Well, here we go…
Just like the title of this thread says, that’s what TS.com member (HockeyFreak) and I did Saturday, Sept. 10. I’d been telling myself, I was gonna’ do this write up for about a week now, but I just hadn’t been able to find the time to put in the effort, towards something I thought might be worth reading. So here I sit, in the privacy of my “home-office” (one week later) trying to make some sense of what happened on that fateful Sat.!
As many of you may know, I’ve been feeding off all these “lift thread” here at TS.com, for the better part of a full year now. Basically trying to understand what REALLY works on a Toyota Tundra for a lift?! Be it an Access Cab or a Double Cab. Fact is, I’ve come to the conclusion… that there really “isn’t” a right or wrong way of doing a lift. It’s pretty darn
subjectionable, depending on exactly WHO you’re talking to! Some like it high, while others prefer a more subdued lift. The latter would include myself.
Truth be told, that’s at least a part of the reason; it took me over a solid year to make a decision on what “I” wanted to do for my DC. Basically deciding what would “suite” MY specific needs best.
Having said that, I think it’s pretty safe for me to say: that I’ve pestered the e-mortal crap out of several members, while literally picking their brains of every piece of info, which I could glean from them, right up until the day before the actual install. So, first and foremost, there are a few TS.com members I MUST thank at this point, before I take this another paragraph further.
Although, there’s no real order, as to who I start with, I’ll just start with Shawn (a.k.a. HockeyFreak). From the first time I met Shawn and his lovely wife, as we caravaned down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the
1st Annual Outer Banks TS.com Meet, I realized he had a passion for working on things. Especially, his own truck!
He and his wife’s hospitality on the day of this lift install was VERY appreciated, yet was without a doubt,
PROOF that some people are just born to make good friends! And believe me, Shawn and his wife MORE than qualify for that honor! I arrived at Shawn’s “new” house somewhere around 8:30 AM, with the intent on taking he and his wife to breakfast as a part of my “thank you”, for offering to help me with this install. I never got that opportunity, as Shawn and his wife made hotcakes for breakfast that morning! I also was fed lunch as well! It’s not too often you find that kind of hospitality, especially when “they’re” doing YOU a favor! My wife and I feel honored, to consider them as truly… GOOD FRIENDS! So… MANY THANKS Shawn, to you and your wife!
Next would be TS.com member Victor (a.k.a. mustang67408) This guy is without doubt… THE
MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE GUY HERE ON TS.COM (IMHO), when it comes to nearly everything dealing with Toyota! He literally has been a
Godsend to many of us on this website! He deserves more than I can EVER offer him through a simple… “thank you”. Not only has he helped me with my Tundra, but he’s been a GREAT HELP, in helping me deal with issues on my 10 year old ’95 Tacoma. I cannot begin to tell you how helpful Victor has been to me! I feel VERY lucky that he chose this website to frequent. Victor and I have a little history, with regard to my early days on TS.com, and how he was able to prove me wrong, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Since then, I’ve listened to what he’s had to say in regards to my problem(s). Since he has a HUGE lift on his own Tundra, he became another source of “brain-pickin” and I used him on a daily basis… sometimes. I quite honestly, take a
LOT of stock in what Victor says. He has also become another GREAT friend of mine through this website. Without his advice, I seriously doubt this lift install, would’ve gone as ummm… “well”… as it did. Each time Victor PM’ed me, he gave me plenty of advice and encouragement, that I/we could handle this job! So, again… MANY THANKS Victor!
Next would come TS.com member Steve (a.k.a. tundrafire). After seeing Steve’s post where he had lifted his DC with the
Wheeler’s coils, I knew this was the route that I was going to take with my own DC. And so, another round of PM’s to Steve began. Steve even gave me his work and cell phone numbers so we could talk directly. THAT’S saying
QUITE A BIT for how folks on this website are “willing” to help whenever they can!
Every single time I called Steve, he ALWAYS seemed to have time to talk with me, no matter “how” long I was willing to keep him on the phone and pick his brain!
He also offered me a few good “tips” on the install of these coils as well. So, yet again… MANY THANKS Steve!
Finally came TS.com member DJ. As most of you already know, he’s the “gooroo” here at TS.com, when it comes to ANYTHING regarding alignment for our trucks. His “specs” are actually used by SEVERAL Toyota Techs, who anonymously lurk around this website. That my friends... says a LOT for what DJ knows about alignment… PERIOD. Just a day or so before the lift install, I PM’ed DJ a few times, to get as much out of his “specs” as I could. He always PM’ed me back, with a positive response! So one more time… MANY THANKS DJ.
