Front Strut Bolt

What’s the trick to get the lower A arm down so I can get the strut bolt back in?

 

I used a long prybar to pull down on the LCA.

 

First, I would remove the spring compressors. Then get out your Toyota bottle jack and place it on top of the upper control arm between the control arm and the inner fender lining. Turn the jack screw to expand the jack and push the control arm down.

Beats the hell outta the pry bar method.

 

First of all I would remove the spring compressor from the coilover. (you did install the nut onto the shock right?) Then use the jack that came with your truck inverted between the UCA & inner fender to press down until you can get the bolt in.

Edit: Skeezix beat me to it.

 

Or just remove the 4 bolts holding the LBJ

 

I just used the Toyota bottle jack when I installed my king coil overs.

 

I usally undo the 2 bolts that hold the lower control arm to the spindle, and then loosen the 2 bolts holding the lca to the frame of the truck. Easy to move after that

 

Like others stated remove lbj from knuckle or remove the knuckle from the uca and you'll get enough movement to get it lined up

 

Bottle jack made it very easy! Thanks.

 

Just what Suspension do you have that has Struts?

I have never seen struts on a Tacoma.

 

People tend to forget to disconnect the sway bar....I just undid the four bolts for the lower ball joint and had very little trouble that way. Never used the spring compressor at all.

Not really a strut in the sense of Macpherson struts. Its a coilover shock. People always call them struts, sort of like wheels are "rims".

 

Here I thought it was some new hi tech suspension the OP had designed and made.

 

Correct: not a macpherson strut, but a strut nonetheless, in the engineering sense of the term (the sense that matters, fwiw). For that matter, most macpherson struts also incorporate the coilover shock design!

Calling it a strut will not cause you to get confused looks from your mechanic, nor will the UCA/UBJ magically disappear. This false distinction is merely an over correction that exists on tacomaworld.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilover

 

I dont know....looks like a strut to me......

Maybe my walk has a coilover to it.......

 

Typical tw gait keeping. If you ask me, it’s ok to shuffle between the terms. I’ve had enough crawling through the weeds on this topic for one night.