How to: Front shock/spring removal

I would think that if you used a bushing on the both sides of the top plate the top bushing and washer would not turn since tightening the nut would compress the bushings toward each other.

 

I believe its because I left off the boots. The top of the boots have a 3/8" bushing that centers it. If that was sandwiched in there it wouldn't be loose like that. It doesn't seem to be causing and problem and if it does I'll just go to a hardware store and get another rubber washer to add until I take them off again. I dont see a reason why I couldn't do that while its sitting there with the weight of the truck compressing it. I may take them off down the road anyway to move the clip up one notch to get 2.5" lift (then put the boots on). But I like the way it sits now.

 

The boot being off or on has no effect on tightness of gromett/bushing assembly, it shouldn't be loose when you snug it down. I think its washer/bushing/top plate/bushing/washer/nut

 

I'm convinced it does! Like I said there is a metal bushing on top of the boot thats about 3/8" thick. The boot would be below the top plate. Without it its allowing the top plate assy to go down further. Therefore I'm missing about 3/8" spacing on the top of the strut. Every other piece of hardware is there. We'll know for sure when I reassemble with them on.

 

There is a shelf that the bushing of the boot would stop on then everything would stack above that. I promise you nothing else was left off. I had put the boots aside and didn't see them when switching over. Both sides are the same.

 

You know its hardly noticeable, you dont really see a gap. I just happened to look closely at it while the truck was sitting there and the top rubber bushing wasnt squished the way I though it should be. It was when we assembled them, just the weight of the truck pushing up on the strut is creating it. I'm thinking I could just take the nut off now and put another washer in there while its just sitting there. What do you think? I also think the spring is effectively compressed a little more because the top plate is sitting a bit lower?

 

Chris, do you think having the boots off is a big problem? I'm not in a hurry to pull them off again and reassemble. Race style shocks dont have boots! I also dont plan on abusing them too much, but I may go to Big Bear in a few weeks to try out the new setup. Thanks for the input everyone - this thread inspired me to do it and it rides nice and the stance is perfect. Looking back at my pics the friggen boots are sitting right there. Arrg

 

OP, I'm not going to start a pissing match with ya bro' but if you have a gap,or even when you KNOW the nut is tight & shit is spinning around like its kinda loose, theres an issue with the grommet/washer config, either something is missing or the config is wrong, me & recklesstaco have done too many of these that have been correct for it to be anything else, did you get new hardware or did you have to re use the old shit ??

 

Here is a diagram of the shock/spring assembly and you do need the cushion retainer as they call it. When on it allows you to tighten the top nut down on the top cushion. It's interesting thaqt my 2004 has a rubber cushion on top and bottom of the top plate but the 2005 and newer models don't have the bottom cushion. As least the 05 and 06 don't as the diagram depicts.

 

My 2011 does. Its attached to the top plate.

 

First of all THE PROBLEM IS FIXED NOW, courtesy of 3 washers on each side. I transferred the top plate and hardware from the old to the new - for the record my truck has 4050 mi on it I assumed the bushings were still good! For the 5th time nothing else is missing except the boots! Here it is now. There are rubber bushings and washers on the top and bottom of the top plate assy and they're all in there.


Here is a picture of the boot


now I may not be an expert here but I can tell you that the boot goes on first then the top plate with associated hardware goes on top of that. If you look at that bushing on top of the boot - that's what's missing - hence the gap. If you dont believe me now that's fine. When I take it out and reassemble it I'll put the boot on and remove the washers I just put on and it will be the way it's supposed to be. For now - it's fine in my book.

 

Ok, 1st off makes me glad to have a 1st gen.

Secondly, those boots don't mean shit to a tree unless maybe you live in the rust belt.

& if you say the problem is fixed with the addition of 3 washers, tells me that its still jacked, but hey thats just my opinion, if you're happy with it, I'm happy for ya, just trying to help dude.

Its beyond me why the most straight forward apps seem to get more FUBAR'D with new/newer Tacomas, Toyota should just reverse engineer itself back to making steel trucks that are held together with nuts/bolts/screws instead of wimpy brittle pins & compression clips, but whatever...

 

I just took my 5100's off last week to put on some eibachs. I left the boots off this time and have no play in the set up.

 

As long as there is no play I think you are good. It does appear that the boot was the reason why. The lack of the extra spacer kept the nut from compressing the rubber cushion as it should have. Interesting they would do it that way. I didn't use a boot on my 04 either. Also I used blue locktite on all the nuts on top.

 

Ok folks the verdict is in! I just got done pulling them apart and put the boots on. Guess what - now it's nice and tight up top without the 3 washers I added. The boots were the reason there was slop. Just like I said. Cheers

 

FYI I had the exact same problem. Look at my gallery. You'll see a "before" pic where the top bushing was not compressed at all, and I was able to rotate the washer with my fingers while the nut was on as tight as it could be (using all the thread).

Problem? I didn't have the boots on. More precisely I didn't have the metal spacer from the boot under the top plate, exactly like described here.

For me this missing item caused a bad metal-on-metal squeak that bugged me for months. Since I have a Toytec coilover I sent them the "before" picture and asked them. They suggested something might be missing underneath the top plate because of the lack of compression.
As soon as they asked if I had the boots on, and I told them no, they pointed me to the metal inserts. I'm just glad I saved those boots!
Problem fixed.

Before:


After:


Reason:



Here is the picture of the assembly. Note the boot spacer is installed here: (picture courtesy of Toytec)

 

^ nice illustration. I thought of just plucking out the bushing but went ahead and put the boots on for the added protection from sand / mud etc. I wanted to move the clip up one notch on the shocks anyway. I'm loving the setup I have now - about 2.5" all around.