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Hallo All,
Started fitting my new suspension today.
Went with Lovells Springs and Bilstein shocks.
TFR-118EHD Heavy Duty Raised coils in the front
TRR-119 Raised coils in the back
BE5-A712 Shocks in the front
BE5-A713 Shocks for the back.
I worked out the trick with the second one after spending considerable time trying to get the old one out with spring compressors and god only know what.
The second side took me less than an hour working with just the Prado on jack stands.
The trick was to disconnect the swaybar both sides, then unbolt it from the body.
Once that has been don put a jack under the lower control arm and just take a bit of weight off...now loosen the nut from the top ball joint on the upper control arm and hit the cast iron where the shaft of the ball joint goes through to make it let go.
Jack the jack under the lower control arm up a little more and remove the nut from the upper control arm.
Let the jack under the lower control arm down slowly until the upper control arm separates.
You can now undo the bottom bolt in the shocker and the 3 bolts at the top of the shock tower.
I was able to get the shocker out by putting some weight on the lower control arm and lifting the upper control arm, and it come out with out the need for spring compressors.
When I put them back in I put the nuts on the top cap but did not tighten them up.
Then I put the spring in about the right spot and put the shocker up from underneath the lower control arm.
Guided the top shaft of the shocker into the top cap and put the nut on to hold it there.
Then I got a leaver and applied pressure to the lower control arm and put the bottom of the shock in lower control arm and put the bolt in.
I then made sure the spring was sitting in the spring saddle on the shock correctly and was lined up at the top too.
Then gently raised the jack up till the shocker was all the way home, tightened up the three bolt and put the rubber and washer on the top..the next bit was fun...the bilsteins have a hex in the top to allow the use of an allan key to stop the shaft from turning but there is no room to get it in there...so I had to cut one off so that I could get it in the top of the shock and do the nut up.
I had to do it this way as my spring compressors would not fit over the heavy duty springs.
once everything was back together i lowered the Prado back to the ground and tightened up the lower shock mount and the top nut so the bushes had just enough crush on them as per the instructions from the supplier.
Now I realize that this might not be the conventional way of doing it...but it worked a treat for me.
And the ride is completely different and so much better already...I will fit the rears tomorrow as I ran out of light.
Heres a pic of them installed
Started fitting my new suspension today.
Went with Lovells Springs and Bilstein shocks.
TFR-118EHD Heavy Duty Raised coils in the front
TRR-119 Raised coils in the back
BE5-A712 Shocks in the front
BE5-A713 Shocks for the back.
I worked out the trick with the second one after spending considerable time trying to get the old one out with spring compressors and god only know what.
The second side took me less than an hour working with just the Prado on jack stands.
The trick was to disconnect the swaybar both sides, then unbolt it from the body.
Once that has been don put a jack under the lower control arm and just take a bit of weight off...now loosen the nut from the top ball joint on the upper control arm and hit the cast iron where the shaft of the ball joint goes through to make it let go.
Jack the jack under the lower control arm up a little more and remove the nut from the upper control arm.
Let the jack under the lower control arm down slowly until the upper control arm separates.
You can now undo the bottom bolt in the shocker and the 3 bolts at the top of the shock tower.
I was able to get the shocker out by putting some weight on the lower control arm and lifting the upper control arm, and it come out with out the need for spring compressors.
When I put them back in I put the nuts on the top cap but did not tighten them up.
Then I put the spring in about the right spot and put the shocker up from underneath the lower control arm.
Guided the top shaft of the shocker into the top cap and put the nut on to hold it there.
Then I got a leaver and applied pressure to the lower control arm and put the bottom of the shock in lower control arm and put the bolt in.
I then made sure the spring was sitting in the spring saddle on the shock correctly and was lined up at the top too.
Then gently raised the jack up till the shocker was all the way home, tightened up the three bolt and put the rubber and washer on the top..the next bit was fun...the bilsteins have a hex in the top to allow the use of an allan key to stop the shaft from turning but there is no room to get it in there...so I had to cut one off so that I could get it in the top of the shock and do the nut up.
I had to do it this way as my spring compressors would not fit over the heavy duty springs.
once everything was back together i lowered the Prado back to the ground and tightened up the lower shock mount and the top nut so the bushes had just enough crush on them as per the instructions from the supplier.
Now I realize that this might not be the conventional way of doing it...but it worked a treat for me.
And the ride is completely different and so much better already...I will fit the rears tomorrow as I ran out of light.
Heres a pic of them installed
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