Torque LCAs at ride height or on the stand?

Love some help here. I just put Bilstein 6112s on, basically following the steps in this video except I got my coils pre-assembled so it was even easier than the video. Took about 60 min for the first side, 45 for the other side and I've never done this before. Overall, awesome video but there are 2 things he does/says in the video that I'm not sure are correct:

1) The torque specs he gives are different than what I'm seeing most places (e.g. video says LCA frame bolts are 103 ft.lbs. while numerous threads I've read on TW say 135 ft lbs.

2) In the video he torques everything down before lowering the jack and putting it back on the ground. That means that LCAs get fully tightened at full droop. My understanding is that those OEM LCA bushings are rubber and therefore don't move the way a poly bushing would. if that's the case, don't you want to fully tighten them in the middle of their range of motion, ie at ride height?

Maybe making a big deal out of nothing, but sometimes the little things seem little at first and become a big deal later... like if the LCA bushings wear out prematurely because I did it wrong! I don't have a FSM, but would love input from someone who does!

I'm in a 2023 DCSB OR MT...

 

Torque them with the truck ON THE GROUND.

 

Awesome and thanks!

 

You should tighten the lower shock bolt on the ground as well. If not the bushing will twist and fail prematurely.

 

Ideally it should be torqued with alignment after a lift, but you cant be certain the tech will even touch the cam bolts.

We see them come lose. I do more than 130, or at the very least, do 130 again after a couple of weeks.

My rule at my shop is until your face goes red.

 

Thanks all. My torque wrench is too long to get at the front LCA bolts, so "red in the face" with the breaker bar was the solution. Got the rear bolts to 139--man that's a lot! Also redid the lower shock bolts with the truck on the ground. Now to get that alignment done. I know there are a bunch of threads on where to do it in the Seattle area so I'll review those, but wondering if you guys think that a specialty off-road shop is necessary for an alignment if the UCAs are stock and it's just 6112s set at 10/8...that's 1.7" of lift per Bilstein. Seems like that's pretty close to a stock Pro or Trail Edition so anyone could do it? I'm on 265/70/17 without any rubbing so no need to use the alignment to fix rubbing issues. Fortunately don't need to drive it for a bit, so there isn't a huge rush.

 

My torque wrench maxes at 100ft lbs, so I did that then an extra umph with my breaker bar. Hopefully that's good enough

 

Not sure why folks use these steps. Just need to disconnect top bolt joint and the sway bar.

 

So you're saying you don't need to do the LCAs at the frame or at the wheel? Just undo the sway bar bolt from the spindle, remove top hat nuts with the LCA supported on the floor jack, then lower the LCA with the jack and you can get the coilover out?

 

I would think you still want the LCA frame bolts and lower shock mount to be loosened up, then re-torqued with the truck on the ground a the new coilovers in place. Otherwise the bushings are going to be under a lot of stress, or am I missing something?

 

Million ways to skin a cat. I prefer dropping the lca to slide the assembly out. Leave everything else alone. Works as a spring compressor too if you ever need to replace just the shock..

 

I did without touching LCA bolts.
Disconnect UCa ball joint. Disconnect swaybar links, undo swaybar brackets and slide the bar or rotate so the links don't interfere with the spindle.
There is enough room to slide coilovers in and out. To install, jack LCA and use 18" pry bar to compress UCA to start the nut on UCAs ball joint.
Only one nut to deal with...