I know this sounds crazy and some of you will think I must have done something wrong but that darn bolt was seized beyond belief.

nope...mine are the same way, don's were as well . they'll come out some time after this trip...i already have a set of new lowers.

-sean

 

It never goes as planned.

I hear you. Why is it that they say...a goes into b, loosen up c and then d can be removed. At times frustrating, but, the 2nd time is so much easier, or easier for the folks that read this from your experience. Sounds like you got it under control. Good Luck and post the final update that all is well!

So, I started the install of my Donahoe coilovers, TC diff spacers, rack bushings and Bilstein 5100 rear shocks. As they say, nothing is easy; the following is my day 1 experience which I thought would be valuable for anyone who is planning on this type of setup. I know this install should only take a few hours but read on and learn what happened. There is nothing bad, but there are some good lessons learned so far......
I will post an update tomorrow on how the rest of the install went.

 

So I finished the install yesterday. I will start by talking about the driver side lower controll arm.

Basically, once the parts supplier dropped off the part and I had the new bushing assembly pressed in by a machine shop the whole thing including the coil over was installed in about 30 minutes.

Once that was done, I shifted my attention to the stearing rack. This was a little tricky. I was happy that the truck was on a lift when I did this. This trucky part was aligning the center mount due to the fact that the bushings are a little thicker/stiffer than the stock bushings. Basically what I had to do was tighten down the passenger side, then, thighten down the driver side WITHOUT the new washer, then with a screw driver align the center bushing and the bolt dropped in. Then I loosened the driver side, pushed on the rack just a little with a bar and slid the washer back in. In my case, definitly a two man job.

The dront diff spacer was easy, Just undo the two front bolts, pull down on the diff from the two front attachment points and the spacers slide right in. For the skid plate, I used two large nuts to act as spacers and had to use new bolt. I am surprised that TC does not inlcude two steel spacers and new screws in this kit. I would have gladdly paid a few extra dollars to have these few parts included. I know the nuts will work fine, but it is a little cheesie.

About the rear shocks, they were also pretty easy but hardly "undue bolt and slide in". The spcae between the top of the shock and the bottom of the bed is a little tight. I did not have the correct size wrench to hold the top of the shock in place to back of the nut. So, I had to gring a flat spot on the shock shaft and hold it with a vice grip while backing off the top nut. The new shocks (5100s) use and allen wrench to hold the shaft which is much better.

The allignment shop said they were able to get the truck alligned perfectly.

My first impressions are great. The truck definitly handles better. I drove 70 miles from my father in laws auto body on Long Island to my house in NJ. For those of you who are not from NY, to do this you have to take the Long Island Express way, Cross Island Express way, Cross Bronx Express way as well as the Throgs Neck and George Washinton Bridge. Let me tell you, if you want to test a cars suspension, these are the roads to do it on. The truck felt much more secure, it was not nearly as "mushy" feeling as it was with the original TRD setup. The truck is not stiff, I would say it is more responsive. Steering feels much tighter. When you hit a dip or pothole it is not jaring it is just that the truck does not have to settle. The TRD setup would spring up and down a little before the truck would settle down. I like the new ride a lot.

Also, it looks like I got more than 2" of lift from the Donahoes with touching the out of the box setting. I measured from the center of the hub to the bottom of the fender before the install and I had 21", after the install I had almost 24". I probably didn't measure from the same spot both times, I just eye balled it. I should have measured from the floor as well. I hope the CV boots last!

I hope to get my tires today, I got Revos at Costco for 165 each. I like the BFG All Terrains but street performance is more important to me than off road performance.

So, at this point I would say it was worth it. Maybe the other coil overs are just as good but I can say that I do not regret spending the money for the Donahoes. They seem to perform to my expectations which were very high for 950.00. I would warn people that if you do not have access to a lift, expect this install to take a little time and effort. I will likely order the deaver add a leaf setup this week. It looks to me like the rear is a bit lower than the front now. Regarding the upper controll arms, when I have to replace the ball joints I will likely upgrade the arms, currently the truck has 55k on it, I figure maybe this time next year I will spring for them. I bought the truck new with the intention of keeping it for a very long time so I think it will be money well spent.

If anyone has any questions let me know.

