95th_SFS

I ordered the TRD suspension combo from mcgeorgeparts.com and should be arriving by 11/19/04. Anyone maybe can give a well explained process to the installation of the front shocks and rear struts? Maybe some possible problems I might encounter during installation of the suspension? Want to make the installation as smooth as possible. I will have a friend assisting me who has done installation of coil-overs on his VR4. Thanks much!

jlaznlover

i installed the springs yesterday. this will not be a detailed how to, but a guide through the install

you will need to get your tools ready. here are some tools that i used. jack stands, air compressor, impact wrench, hand rachet, 1/2" breaker bar, some wrenches, needle nose pliers, screwdriver(philips) and of course, a spring compressor

front springs

1. first, you should place the car on jack stands and put on the e-brake and in first/reverse gear.
2. you will need to take off the windshield wipers. you will have to pop off a little cap to get to the 14mm nut under it.
3. after the wipers are off, you will need to take off the black shroud. there will be four pins(2 on each side) and a few other pins that hold the rubber seals in place.
4. next, take off the wheels if not done so already.
5. locate the 14mm bolt holding the brake lines, and remove the bolt
6. locate the 12mm or 10mm bolt and remove that bolt connected to the tie rod
7. there will be two 22mm size bolts that will need to be removed.
8. then, you will need to loosen and take off the three 14mm top strut mount bolts.
9. here is the fun part... compress the spring using the spring compressor. do not remove the 17mm or 19mm bolt holding the strut assembly together until the spring can loosey move around.
10. after the spring is compressed. remove the 17mm or 19mm sized bolt.
11. remove the spring compressor from the factory springs and compress the TRD springs(note, you do not need to compress as much as the factory ones )
12. do everything in the reverse order.
13. do the other front side.

rear springs.

1. jack up th rear
2. remove the cargo cover ( it covers the spare wheel :D )
3. remove both sides of the compartments next to the spare wheel. four pins holds these in place. all i did was yank them out.
4. you will need to locate the "flexable board" :? not sure what to call it. on each end of the board there is a sort of square ring? :? not sure what to call that either. you will need to pull up the center plastic portion to reveal the 10mm bolt under it. remove bolts
5. remove the plastic board that is under it. it is held in place with one pin. just yank straight up.
6. once those are out of the way, you will notice. that there are two bolts on each side. easy eh? BUT its actually three bolts, just like the front. to see the third bolt you will need to be inside the car with the back seats down. pull the interior lining a little bit to reveal the third 14mm. bolt. do not remove these bolt yet, you can, but it will be a pain in the ___ later on.
7. remove the wheel.
8. remove the 10mm bolt holding the abs line? in place
9. here is the tricky part. the angle in which the 19mm bolts are arranged was hard to use my hand tools. my impact wrench did not fit. so i used a breaker bar. my air rachet was seized up at the time. it took me a good while removing this bolt with the breaker bar.
10. now you can remove the 3 top strut mount bolts. the strut assembly will not fall down when you remove the three nuts.
11. compress the spring.
12. the rear strut is a little bit different then the front. in order to take off the strut bolt, you will need a wrench and 6mm allen wrench. but in this case, i did it the lazy/easy way... impact that bish. the bolt came right off.
13. remove top strut assembly.
14. remove spring compressor from factory spring.
15. compress the TRD springs.
16. install everything in reverse order.

i hope this helped you in some way. sorry if its a little bit confusing. im not good at explaining details

so far, i am really enjoying the springs. my alignment is slightly off. it pulls to the right a little bit.

good luck with your install, and happy motoring. :D

brian

very nice outline, i'll probably be referring to it when i do my install soon

lootyman

good luck dude.

Ranthese

what color were your springs? mine were white and from installation, I could've sworn I had to compress the hell out of it.

jlaznlover

my springs were white as well. the front trd springs didn't need to be compress that much, but the rear springs is a different story.

t0p_sh0tta

As long as your friend has done it before, you have access to a spring compressor and a $75 socket set, you shouldn't have a problem. Once you start taking things apart it is self-explainatory. Just remember to do one side at a time (so you can use the other as a reference) and take your time.

jlaznlover

i rented my spring compressor at autozone. they have a rent a tool program. no point of buying expensive tools when you will probably use it once maybe twice.

tCholleration

yes job well done jon.
did you get those writing skills from your class? haha.

i too, will keep this handy for my install.

jlaznlover

thanks cheryl

muhahah.. i suck in english you will probably need help with the install. ask joanna to help you muhahaha i can picture that now :D

IndigoDreams

just a question for u guys that have done this urselves.....me and 2 friends of mine did this over the weekend and on my way home from my friends house i heard this noise like the front struts were LOOSE or something and they sounded like they were just rolling around up there. so i drive it back to my friends house we jack it up check every bolt and just move stuff around and dont hear anything or see anything and i checked the 3 top mount bolts and they seemed fine only thing is we didnt take off the wiper cowl to losen and tighten up those nuts we just did it with a box wrench on both sides. Do you guys thing that maybe those 3 bolts on each side could be loose and we just not know it because its hard to get up under there without taking that cowl offf. im just curious to see if u guys have any clue what this noise might be. When we jacked up the car to check he saw that the driver side, which was making the noise, spring was not seated properly and so he turned it until it was and he said there u go thats ur priblem. i thought it was fixed but come to find out it isnt and im not sure if its safe to drive on i mean it drives fine no pulling other than the normal lslight pull that it had before the install. but the front end just sounds like its bobbling around under there. do you guys think it might be the top strut mounts????? please get back to me.

jlaznlover

if your friend can twist the spring to make it seat properly; the strut assembly might not be as tight as it should be. the strut mount bolt might need to be tightened some more. my advice to you is to take off the wiper cowl and double check everybolt. it's better to be safe than sorry.

IndigoDreams

i took the cowl off and checked all 6 bolts up top...all were tight....the shock bolt was put on with an impact so i dont see how it would be loose. should i disassemble the whole front end again or what?

zoltiz

A tie-rod nut was loose on mine - made the scariest clunking noise. The nut would appear tight when the car is on the ground, or in the air - you had to catch it half-way lifting it to actually feel it loose.

IndigoDreams

DOOD im going to check that today....did you use an impact to put all that back together on urs or justhand tools?

BSPearl

Dudes:

Can I have just the TRD lowering springs installed by themselves, or do I also have to have new TRD struts/shocks installed at the same time? I have a dealer telling me I have to install the entire suspension package (not just the springs alone), total cost with labor = about $1000.

Thanks.

jlaznlover

1000 for springs, struts, and install? or just 1000 for installation?

BSPearl

They said the parts cost about $450.00 and they want about $550.00 to install.

I believe this was the cost of the entire suspension package. I was under the impression that I could just install the springs alone and leave the stock struts/shocks. According to one dealer website this would run about $295.00, including installation.

Can I install just the springs?

Thanks,

jlaznlover

yes, you can install the trd springs on to the stock struts. it will be perfectly fine. it will save you more time in the long run if you want both the springs/struts. whether or not you are installing the just the springs or springs and struts, it will require the same amount of work.

if possible, try to do it yourself. save yourself some money to get other goodies.

IMO, i get more satisfaction from installing stuff on my car than letting someone else do it.

BSPearl

thanks jlaznlover!!

My first priority is actually getting the car in the first place. I've been on a waiting list here in San Diego for 8 weeks. I probably won't get my car until mid-Jan. I guess I'll just have to keep looking at other folks tCs until I get mine. Can you post a pic of yours?

Peace,
BSPearl