There are a few others, whom I’ve talked with over the subject of lifting a DC, and to each and everyone of you guys…. a BIG THANKS, as you know who you are.
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O.K., now that all the “proper” thanks are done, I'll get on with this…
I won’t bore you with details as to “why” I chose the
Wheeler’s coils over spacers or a full-blown set of coilovers, but for anyone who’s interested, just shoot me a PM and I’ll give ya' my 2 cents worth on the subject.
Sat. 8:30 AM:
I arrived at Shawn’s house, with my ENTIRE (and small) tool collection in tow. Seeing as how Shawn was offering to use his new garage, the least I could do, was bring my own tools! Not only did I bring my wrenches and such, but I also brought a 2 ¼ ton floor jack and a set of jack stands. A mechanic’s creeper, the coils, a set of TRD AAL’s, which I’d won at a TS.com meet and of course (last but not least), a “rented” spring compressor. I was… ready! After the hotcake breakfast, of course...
.
We started with the driver’s side, removing the coilover assembly, which was a breeze. The three top bolts on the top shock plate and the single bolt on the eye of the shock.
(TIP: for 4WD Tundra owner’s… Removing this shock bolt will take some effort, as the bolt comes out towards the “rear” of the truck, which means… it’s gonna’ come in contact with the CV drive shaft. I can’t stress enough here, for you to TAKE YOUR TIME!! The bolt will come out, but you’ll have to “work” it out and it’ll take a little ingenuity and effort, but it will come out. When you reinstall that bolt, bring it through the shock mount from the front side of the lower control arm and place the nut on the back side, next to the CV shaft. Basically just a simple reversal of the way the bolt came out. This will make things a LOT easier on the reinstall!!) The first use of the spring compressor wasn’t too bad, as the stock coils compressed fairly easy and came off without a hitch. So far so good!
Well, we thought so too! In hindsight though, starting with the driver’s side, might not have been the best choice. You see, the driver’s side coil is (of course) stiffer as well as, a little bit taller, than the passenger side coil, so it’s gonna’ take just a little more work/effort to get that coil compressed enough to get the shock back in place. Problem was,
I FORGOT TO PUT A LUBRICANT ON THE FRIGGIN’ THREADS OF THE SPRING COMPRESSOR!! And this was “after” I had read the instructions, the night before on using this blessed thing! What an idiot!!!
The stiffer
Wheeler’s coil on the driver’s side, made that job almost impossible with no lubricant! If it hadn’t been for Shawn having not only a breaking bar, but a long piece of steel fence posting, to further strengthen the breaking bar… we might NEVER have gotten the job done! There was a LOT of groaning and moaning going on, that’s for sure! Good thing Shawn’s wife left shortly after breakfast! I was given the task of holding the coil down on a workbench, while Shawn did the wrench work. He literally lifted my feet off the floor quite a few times, while trying to compress this coil enough to get the stock Bilstine shock back in place!!! I know, I know… WHAT AN IDIOT!!!
After almost a solid 45 minutes worth of upper body workout, we FINALLY go the spring compressed enough to get the shock back in place! Hoo-ray the hard work was done! Well, ummm… fact is, the carp hadn’t even hit the fan just yet.
(TIP: MAKE DARN SURE you line up the top shock plate bolts in relationship to the “eye” of the shock mount. IT’S GOTTA’ BE EXACT guys. If you miss it, you’ll basically be starting all over again, with having to compress the spring again and “realign” things as Shawn and I found out the hard way, on the passenger side… more on that later) Once we had the tension off the spring compressor, my heart stopped for an instant, as we then realized that the coils themselves (of the
Wheeler’s coil), were MUCH closer/tighter together than they were on the stock coils and subsequently, the “heads” of the spring compressor were wedge in between the coils so tightly, that we couldn't get them out! We ultimately ended up having to use a crowbar and pry the coils apart, just to get the heads out, thereby destroying the powder-coated finish of the “new”
Wheeler’s coils!!! I mean clear down to the metal folks! I was heart broken!
And I know Shawn could tell it, but his up-beat attitude keep me strong! Well that’s the driver’s side! It was now 11 AM!
11:20 AM, ummm… there’s a water break in there too.