 

I see I had a few gramatical errors in my last posting. Let me clarify someting. I DID NOT CHANGE the out of the box settings for the Donahoes.

 

did you measure the lift right after you put the truck back down, or did you measure it after you moved the truck? if you measured right after you finished and before you moved the truck, you got a false reading...the control arms hadnt spread out yet and were holding the front high an inch or two. measure after a day or two, and youll get a good reading as the springs will have settled a little also.

 

Thanks for the detailed report tundra61 :tu: After a couple of mnths we might move this info to the suspension faq.

-k

 

I have a few more updates since the install.

My tires finally came in at Costoc. I went with the Bridgestone Revos 165. I like them a lot. They probably are not as good off road as the BFG ATs but I think they look great. It is hard to tell how well the ride since I need to get the truck alligned again. Some of you might already know this, but wait untill the lift and wheel are installed before you get an alignment. Since I had to wait almost two weeks to get the tires I got an alignment and now with the new tires and wheels it is way off again. I guess I should have know better. I always thought that once the wheels were aligned it did not matter what wheels were on the truck. Stupid on my part.

Also, I already have gresase comming from the inner CV boots. The boots did not rip, there is just grease comming from the inside edge. I know about the hose clamp mod but decided to just get the kartek boots. I ordered them and am having Meadowlands 4WD install them next week. I am also going to replace the inner boots with new OEM. I figure since I am paying for them to take everything appart, mind as well change it all at once. The labor for the install will be 220. The outer CV boots from Toyota are 35 each !! Thats more expensive the the Kartek boots. Hopefully once the boots are replaced I won't have to worry about them.

Also, one more note about the tires, I went with 285/75 on Weld Outback 16x8 wheels with 3 5/8 backspacing. As you could probably guess, they rub. With the mud guards on, the rubbing was pretty bad. With the mud guard off, they only rub when turning on uneven ground. I will definitly have to do some minor trimming. I would say it is not that big of a deal, but there is no doubt with this setup, triming is not an option. It must be done. One more thing, Costoc would not put the wheels on the truck. They had no problem installing the tires on the wheels, but would not put them on the truck. I guess they have a policy to only install wheel and tire on a truck/car if the wheel tire combo is specified in their computer as an OEM setup. Maybe some Costocs will do this, but I know for sure ones around NY/NJ will not. I went through the same thing with another truck I had.

Thought you would all be interested in the update. Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh by the way, the truck looks great.

 

Woah!

hey...the hose clamps keep the boots from leaking, it doesnt matter which boots you have. the 930 boots (from kartek) dont tear as easily, has nothing to do with leaking. dont bother with the OEM boots, the inner and outer boots are sold as a set for 40 bucks. the kartek boot (the 930 or whatever) is about 25 bucks or so, and the downey outer boot is 14 bucks. dont bother with the OEM boots, they're not a good deal, and the inner boots are more likely to leak and/or tear than the 930 boots. the downey boots arent necessarily better than the OEM outers, but theyre less expensive and sold as singles if you need them.

dont spend money if you dont need to--dont replace the outer boots unless theyre torn.

the above info is also fwiw in the tundra offroad faq, i threw it in last week or so when i ordered a pair of downey boots.

-sean

 

I still plan to replace both the inners and outers but I ordered the outers fron Downey. Thanks for the tip. It is not costing anything extra to replace the inners. The price would have been 200 if replacing just the inners anyway. I know there are a lot of ways to change these boots but the guys at Meadowlands say they have to take both boots off anyway given how they do it. They have been around for at least 20 + years and have worked on two of my other trucks so I trust what they are telling me.

 

yeah, they're probably going to do it the easiest & arguably best way possible, which is disconnect the halfshaft from the inner cv joint and slide both boots on/off via the inboard end of the halfshaft. it's a helluva lot easier than removing the inner cv joint and then trying to cram both boots over the joint. not something you wanna diy tho unless youve got a lot of time to sweat and curse, the halfshaft can be a pain to get back in the cv core (trick is to seat it, then apply pressure and turn slowly, it will work its way in). the outer cv joint isnt suppose to come away from the halfshaft as i learned recently.

it's the OEM inners that tear easier, they're really little and at high angles the halfshaft and joint actually rub the inside of the boot.

