Looking for help - Pre-Lift advice

Finally!!



Ok, so I really feel like I've done my homework over the last 4 yrs since I decided that this is the route that I want to go...

• I've read, downloaded, and printed out @bjmoose's How To guide
• I've read @chris4x4's Front Shock/Spring Removal guide
• I've seen the danger videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY56ib3I-ew
• I'm confident that there won't be another @Krazie Sj incident
• I've got a buddy that owns a mechanic's shop who said he would assemble the struts & coils for me, so I don't have to worry about that (thankfully)

BJ's How To talks about measuring the driveline length, and somewhere in his thread (amongst other places) I saw someone asking about his lift measurements... Center of hub to fender bottom or something like that. My question comes along those lines...

What kinds of things should I do (or not do, I guess) prior to loosening the nuts and bolts?

 

Sounds like you've got it under control.

Take a few pics of things how they are as you're taking them apart, so you can refer back as you put them back together.

Take the pre-measurements you talked about. Height is mostly a curiosity thing. Driveline angles can be useful if/when it turns out there's more driveline vibration than you hoped for. But it's pretty much impossible to avoid ending up with some driveline vibrations. A lifted tacoma puts the data propeller shaft out of spec for angles.

Allow enough time before you start so you won't have to hurry through the job or work late into Sunday night.

Work methodically.

Don't lose any parts.

Watch out for the fragile ABS wires as you're working.

Have fun.

 

@bjmoose - doesn't say anywhere in your How To, not that I could see at least, but the rear shocks came with a washer and nut, a couple bushings and a few metal discs... I assume these are put on the shock in the order of disc-bushing-disc, slide into shock mount on truck, bushing-disc-washer-nut? There wasn't a similar kit like this for the front struts, and I can see on the dealer part schematics that there are some bushings (parts 19 & 20)... Do I need to get these from the dealership before I start? If so, why didn't these come with the struts like the rear shocks did? The struts did come with a washer and nut (I assume parts 18 & 21). If the answer to all of these front strut questions are yes, then would it behoove me to order this kit from RockAuto? It seems that if I did, I could have the fronts assembled before I even get started, possibly saving me some time come the weekend... If I get them by Thursday, I could likely have the mechanics at the City's garage assemble everything for me

Also, what's the purpose of the Insulator (part 15), and do I need to reuse or purchase a new one? The photo of old-vs-new in your thread doesn't actually appear to have one, but maybe that's the difference between your '11 and my '06?

 

For the rear - the easiest way to make sure you don't go wrong is just use the new parts in the same order that the existing ones are on the factory shocks. That's way better than someone like me trying to recall from memory. (I'm a software developer, not a professional mechanic.)

I bought my front struts pre-assembled. Since you didn't there are a fair number of parts you need to re-use from the front strut assembly. Unfortunately, I can't help you a lot with that since I've not disassembled one of those. Since your truck is a 2006 and now ten years old, it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the plastic and rubber wearable parts of the top-hat shock components. The additional advantage would be that if you're not re-using any stock components, you can have someone with a spring compressor pre-build your front struts for you before you start the work - so they're ready for you to install as part of your lift install.

The risk is that sometimes, folks do put those together wrong. It's easier for a non-professional to get it right if you've got the old one to look at.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks @bjmoose, it does help, and I'm gonna order the kit from Amazon, since my sister has a prime account and I can get them by Thursday that way... and it's only a couple bucks more than RockAuto...

And I figure that if I take them into my mechanics, with the stock diagram, hopefully they aren't dumb enough to screw that up.

 

looking for help...

I've got the coil compressor but having issues getting the black boot cover thing down between the compressor and over the yellow part of the strut... can't get the upper hold down onto the strut far enough to get the threads on the center nut.

Any thoughts or advice?

EDIT: Nevermind all of that... I forgot that struts pull up and down (LOL)

New question though... how "tight" or how far down the threads do I need to take the center nut before it's good enough?