Gen2 Strut Removal?

I ordered an OME full suspension kit from toyteclifts, it's supposed to arrive today. I paid toyteclifts to assemble the strut assembly. I'm looking around on youtube and seeing what appears to be two different approaches for removing the old struts...

One video is a little lacking in detail, but looks like it shows that they disconnect the bolt on the UAC and knuckle, loosen the alignment bolts on the LCA and everything drops down allowing them to remove the old strut and insert the new one.

I saw another method in which they removed the bottom two bolts of the lower control arm bracket that attaches to the bottom of the knuckle, loosened the LCA alignment bolts and dropped out the strut.

Is either method preferable, or is there yet another way I should go about it? Any and all install advice is highly welcome for both the front struts and rear dakar springs.

 

When I installed my OME struts I disconnected the bolt on the UCA and knuckle and also removed the sway bar bracket bolts on each side which allowed enough play to remove the old struts. Remember to disconnect speed sensor brackets so you don't damage (stretch) the speed sensor cable. Don't ask how I know about damaging the speed sensor. (oops).

 

Good tip... I'll put that on my checklist.

 

Loosened the LCA and took off the knuckle. Hell of a lot easier to work the strut in that way. You'll need an extra jack to lift up the LCA to height so you can bolt it back on LOL and I had trouble getting the front sway bar back in correctly where it attaches near the LCA, just loosen the bolt nearest the front and bolt in the LCA then Tighten front bolt.

Put aside a whole day to do it, Murphy's law always shows its ugly rear on projects like this!!

 

The more I read about front strut/coilover installs, the more I realize how much different it is from a 1st gen Taco install. With the Taco, there was no LCA disconnect. I would just pry down on the entire control arm assembly with a crowbar and remove and reinstall everything like that. But it sounds like with the Tundra you have to disconnect the LCA from the knuckle to pry it down or move it down enough out of the way?

 

Gotta use a cheat bar for that one huh? LOL

 

I guess I don't realize how spoiled I am sometimes... I've got a 52" SnapOn pry bar and a Blue point control arm tool. I use one or the other depending on the job but I don't unbolt anything but the strut itself. That is with the truck about 4' off the floor though...

 

LOL and I don't have enough ass end period!

 

No ass is better than front ass...

 

So in your case, you didn't have to unbolt any suspension components? Just let it to full droop, remove top hat bolts and bottom strut bolt... and then muscle the entire suspension as low as needed to remove the strut assembly?

 

wifey still wants more!! LOL

 

It's back breaking work buddy!! LOL

 

I have a fairly long pry bar, maybe 48"? GNTundra's method is exactly how I remember doing a few 1st Gen Tacomas, with the exception of having to disconnect the sway bar and only jacking the front end maybe 2 feet or so. But 1st Gen Tacoma control arm assemblies are smaller and presumably lighter, and probably easier to lower with a pry bar (I used a smaller one). So if this method can be used on the Tundra without having to touch the control arms that would be a bit easier.

 

After you jack up the front end, and when you disconnect the UCA from the knuckle and disconnect the sway bar bolts it's fairly easy to pry down the LCA for more than enough clearance to remove the OEM strut and install the longer OME struts. Was fairly easy although I had a second set of hands to help. The second side went in fairly quick once we figured out what we were doing.

 

This is what I use. I basically sit on it and use my ass to wiggle the arm up and down to get the strut in whatever position I need to sneak it out. Keep in mind, you'll need at least 3' clearance to the ground or it will hit the ground.

 

Ditto^^^^ That LCA tool would have been a lot more helpful than the crow bar we used for sure.

 

Just finished the job. The easiest way was to loosen the LCA alignment bolts which released tension on the lca... and I removed the two bottom lca bolts that hold the lca to the steering knuckle. Without disconnecting the lca and steering knuckle, there just wasn't enough room to get the longer OME struts in place around the tie rod and axle.

I'm a little surprised at the initial lift I'm seeing.. I went from 37" drivers side, to 41.5"(ground to top of wheel well)... and passenger side went from 37.5" to 42". I read it gave more than advertised 2.5" lift, but did not expect nearly 5" out if it. I'm hoping that it comes down some more after the rear dakar pack is installed tomorrow, otherwise I might have to buy some aftermarket UCA's which I hoped to avoid. We'll see what the alignment shop can do with it next week.

I took a short test drive... I read alot of reports of this kit being "super stiff", it really wasn't much different from the TRD struts that were on before, maybe just slightly more. Can't wait to get off road after the alignment and get a real feel for it.

Now... time to eat some turkey!!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

So The new lift has been installed, and now I'm getting a loud "clunk" sound coming from the suspension whenever I go over a speed bump or there is a sudden drop in the road. It only happens when the suspension is unloading suddenly. Speed bump is the best example.. when going "up" on the speed bump, no problems... as soon as I crest the bump and the suspension has to sudden unload, there is a loud "clunk".

Anyone else with OME613's have this issue? I checked the top bolts, they are all torqued to spec, nothing loose, but it sounds like the strut is suddenly hitting it's maximum extension when coming off the bump. I have noticed that there is hardly any suspension droop when I jack the truck up by the frame, makes me think the sound is coming from the strut suddenly maxing out.

Any thoughts?

 

LCAs torqued to spec? that's what I have been reading when people mention a "clunk" noise after working on front suspension.

 

They should be, it's been to the alignment shop, twice since the install, once after the install which showed I needed UCAs.. and again after UCAs were installed. I've been reading some other threads suggesting a possible sway bar issue, if nothing else comes up, I'll pull the sway bar off and see if the "clunk" still happens.

 

keep us posted.

 

So I just noticed power coating had been chipped off the bottom of the sway bar, looks like it was hitting the end edges of the skid plate. I bent the edges of the plate downward and that seems to have improved it a lot. There is still a harshness when coming off a speed bump, but I think that's a result of the 613 springs not compressing enough under normal truck weight, resulting in not much downward droop capability of the strut. The clunk noise has lessened quite a bit now w/o the skid plate hitting the sway bar, but not completely gone... I'll live with it for now. I'm considering ordering the 612 springs which are 2 cm shorter... might allow the strut to compress more and provide more droop.

 

I was going to suggest to check the sway bar links and make sure they're tight. But maybe you did that already when you noticed the skid plate issue. Have you tried driving without the skid to see if the noise/clunking stops completely?

Another possibility could be the upper ball joint hitting the coil spring on downtravel if it's over-extended.