-sean

 

Question for Tundra61...

Would the install have been any easier if you replaced the upper control arms at the same time? I realize the problem you had with the seized bolt would have needed to be fixed anyway, but outside of that, does removing the UC arms make any difference? Thanks for the info, I've been thinking about going with the bilstein coilovers and new UC arms soon.

 

I would imagine the upper control arm would be very easy to install. Once you pop the ball joint there is just one bolt to take out to do the upper control arm. You don't have to touch anything else and nothing is under load. I am sure I will be doing this at some point in the future.

Just as a side note. I just mounted 285/75 Bridgestone Revos on weld outback wheels with 3 5/8 backspacing. Both sides rub when the wheels are at almost full lock. The rub is on the inside edge of the fender. I know there is a lot of debate about what the best backspacing is. I spoke with Donahoe and they say they have a tundra with 4 1/2 backspacing that is used for development and they have no rubbing problems.

I have the Donahoe coilovers mounted with the factory setting to give 2 inches of lift. I think I am going to try to turn them up just a little more to try to clear the tires a little better. The rub is very slight and doesn't appear to be dangerous. I know a lot of guys talk about trimming the plastic but I think I would rather have the wheel rub on plastic than have it rub on the metal behind the plastic.

I wish Donahoe sent a spanner wrench with the coilovers. Everybody else does. The only local source I could find for a wrench was Snap-on and they wanted around $50.00.

To get one mail order from a 4wd shop cost about $15 for the part and then another $10 or so for shipping.

For the $950.00 that the coilovers cost, it sure would have been nice if the wrench was included. It probably wouldn't cost the manufacturer or the distributor much for a generic type wrench and it sure would have made my life as a customer a bit easier. I am going to end up getting the truck aligned twice as a result of not having the wrench. Sounds stupid, but the alignment is so far off after the lift and tires that I can't wait a week for the tool. I spend a fair amount of time on the highway. To get it sooner I would have had to pay $45 overnight. The lesson for all is, make sure you buy the spanner!

Let me know if anyone has any questions.

 

OK, here is the latest update.

I just got the truck aligned today after installing the new tires and much to my surprise, the rubbing has greatly reduced. It still rubs a little, but less than it did.

I never thought an alignment would make a difference. I guess it is a result of the caster change. I think before the alignment the truck had negative caster and now it is around zero or slightly positive.

I am very happy. Someone stopped me today and said "Man that truck is beautifull". :tu:

 

Pics

OK, here is the latest update.

I just got the truck aligned today after installing the new tires and much to my surprise, the rubbing has greatly reduced. It still rubs a little, but less than it did.

I never thought an alignment would make a difference. I guess it is a result of the caster change. I think before the alignment the truck had negative caster and now it is around zero or slightly positive.

I am very happy. Someone stopped me today and said "Man that truck is beautifull". :tu:

Tundra61,
Do you have some before and after pics? If so, it sure would be nice to see!!

Thanks...

 

I don't have any before pics. I will take some afters and post them this weekend.

 

Ahh man I love hearing stories of seized bolts.
I have too many myself I would not even care to remember.
I always have the 3/4" impact that could rip your arm off your body in a split-second, a 9ft breaker bar, BP-Blaster (penetrating oil, this stuff is GOLD), and a fresh case of cold beer.

I do recall a 2hour episode attempting to take off the pinion bolt on my rear dana 60. That sucker had been rust-welded on for at least 20 years. It took every combination of heat, PB-Blaster, breaker baring and impacting to crack that baby off. A hernia and a 6-pack of budlight later it finally budged.

Anyways, good tips on the install man. Whenever working on a rig it's always a learning experience. Half the part of learning all this stuff is seeing what other people go through and/or helping, which means your info is great.

 

I wish Donahoe sent a spanner wrench with the coilovers. Everybody else does. The only local source I could find for a wrench was Snap-on and they wanted around $50.00.

To get one mail order from a 4wd shop cost about $15 for the part and then another $10 or so for shipping.

For the $950.00 that the coilovers cost, it sure would have been nice if the wrench was included. It probably wouldn't cost the manufacturer or the distributor much for a generic type wrench and it sure would have made my life as a customer a bit easier.