We start on the passenger side, with a new resolve and I
FINALLY remembered to put lubricant on the spring compressor threads. I wish you could have seen the look on Shawn’s face! PRICELESS!
Did I say... I'm an idiot?! O.K., I thought so.
Same as the driver’s side, the coilover assembly came out just as easy.
And the spring compressor was working a LOT better too. Hmmm….
? Once the stock coil was removed, everything seemed to “gel” this time! Things were really moving now! And ya’ know, for some strange reason, the passenger side
Wheeler’s coil was compressing better too!
(TIP: by this time, we’d… ummm… correct that, “Shawn” had figured out a way to get the heads of the spring compressor “out” from in between the coils, with a minimal amount of damage to the powder coating on the Wheeler’s coils. Using the long threaded bolt of the spring compressor, screw the bolt into the back side of the head [the reserve side of what you use to tighten the spring compressor] which basically turns the bolt into a handle giving you plenty of leverage to pry the head out, with a little light assisted pressure from a crowbar) We had this coil replaced and ready to reinstall the coilover assembly, in HALF the time it took us on the driver’s side.
Then I had a another heart stopping premonition! I suddenly realized, while reassembling the passenger side coilover, that we’d ROYALLY SCREWED UP on the driver’s side coilover! We’d placed the cupped washer, which goes between the top of the shock and the rubber bushing on the bottom of the top shock plate…
UPSIDE DOWN!
More on this later!! What an idiot…! Oh, I said that already.
Anyway, remember my saying I’d come back to the alignment issue, with regard to lining up the top shock mount plate bolts with the eye of the shock… well, here’s where we found out, that this is a MUST. Yep, after thinking we’d knocked this puppy out like pros, we realized that the alignment was off by NO MORE than a ¼ of an inch! Even so, it was enough to keep the shock eyelet from going back into the shock mount on the lower control arm! Well, we “figured” we could just “man-handle” this little puppy back into position, WITHOUT having to re-compress that coil. Ummm... that “well thought out” idea, turned out to be little more than a “brain-fart”!
Long story short, we had to re-compress the coil AGAIN, just enough to turn the shock plate! Needless to say, this further destroyed the powder-coating on the passenger side coil again!
Oh well… at least now, both sides matched!
Finally after recompressing the coil and realigning the top shock plate, we had it together and back in. It was now around 12:00 PM.
12:00PM or there abouts…
We returned to the scene of our first “brain-fart”, and we honestly thought we had more than enough thought process (this time), to make this “cupped washer change” go off without a single hitch! Ummm… yeah, O.K. We figured… we could get away with only compressing about 3 coils of the driver’s side coil, just enough to remove the top shock mount and then reverse that freakin’ washer. Long story short… NO GO!
We had to un-compress the coil from the first try, remove the spring compressor heads again, and yes further damage the powder coated finish, and reinstall the spring compressor heads farther apart this time, to compress “more” of the coil, so we could finally get the top shock mount off and fix that %#@&^ washer! Shawn said it probably wouldn’t have made one bit of difference, but I just “had” to have that thing turned around!! It was like a throne in my side! Ummm… can you say “anal”?! Yep that was me, over this washer!
I think Shawn would agree!
By the time we were done, it was somewhere around 1:30 PM.
LUCHTIME!
After EVERYTHING, I’d put Shawn through that morning, his wife was kind enough to fix us lunch! It was GOOD TOO!!!
2:00 PM back at it again…
After re-installing the driver’s side coilover assembly (again), the truck came down off the jack stands. Time for some measurements. Here’s what we found...
That's 2 inches all around! Exactly what I was hoping for!
(NOTE: it is IMPERATIVE, that if you plan to tackle a project such as this, make SURE you have a good 2 ton+ floor jack, along with a good set of jack stands. You’ll need them both… TRUST ME!)
Well, here’s where we pretty much stopped everything and made an unexpected trip to a local
Home Depot. I decided to “try” (at least), to sand and repaint the coils as best I could, to help prevent rust from forming on them, since we’d basically destroyed the powder-coat finish during the install on both coils! Four coats of
Rust-ol-ium later, the coilovers were back in place and looking pretty decent, even for a backyard spray paint job!
O.K., after the measurements were taken, it was out for a quick test drive. Everything seemed fine. However, I did notice a little bit of steering instability over stock. Not bad at all, but certainly noticeable. That said… THIS IS WHERE DJ’S ALIGNMENT SPECS ARE CURTIAL! I don't really think it matters which model you drive (i.e. Access Cab or Double Cab), this works for either. Here's a quote from DJ in a recent e-mail he sent me regarding the alignment...
