Aftermarket Tophats?

I can't find anything other than the oem Toyotas or Toytec's coilover kit that comes with springs. I don't care about adjustable coilovers, I just thought it would be easier to build the coilover in the garage at my leasure rather than in the driveway with the truck apart. Before I start my quest in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum, are there any alternatives? Top Hat, Tophat, and the sub-assembly crap don't bring up many results at all.

 

After looking into it for a day or two I can honestly admit this idea sucks. Just the hassle of tracking down tophats alone makes it not worth it. In the time I've spent researching tophats I could have installed the shocks and springs 5 times. Plus once you start adding the extra pices you lose the bang for your buck. Just all around not worth it.

 

So I was wrong. After having rebuilt my coilovers now and having spent more time on the whole subject it's way cheaper to build them yourself. As long as you don't care about losing the adjustable feature of the Toytec it's only an extra $23 to build your own coilevers before you rip the truck apart.

Get your springs, either OME or Toytec, for $150-$170 depending on which ones you go with and where you get them.

Get your Bilstein or OME shocks for $200 - not sure what OME cost.

Then buy these off Amazon for $23 Here is the manufacturer's link:http://catalog.monroe.com/catalogPart/monroePartSearchFromECatalog.do?partKey=360503&partNumber=907921&catalogKey=383&methodName=initialiseMonroe&catalogCode=monroe&locale=EN&loadStatus=ACTIVE

Coilovers built in your garage for less than $400, or only $23 more than recycling the old tophats.

 

We do have Aftermarket Top-Plates available with the Coil Isolator for $50.00 each.

 

Does anyone know if those aftermarket monroe top plates include the rubber upper spring seat/coil isolator?

 

The info you seek lies within the catalog page provided by the op, newb.

I'll let ya know for sure on next Wed.

 

lol. And the pot calls the kettle black.

 

I had to replace one about a year and a half ago (before I got coilovers). If I remember correctly, I had to order the top-hat and isolator seperately, as I ordered the top-hat from Carquest and the isolator and my shocks from O'Reilly's.

 

FYI, I'm just off the phone with Monroe. The above part DOES NOT include the spring isolator/upper spring seat. It is the top hat only.

Additionally, they do not supply the spring seat as an individual purchase part. It is only included when purchasing the complete strut assembly (not ideal).

 

Well, that blows. The catalog page said it did.

 

I picked up a pair of KYB mounts last year for my 1st gen. about $47 each which included all the rubber parts.

 

You have me confused. What spring seat? I thought this was the "FRONT SUSPENSION SUPPORT SUB-ASSEMBLY"?
Are you saying this is just part of that sub-assembly?

 

Although I have not seen the part, I did call Monroe and they confirmed that this is the top hat only. And I quote, "The coil insulator, which is the other half of the suspension support sub-assembly, is not included."

Sorry. Feel free to call them yourself though. They were very easy to talk to and have a phone line for these exact questions.

 

Ain't that a bitch

 

Please do not confuse this with 1st Gen application. I have looked at the KYB parts catalog and while they do indeed produce the complete sub assembly for 1st Gen's (which you've shown above), they do not have any offering for the 2nd Gen.


Anyone else have or know of a source for these outside of Toyota?

I can only speculate that the Vendors (Wheeler's, ToyTec) use OEM parts straight from Toyota. That, or they have found a part that is cross compatible coil insulator from some other application and use a similar top hat solution as the Monroe offering. Again, speculation.

 

Not that anyone needs confirmation but, the Monroe top hats I ordered did indeed show up without the isolator.

A quick call to Wheelers and the isolators were shipped overnight... excellent customer service experienced both times I have ordered from them.

I will call to confirm with Wheelers but, the isolators are KYB although I didn't see a catalog part number for 2005+ tacomas. I supose they are the same isolator.

 

Thats where I got mine, And hey Dan, Tell Jason I said hey!