Check out mcmastercarr.com, item #5472A5 adjustable spanner wrench for about $25- excellent tool

Most of the wrenches from from the 4x4 shops are el cheapO's and will bend when you lean on 'em

 

Check out mcmastercarr.com, item #5472A5 adjustable spanner wrench for about $25- excellent tool

Most of the wrenches from from the 4x4 shops are el cheapO's and will bend when you lean on 'em

That's the exact same spanner I got to adjust my Donahoe's. It has the same feel and weight as a 10" Crescent wrench...very good quality. You can have confidence that you can lean on the sucker without bending it like the cheaper brands. Highly recommended!

 

That lower shock bolt causes so much trouble...

Removing the factory struts...lower strut bolt installs from the back...the bolt does not clear the [drive]shaft...just enough space to slide the bolt out...with just a little persuasion, the lower strut bolt slid in from behind.

Why do we insist on installing the lower shock bolt in the factory orientation for 4x4's, when it makes re-assembly so much more difficult? After horsing around to get it out, I just re-installed it from the front. Yeah, clearance is tight, but I've run it on and off-road for 2 years and 25k mi. without issue.

Tsk, tsk...here's one vote for doing it the "wrong" way.

P.S. Thanks for the info, tundra61. All good knowledge. No criticism intended.

 

Spanner wrench

Check out mcmastercarr.com, item #5472A5 adjustable spanner wrench for about $25- excellent tool
Most of the wrenches from from the 4x4 shops are el cheapO's and will bend when you lean on 'em

That's the exact same spanner I got to adjust my Donahoe's. It has the same feel and weight as a 10" Crescent wrench...very good quality. You can have confidence that you can lean on the sucker without bending it like the cheaper brands. Highly recommended!

Thanks for the tips TMS2U and aguevarra! I got my spanner today and it is indeed very good quality. It came in just one day too, not bad for shipping to Hawaii.

 

So, I started the install of my Donahoe coilovers, TC diff spacers, rack bushings and Bilstein 5100 rear shocks. As they say, nothing is easy; the following is my day 1 experience which I thought would be valuable for anyone who is planning on this type of setup. I know this install should only take a few hours but read on and learn what happened. There is nothing bad, but there are some good lessons learned so far.

1st. Removing the factory struts. The top comes out easy enough and the bottom bolt is just a little tricky. The lower strut bolt installs from the back, the problem with this is that when you put the truck on a lift, the drive shaft droops at an angle so that the bolt does not clear the shaft. A little pressure lifting the strut from between the lower strut mount and lower control arm gives you just enough space to slide the bolt out. Not to bad.

2nd. Installing the new coil over. Let me just say this, save your self some time and just pop the upper control arm ball joint. The reason why is the following. When you install the Donahoes, you have to push the lower control arm down (with a crow bar) to fit the slightly longer strut. This steepens the angle of the drive shaft that is already in the way. I learned this on the driver side; I will tell you what this lead to in a minute. On the passenger side, I popped the upper ball joint which allowed the steering spindle to tilt out just enough to counter the downward angle of the drive shaft. Now, with just a little persuasion, the lower strut bolt slid in from behind. It took about 15 minutes to do the passenger side. Now let me tell you what happened to the driver side.

Remember, this is the side I started on and was where I learned the lesson to just pop the ball joint. .

Just did this same install on mine over the weekend. What a bear that lower strut bolt is to deal with. After 5 hours of fighting with it, trying to knock the upper ball joints loose, trying to loosen the bolts for the lower as well, both failing....here is what I did.

First thought was to just say f it and install the damn bolt in backwards. But after doing exactly that and checking clearances, it looked like it would possibly come in contact with the drive or the CV boot on a full turn with compression or extension so I opted not to do that.

I ended up grinding away a small part of the top of the washer that is welded to the head of the bolt. Just enough to let it slide under the drive shaft.

Took 5 hours to do the driver's side.

Took 15 minutes max to do the passenger side.

Looks great. Going to get it aligned hopefully this coming weekend. For now its just chillen in my driveway.

Thanks for your writeup. It was helpful to know we weren't missing something major as the instructions are for a 2 wheel drive truck with no drive shaft to deal with. Boy wouldn't that have been nice.