How to: Front shock/spring removal

ah, done

another thing added to the list

ah, yeah just reused mine

 

I love this thread, it was a big help. I removed my Sway bar, drove the truck.. and then promptly put it back on. Chris, can you use the OME Spacer on top of the shock mount instead of replacing the longer studs (with shorter ones) on the Strut? Are there long term problems from doing this? I can't think of any, can you?

 

Hey FlimFlubberJAM, any chance you can put the pictures back up?

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/31862-how-front-shock-spring-removal-8.html#post990449

 

Thank you Sirrr.

 

Getting ready to put my 886's in... will I need a swaybar relocation kit??? trying to make sure i got all the parts before i tear it apart.

 

Thank again chris!

 

Installed and finished 886's with 5100's at 0 and the top plates rich gave me... Not to bad of a job. Thanks Chris and Rich!!

 

Why isn't this thread a sticky? With so many people lifting their trucks, I would have thought I could find this in the Mods & Tutorials tab. I had to search and search and search because I wasn't wording the search correctly. Finally found it though.

Thanks to Chris4x4 & Optimus!! I'll be doing this tomorrow morning!! Woot woot!

 

Good Luck. BTW its a sticky in the suspension section.

 

I bought Harbor Freights heavy duty spring compressor ($34 w/coupon) and it worked quite well - very safe - and I had no previous experience. The whole process was easy and straight forward as Chris originally stated. One thing though - for my '05 Taco, I had to use a Tie Rod End Puller to push the TRE bolt out of its seat (after removing castle nut). Here are pictures of both tools:

 

You sure shut me up then.. HAHA

Thanks!

 

Wanted to say thanks to all the contributors to this thread. I did my 5100s on Friday and all went well. Since I knew the problem and PITA areas I was prepared for them. The only surprise was what a PITA that anti-roll bar was. I couldn't get it to come out easily since I was by myself, so I just moved it as far forward as possible, but it still slid back a couple of times. I should have tied it back but didn't.

When I was removing the top UCA nut, I used a pry bar between the ball joint housing and the UCA. That and a couple wacks with just a regular hammer worked well. Note that I didn't need to remove the spindle when removing the coilover, just to get it back in. Also note the I used the lower shock nut on the ball joint threads for the beating instead of the castle nut. I was concerned that the castle nut might get FU'd if I beat on that.

Overall it took about 4.5 hours to do by myself (front and backs), including dropping off and picking up the coilovers for replacement.

Again, thanks to all.

 

This looks like the thread to post this in. I can not get the pass side spindle to break away from the UCA. When we installed the lift a couple weeks ago it came right apart by hitting it with a hammer, and it wasnt a hard hit at all. I have beat it with a hammer and tried using a pickle fork and cant seem to get the S.O.B. to break loose. Any ideas?

 

Did you see post 178? The tie rod puller.

 

So thats the tool on the top pic? I also really have no mode of transportation to go pick up this part so I am stuck home with a truck torn apart

 

Well that does suck. On mine I used a combination of a hammer and pry bar at the same time, might try that. How about a gear puller? Depending on the type maybe you could set it up to pop the spindle out that way.