MARYLAND TACOMAS

Morning Maryland

 

Morning MD

 

Good morning and Happy Friday everyone!

 

Low 50's here in WV this morning, rain stopped but it's suppose to get a bit windy. My maintenance kit for my SxS was delivered yesterday so I may service that today and change the oil in my log splitter. My wife the "World Traveler" is leaving for her 2 week girl's trip today, just the pup & I for the next 2 weeks. We're definitely gonna do some fishing soon down on the river once it dries up a bit from the rain yesterday.

 

Don't psych yourself out too much with those DIY videos… it’s really quite simple, especially since you went the smartest route and are pre assembled! Simple hand tools, a trusted jack and jack stands and you’ll be done before you know it.

Get the truck in the air on stands. Put jack pressure on bottom of LCA. Take bottom shock mount bolt out first, slowly lower jack. Then top 3 on the hat, everything slides right out. Slide new in, start with the top 3 bolts, jack up the LCA to align the bottom shock bolt and done. Just make sure you route any sensor wires and lines the way they were originally. Take many pics beforehand for reference Pedro’s you disassemble.

Can’t wait for the before and after pics…

 

It really is that simple. He can leave the sway bar alone too, just in case he was curious.

The way you mentioned, he’ll need to take out the lower spindle/wheel knuckle bolts and loosed the lca alignment bolt/nut too, right? At least that’s what I’ve been doing.

 

Long as there's no rust and you have the proper tools a suspension lift install is a easy swap. I've done suspension lift installs solo but a extra set of hands is nice to have.

 

I am going to spray everything tomorrow with WD and from what I can tell all of the bolts I need to remove look clean still. I have two jacks, jack stands, a compressor, air tools and most importantly my neighbor who is a mechanic wants to help because I helped him take down the pole barn. Im hoping it goes smoothly.

 

I don’t know why he would need to… that is, I didn’t when I did mine. I just countered all the compressed weight of shock with a jack. Removed the hardware retaining the shock assembly so it didn’t spring apart (pun intended, lol) and lowered it all apart. Dropping the sway bar mounts might be helpful… I did mine because I did the drop kit as well.

 

Small piece of advice… try doing it all with ratchets and wrenches. Air tools, while making things fast, can also cause more issues. Don’t rush it, take your time and enjoy the wrench time! These bolts are not torqued to the point where there are practically welded on… so hand tools are the way to go. Especially since your a low mileage truck with clean and pre-penetrated spayed bolts.

 

Got it. My dad died in May and I have all of his tools. Nothing fancy, mostly Craftsman and some Snap On sprinkled in but I have a plethora of ratchets from 1/4 to 3/4" drive in different lengths and a boat load of sockets. I think I have everything I need. He even left me a nice torque wrench and @hyrule_trd gave me the torque specs for everything. Hand tools it is.

 

@Backdoc

You’re doing just shocks and rear blocks for now outback right?

If so, do one side at a time with both rear corners up on stands. Keeping one side locked down while the other is loose will keep the rear diff from rotating at all. Don’t want any unnecessary vibrations!

 

Sorry for your loss Mike… Sounds like he will always be there helping with all your projects though! Tools, like memories, can last a lifetime! Cherish and take care of them, and they will take care of you!

 

Yes, doing a 1" block and the 5160's

 

Interesting, maybe since I was swapping the springs out I needed the lower arm to drop more and make it “safer” using that method lol.

Less work is always better. I gotta pop my wheels off to put locktite on the lower knuckle/spindle bolts. Didn’t realize the tubes O had were empty till I needed it

 

TGIF!

 

I just bought this Honda 400ex from my buddy up here on the mountain. I got it for $1200 bucks. It came with the oem toolkit, key & MVA bill of sale. It runs & rides nice but it's gonna need both front tires replaced.

 

LOL!!!
You pay more for ATVs then you do Tacomas and T4Rs.

 

Hell yea! That’s a sweet score there! Those things are all but indestructible if you ride them right and change oil.

 

Yep. My Tacoma cost me $500, my SxS cost me $17k!