COACHBUILDER SHIMS AND SHACKLES INSTALL

Whats up y'all, I am writing this to explain how I went about the install of my coachbuilder kit, this is only a guide to supplement coachbuilders instructions. I hope it is helpful.

Lets start with the front end.

Bumper shim kit: you will need a 14mm wrench I prefer a ratchet wrench, and some blue loctite. Remove the inner fender liner (the piece that covers the fog lights), and disconnect the fog lights, then its pretty straight forward four 14mm nuts on each side, remove them install shims, put loctite on the nuts and snug them up.

steering kit: this step must be done to install coilover shims. Loosen the tie rod jam nut first, then remove the heim joint nut and smack the top of it with a hammer (if you don"t have a puller) If you are re-using your tie rods you can smack it with the nut on but you still may damage the threads doing it this way.

coilover shims: Remove the three bolts holding the brake line and wire in place or they will be stretched and possibly damaged. Remove the UCA ball joint nut and tap upwards on the UCA with a hammer until it pops out. Remove the lower bolt for the coilover. Remove the bolt for the front sway bar and use a pry bar to pop it out of its bracket. Now you can place the pry bar in the sway bar bracket and pull down on the LCA enough for the coilover to pop out ( you may loosen the top four bolts first but i had good luck leaving the in for this step). This will likley pull your axle out a bit, just pop it back in. Now remove the for bolts on top of the coilover and slide it out. Follow coachbuildlers instructions for installing the shims. When re-installing you may loosen the UCA Bolt to free it up some, however it has a torque spec of 173 ft-lbs and isn't easy to get on. I simply installed the coilover, sway bar, and tie rod, then I used a HEAVY DUTY RATCHET STRAP (not some sissy strap) and went around the UCA and LCA to pull the ball joint back into the spindle. Make sure you guide it in as you go because if you have to let the slack out of your strap it could get ugly there is a lot of pressure there. install nut torque everything to spec and repeat for the other side.

Rear shackles: Put truck on jack stands. Remove wheels, place jack under the pumpkin, remove lower shock bolt, if you have air bags remove the lower bolt for those, loosen brake/other lines so they do not stretch, and remove the rear exhaust hangers if you have the TRD dual exhaust. Now you are ready to remove the shackles. Remove nuts and play around with the jack height until the come out easily. Now this is the tricky part. If you dont have a puller you can use a drill to drill out the rubber for the bushings in the leaf springs. once this is done use a large C-clamp or hammer to push out the inner part of the bushings, now you can use a saws-all/reciprocating saw to make a cut in the outer bushing, heat the spring around it with a torch, and grab your big hammer and a chisel. I think you know what to do from there.

I hope this is helpful and HAPPY INSTALLING GUYS!

 

this was very handy also.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/torque-values-for-front-suspension.15946/