Tacoma Shock Relocation - Trail Series - 2.0 x 12 - 2nd/3rd gen

If you're working hard, semi-proficient at fabrication, and don't break down the leaf pack to cycle the suspension, it can be done in a day. About 8 solid hours of work. But it wouldn't hurt to plan on it taking two days in case any surprises pop up.

 

I'm not done but working at a casual pace it is very comfortably a 2 day/weekend project with time to spare at the end. It took me about 4 hours to get the mounts off with just a sawzall, grinder, hammer, and chisel - would go WAY faster with a plasma cutter and/or air hammer.

I also disassembled my leafs to cycle the suspension which probably took me about an hour once I got them off the truck to take apart and make spacers. Then some time to put them back on, to inevitably come off again, get put back together, and go back on again.

 

I kind of figured it would be a 2 day job but just wanted to confirm.

@ARCHIVE I have your U-Bolt flip with yellow bump stops. Is there a compressed measurement for the the bump stop to figure out the max up travel? I'm not sure if I'm going to separate the leaf pack to cycle the suspension.

 

I'm using the same bumps and going of his advice in this post from the flip kit thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...en-archive-garage.572629/page-5#post-25960416

Sounds like the bumps compress 1.75"

 

Thanks for the info!

 

So I got my shock relocation done last week and am really happy with how it turned out.



A few things I noticed during the install that may help others:

Before putting it up on jack stands I parked my truck on level ground and played around with my digital angle finder. I found that on my truck (this will vary depending on your setup) the bottom of my frame rail was less than 0.5° off horizontal directly behind my bump stop perch (179.7°) so I used that as a reference to zero out my angle finder when setting the forward lean on the shock to 10°. You could do this with any fixed point on the truck if you play around and find a spot that's close to level to use as a reference.



Also I initially tacked my upper mounts on with the shock centered in the mounts angled 10° forward at full droop (equal gaps between the shock body and tower on each side). When cycling the suspension this resulted in the shock body coming VERY close (~1/16" gap) to the shock tower when my bumps were just touching the frame. I'm sure they would have hit at full bump. As you compress the suspension the shock body moves rearward in the mount.

To correct this issue I ground off my mounts and repositioned them with the shock still at a 10° but I biased the shock body forward in the mount at full droop. I found that the perfect position was with the shock body parallel to the forward edge of the tower with an equal gap at the top and bottom between the front edge of the tower and shock body. This worked out perfect and everything on the mount aligned much better with the shape of the frame rail. From how much better everything lined up I'd wager this is how Archive designed the shocks to sit in the tower. This setup allowed plenty of clearance between the shock body and tower at full bump.





Lastly it was extra work but I'm really glad that I disassembled my leaf pack and cycled the suspension during my install. In my opinion this is the best way to be 100% sure that everything is in the right spot and you're maximizing your use of the shock. Without cycling the suspension I feel like I would have been guesstimating on my lower mount locations. By cycling the suspension I was able to get everything within 0.5° and 0.1" of where I wanted it which made my OCD happy hahaha.

I also made what I'm calling my OEM+ shackles by drilling and tapping some new bare OEM Toyota shackles for M6x1.0 grease zerks and installing a set of poly bushings from Archive.



+6” brake lines from crown performance were perfect. This pic shows the extended line next to OEM which was as tight as a guitar string at full droop.



Sorry for the long post but I hope the info helps other folks out with their installs.

 

I need to do the poly bushings. But building guns is more of a priority at the moment

 

Got out on some trails last weekend and finally got to test the relocation out. The extra articulation in the rear was great and made a lot of obstacles a lot easier. The ride was way better off-road. On road I noticed a slight difference but trails are where this setup really shines.

I was also able to droop it out to where I had the bumps on the frame on one side and the wheel off the ground on the opposite side and was still able to fit my fingers between my tire and the shock body with no wheel spacers. I’m running 285/70r17 Duratracs on 17”x8.5” 4.30" backspace -10mm offset rims. Super stoaked to not need spacers!

 

Thanks for posting results. Good to hear you didn't need spacers

 

So 255/80/r17 on 0 offset wheels should also fit without spacers, I guess.

 

Are you guys depressurizing the shocks to make it easier?

 

Is there a way you can get your measurements and placement near perfect without breaking down the leaf packs?

 

nope. Leaf springs are way harder to compress than shocks

 

Yes, its virtually a 1:1 relationship, but you have to account for articulation since shock is outboard of the springs.

if you have 5 inch of possible bump travel with axle horizontal, you should have 6" of shock uptravel left.

If you get axle articulated, then whatever bump height you have left should equal the shock uptravel you have left.

Pretty easy, like math haha

 

But the only way to find how much up or down travel I have in the shock when its placed is probably easiest with the shock de-pressurized and leafs torn down? Other wise wouldnt I have to just guess where my axle tab is supposed to go, tack it, bolt shock to it and then use my other measurements to see where my tower needs to go? Im sure its probably very simple for someone who has done it, im just trying to get some good input from the experts.

 

The shock is the shock, no magic. You always set the axle tabs off of max axle bump height. What springs?

 

Dakars

 

This may have already been covered but is axle wrap going to be an issue mounting both shocks on the front of the axle?

 

No, in fact both shocks in front of axle would reduce power-on axle wrap

 

are they any instructions on these ? My install shop is good with fab just trying to determine where to put shock relocation bracket and tabs . I’m going king 2.0 with icon rxt stage 1

@ARCHIVE