Quote:
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Originally Posted by DJ
"begin with the factory recommended specs for your particular vehicle. Set camber and total toe dead on the factory recommendation. Then set caster right at the “upper” end of the range, which the factory specs will allow. The idea is to set caster as high as Toyota allows, thereby providing as much steering stability as possible. Because all the settings are within the ranges Toyota allows for them, Toyota really has no grounds for complaint."
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With a minimal lift such as mine (i.e. 2"), you could wait no more than a week before you have an alignment done, to allow everything to “settle/seat”. No long trips, of course...
. That's just what I did… it's not law, so keep that in mind, PLEASE! If you're going more than 2", you might need to consider getting an alignment ASAP.
Once the truck was back on level ground, it was pretty
obvious, the front lift had left the “stock” rear, just a tiny bit lower. Again, not bad, but certainly noticeable. So, since I brought the TRD AAL’s with me, this was the perfect time to install them.
It was now almost 3:00 PM.
3:00 PM work on the AAL’s begins.
Things went a LOT smoother with this job! THANK YOU GOD!!!
Again here’s where having a “tall” set of jack stands will come into play, as you’ll need to jack the truck up high enough to get the rear tires to clear the ground. Since the TRD AAL’s are no longer available, I won’t go into too much detail, as I’m sure the ones which are available now (like
Wheeler’s AAL’s), have their own set of instructions, which may differ from the TRD AAL’s. In my case though, there were no instructions! Shawn came to the rescue here once again, as he remembered another TS.com member who’d written a
VERY comprehensive set of instructions, on installing the TRD AAL’s. So precise in fact, that the instructions included, torque specs and also listed the size of each wrench needed!
(NOTE: To help make the job a little easier, disconnect the rear shocks prior to jacking the truck up in the rear) If you take your time with this install, it’s really fairly simple.
(NOTE: You WILL need a torque wrench for this job! No way around it! I would ALSO recommend a breaking bar, as the rear spring shackle bolts are [supposedly] factory torqued to a hefty 98 ft. lbs. A breaking bar will be of significant help here) Again, I can’t stress enough for you to
TAKE YOUR TIME here as well. It’ll pay off in the final result!
O.K., everything torqued and the truck back on the ground, it was once again, time for some measurements. Here’s what we found...
3/4 of a inch. Exactly as expected!
The minimal discrepancy on the right side, wasn’t worth worrying about! Fact is, quite a number of my tools and other items, which I brought along, were still in the bed of the truck with the heaviest pieces on the driver’s side. That could easily account for the ¼” of discrepancy. But who cares?! A ¼ of an inch? It’ll never be noticeable! It was all good!
Here’s a
BEFORE…
And
AFTER…
The photos kinda' "speak" for themselves... don't they?!
BTW: The other photos of the install are in my
GALLERY.
Total time… finish and clean-up… a GOOD 8 hours of solid hard work!!
O.K., I know what the question on everyone's mind is...
WAS IT WORTH IT?
Well,
“YES” and
“NO”. Yes, because, I had the opportunity to spend the day with a TS.com member who’s also a GREAT friend and in the process, learn some valuable lessons! Not to mention, having the pleasure of saying that the work was done by myself and a friend! To be fair to Shawn though, he did a large part of the work as I looked, listened and learned.
In fact, in that light, there is
NO doubt in my mind that… it was ALL worth it! Why did I say NO? Well that depends on the question… for example:
Would I do it again?… well, “probably”! However, in hindsight… it’s a
SURE bet, the next time (ummm… if there IS a next time
), I’ll be carrying the coilovers to a shop and have the coils compressed and replaced by a pro. At least that way, I can blame someone else instead of myself, for the damage done to the powder-coated finish on the coils! Did I mention I’m...
?! Ahhh... pretty sure I did.
Oh yeah, btw: The drive back home from Shawn’s was pretty compliant too.
Other than the slight bit of steering instability, the truck was “rock solid” and all-in-all…
I COULDN’T BE HAPPIER WITH THE FINAL RESULTS!!!!
One more thing… Shawn… let me know when you guys are ready to meet for dinner again. I STILL owe you! Probably more than you'll ever realize! Thanks again buddy!!!!
Dave
A Day of Installing a Lift!
Great write-up Dave! Na, you don't owe me anything, I had fun working on it!!! 
.