is ever that easy though lol.

Going from the top lets you avoid the possibliitg of knocking it out of alignment , and more importantly, avoids having to retorque those LCA bolts, which is a real pain in the ass when the wheels are on the ground, no clearance to swing the torque wrench, and no really good way to get your body situated to get enough grunt on the wrench. I mean, I can do it, but it kinda hurts, especially the next day.

 

My only mistake is that I didn't account for your monster bomb-proof 4xInnovations skid plates. It's actually good they protect more of the LCA cams, but in this specific case it causes more work having to remove the skid. I'd still rather remove the skid than have to worry about tweaking the alignment.

 

What I thought what ovaled-out, was in fact just the locknut plastic liner at the top. You can see it broken on the one on the left as well. Regardless, I’ll be ordering a couple of extra sets, as recommended.

 

So upper ball joint just drops out of the knuckle?
Then there's the sway bar.
Now you are messing with brake/abs.


Thank you for explaining how much more difficult my way is,
I stand corrected.

 

FYI: if you don't touch LCA bolts but just the nuts the chance of changing alignment is very low.

 

There was no mistake on your part…the skidplate would interfere in exactly the same way if I did it by loosening the LCA. So in either case, I’d have to remove the skid-plates. They’re pretty “easy” to remove anyway, they just take some time and patience.

I’d normally blame my lack of planning for having to essentially take apart half the suspension just to put it back together again (while a bunch of trick-or-treaters were filing at the front door for candy—because why would I think that it would be trick or treat day on the day I finally decide to do this).

But honestly, I don’t think this interference would have crossed my mind even if I planned everything out.

 

Harbor fright works too. Hand tight. And then one fart more for good measure

Skid interference, and it's what, 2 17mm holding the lower ball joint on? Easy breezy.

Shouldn't have to loosen the bolts, lca should have enough movement with a decent pry bar. If not, they may be too tight or need new bushings

Can't see how it would get knocked out of alignment. Unless you took your outer tie rods off instead of just undoing the castelenut and disconnecting them lol.

 

Good point.

But two bolts for LCA vs one for UCA. Maybe you could say two bolts on the UCA method if you count the little baby bolt holding the ABS wire bracket. I’d say it’s fairly close to a draw.

Perhaps the only way to determine a winner here is to do a shock removal drag race!

 

Disconnecting from the uca is the easiest

 

Back when I installed my dobinsons my alignment worry came from loosening the inner UCA bolts/alignment cams. The reason I decided to loosen those bolts was to so I could lower the UCA all the way down, so I could have plenty of working space to get those new fat dobinsons in.

Also, since I didn’t have the experience to know how much I could twist those LCA bushings before tearing them, it was probably a safer bet for me to loosen everything up.

I marked my alignment tabs, and in the end, nothing shifted in the alignment. But it could, possibly, maybe!

 

I hear what you're saying, that's the way I changed the shocks on my 2nd Gen. I couldn't get the lower ball joint bolts loose on this truck and didn't want to spend a bunch of time dicking with them.

Yes, you have to be careful with the ABS cable when doing it the other way, but the upper ball joint pops right out with a good tap with a medium ball peen hammer. Six of one, a half dozen of the other.

 

Moving the ABS cable is not a big deal. We move them all the time to do brake or axle work.

As far as not getting the lower ball joint bolts... It's 2-17 mm. Hook. Your power tool is up and let her rip.

 

That's interesting. Does it at least allow the shock to reach full droop?

 

I was wondering the same thing lol. I believe it allows full extension for a normal travel shock, judging from this pic. This pic shows the shock unbolted from the top. The bottom is also unbolted, but still sitting in the pocket of the LCA where it bolts up. Here, the LCA is extended as far as the skidplates allow. The coilover assembly is fully extended. The space between the top hat and where it mounts in the shock tower shows it could droop a good amount more than what the standard length shock will allow.

 

Dobinsons IMS are extended travel vs stock shock. Regardless, your photo shows the skid isn't interfering with full downward travel.

 

I suppose I should have figured they would have thought of that. If I were shopping for armor again, 4X would be high on the list.

 

This one for sure adds HP

 

Damn, you might consider cleaning that area since it’s exposed. It’s not shiny at all!