Solved by community: I installed Strut perch upside down - don't do this.

Hi All,

Installing new Eibach Coilovers on my truck (set for 2" lift) and had to pry down on control arm to get lower end back in the "cradle" where the lower bolt goes. Unfortunately, it seems the LCA is stuck down now? I tried to jack it up and it just lifts the whole truck. Lowered onto a block and doesn't come close to get the two bolts back onto the knuckle (bolts next to lower ball joint). 4runner wasn't this hard, what did I do? How do I fix this. Thanks.

 

Post pics so that we can see what you have going on.

 

2wd or 4wd?

 

Might need to loosen the LCA bolts. Mark the alignment tabs before you loosen, so you can put them back to the same setting it was, so it's at least drivable when you are done.

 

Loosen up the camber adjustment bolts on the control arm.

 

Guys, loosening the lca bolts doesn’t sound like a fix to the issue, sounds like he disconnected the spindle from the lca, which is the hardest way to install shocks imo

 

Yes, I disconnected the spindle from lower control arm.

 

See if pics work...

 

Jack up the opposite corner, it will put more pressure on the corner your working

 

The instructions for mine said to do it that one. Disconnect the spindle. It also said to loosen the cam bolts as someone mentioned if you have trouble like you are having. Maybe YouTube it. I’m sure someone has posted something related to this.

 

Loosen the lower cam bolts and then you can use a jack to push it up. I used a bottle jack to do mine.

 

I'll try thanks.

 

If you have to you can take a 4x4 post run it under the truck to the other side. Wrap a chain around it and the center section of the frame. Put your jack on top of it and then start to jack up the lower control arm. The chain and 4x4 should keep the truck from going up. You may have to put a jack stand on the other side if that side wants to go down. I've straightened out a frame once this way using a 6x6. It was a beater bought for playing in the mud and the front left corner was pushed up in an accident. I used a 12 ton bottle jack and a 12 pack split between the two of us.

 

I installed mine by separating the upper ball joint. You may want to try to remove the spring/shock and reattach the lower control arm and try doing it with the upper ball joint loose.

 

Your spring perch is upside down. You need to reassemble with the perch flipped.

 

You're about to get 6 inches of lift

 

I did this on both my gen 1 and gen 2 tundra, i felt like it was easier as well

 

good catch

 

Lol he’s probably in the zone right now getting everything installed and then he’s going to come back in here

“All done guys!”

“ah shit...”

For his sake I hope he takes a water break and checks in here before both sides are done.

 

@xJuice. That's not what I wanted to hear. But, I guess that sounds like the problem, I'll flip it around. F***.

 

He's right, I do the same.

 

This is what I was getting at

 

Yea, if that perch isnt flipped the second you hit a bump that springs shooting downwards and the trucks going to nose dive

 

All righty then. Thanks everyone for their insight, especially @xJuice for spotting my mistake. Initially, I tried to pay two tire shops and a machine shop to take care of swapping the strut mounts but none of them wanted some quick money so I carried on and ended up with this thread. Once I flipped the perch they installed rather easily and didn't need to touch the lca bolts.

Afterwards, I installed a EGCS axle bushing as I was getting a noise that sounded like a wheel bearing.

Back on the ground, level and no noise (still have rear shocks to install).

 

Nice work. Goods news...the rear is easy

 

Now that you’ve had the Eiback kit on for a while how’s it ride and handle?
I’m really leaning towards this kit and 1” shackles for my truck.

 

@kittyhawk I haven't put many miles on with it... however, I noticed right away that the ride was smoother in that it absorbs bumps much better than the stock suspension and seems like they respond well... stock suspension had 135,000 miles (easy ones I think). I was thinking of getting some SD springs if mine has too much sag with a load or towing.

 

Thanks for the reply, I’m at 115,xxx miles on mine, not all of them easy. I’ve got Firestone Jouncers on the rear for towing and but my tell my shocks are shot.