How to: Front shock/spring removal

To level my stock tacoma with the Bilstein 5100, what height setting does the front shock need to be set at.

 

needs new pics in OP.

edit: didn't see you added links.

 

Put my 5100's on today, while doing research I saw a lot of people were apprehensive about using the auto parts store rental strut compressors... these actually worked out well. Probably took me about 5 minutes to compress each spring and less than that to decompress. Felt completely confident the whole time.

 

Two deployments says I'm not, but that's cool.

 

Plenty of those downrange. Not saying you're one, but you know as well as I do that just the act of being deployed does not make one a badass

 

True, the act of deploying does not make one a "badass", however, neither does doing your own spring compression. The point I am making is that the added comment seemed unnecessary. These guys put in some serious time and effort to make a thread like this worth while and I, for one, take their opinions seriously. I don't think they are any less masculine, because they went to a place with the proper equipment. I am glad that everything worked out for you and that this forum was able to help you. The comment just seemed like a bit of biting the hand that feeds. Maybe I misunderstood or I am overreacting, but that is how I saw it. You won't hear any more from me about it. Thank you for your service.

 

Good point noted. I wanted to emphasize how straightforward it is to use standard manual compressors, since many folks are wary of them.

 

Congrats on using the manual compressors. The issues that have been raised, and rightfully so:

1) You don't know where the compressor has been, how well (or not) it has been taken care off, and how many times it has been dropped. If one of them breaks the spring will recoil and can seriously insure you you. I've seen all kinds of metal 'break' during normal use with no warning at all.
2) If you don't have the right power tools to compress both, it's a PITA if you can even get it done at all, and
3) these types of compressors might not fit your coils to begin with. They didn't fit inside my compressed Toytecs, making them useless.

Issue 1) and 2) don't mean you can't use them. They just mean using them isn't the smartest thing you can do. We're not talking about springs from a Corolla or Camry here. I'll end it with a corny note: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

 

Chris! You missed my numerous edits and the addition of the corny note. I feel misrepresented in this quote

 

This ^^^

I just don't trust anything fully but a wall-mounted/free standing compressor. These truck coils are some pretty heavy rates. They can kill you if things go wrong in the right way.

To the fella above, no need to break out any manliness comments regarding the use of spring compressors (really?); I feel plenty confident about where my truck is and the work I do on it, thanks.

Edit: This is the kind of thing you want. Skip to 3min in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jh9EbFyGEs

 

This is why most of us DIY. That spring compressor shown (post #386) is the same one I have see post #362. I believe its a Craftsman and has worked flawlessly for me on several vehicles including my Tacoma. They're beefy and when used properly and lubed up each use should last indefinitely without failure. A friend use one to install a leveling kit on his F350 Superduty. Those springs make the Tacoma springs look whimpy. If you take the screw all the way out you can then fit them into springs that are compressed a lot then screw them together and complete the job. They worked on every application so far. To each his own.

 

Cool for you, and my comment was out of line for sure. You can see I retracted it before you got here. Given some common sense and a bit of arm strength, I simply see no NEED to use anything more heavy duty on stock springs. Preference of each individual will dictate action, as always, and anyone can do anything they like with their trucks. However, I don't like to spend money on anything I can possibly do myself. I had some doubts about the tool before I did the work (mostly from other observations in this thread), but I wanted to put it out there that the concerns should not necessarily dissuade anyone from giving it a good college try.

Bottom line is that for a person with ability and caution, they are a great asset help to make the 5100/stock coil combo even cheaper to set up than the great deal it already is.

x2.

 

Reviewing the video it sure seems like unbolting the lower control arm is the easier way to go. It seems there was some concern with taking this route if you are not on a full lift and using jackstands on the frame.

What is the reasoning for this, is there not enough room for the lower control arm to drop when you are only the height jackstands provide?

 

Lots help in this thread. May try and do all of mine on Fri, provided weather and rusted nuts don't get in the way.

 

Ok so i am wanting to start removing my front struts tomorrow evening my lift kit instructions say to remove the lca bolt and loosen the lca bolts to let it pivot more is it easier to do it this way or just remove the uca ball joint


these are from the insruction book:

6. Disconnect the sway bar end links and
remove the lower ball joint cotter pin and
nut.
7. Loosen but do not remove the lower a-
arm bolts to allow the lower control arm
to pivot on the bushings.
8. Remove the (2) bolts from the lower ball
joint bracket.

 

I dunno about all that, my sway bar is off so thats not an issue, I just loosen & remove lower strut nut & bolt, remove the 3 strut tower nuts, step or push down on the LCA & slide those suckers out of there, install the same way, I've had mine on & off countless times..