jjjosh41

I hate starting new threads to ask a question but im getting desperate.

Ive been searching around for a couple hours now and all I could find was an old (from 2004) how-to on installing the spring on a xB. I plan on installing my springs on my own so a write up would help a lot since ive never done suspension work. If there is a write up that I dont know about please point me in the right direction.

And if not, is there anyone in south central Wisconsin with some experience willing to help me out.

If there isnt a how-to write up on this yet, when im done ill have one for sure with lots of pictures.

BTW: here is a link to the old xB write up that I found.
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20769

iripthekut

http://www.club-tc.com/forums/suspen...k-install.html

for the rear just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. good luck.

THansenite

That's the same how-to I used when I did my springs. Be sure to have plenty of time to do it. The install takes a while, especially if this is your first time doing it. Good luck.

_JB

This may help, too.

http://www.hotchkistuning.com/bin/in...ions/19425.pdf

I know, not TRD, but give it a look.

jjjosh41

Thank you guys so much. Those write ups are perfect. God I love Scion Life.

Mr_Meaty

I was going to link you to the Hotchkis .pdf as well. I used both of those when I did mine last week.
However, just be aware that it depends on how tight your coils are.
Which springs are you installing?
I'm just saying this cause the springs compressor I rented from AutoZone worked fine with the fronts and fit on my TRD rears, but did not work fo the rear Hotchkis. I had to stick the assembly back in the controll arm and use my jack to put it in.
If you run into this problem, post up and we'll let you know what's up.

_JB

I don't have my tC yet, but I have the hotchkis springs at the ready. Can you go into more detail about this step, or is it fairly simple?

RedLine_tC

i would def. think about professional installation unless u know waht ur doing..it is a pain in the rear end to do those springs....

lets just say me and a friend started at 6pm didnt end up till 2 am :D but hey its looks clean now !

here is my install
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=118266

iripthekut

hey im going to attempt to do mine when my struts come in. the only thing im worried about right now are the rear cuz they have to line up or they wont fit or something. what is that all about?

Mr_Meaty

Just follow the Hotchkis instructions for the front.
For the rear, follow all the instructions for taking your trunk apart, but also take off the side panels in the trunk.
There is one black screw towards the top where the trunk cover meets.
You also have to remove the screw with the metal anchor tie down towards the back of the trunk.
There is also the grocery bag hooks on each side which need to be removed.
Start pulling some of the side panel off starting from the back. There are a few plastic snaps.
When you get to the hook, stick a straightened paper clip in the small hole as you pull on the panel. You should have to do it twice and it should pop off.
You should now be able to pull the panel all the way up to the quarter panel, which will make it much easier to reach that 3rd nut. You can also see thhe hole in the middle of the 3 nuts where the top of the strut is visible.

Now follow all the Hotchkis instructions until you get to the part where you compress the new springs on the strut.
Oh, you may also want to remove the bolt holding the brake line to the frame off the car. That should let your the controll bar drop down a little further. You'll need it to fit the whole uncompressed shock assembly in there.
Go ahead and put the spring and all the old parts on the strut and line everything up.
Now, you can put the bottom the the shock in the little pocket that it's supposed to sit in when it's on properly.
You should have just enough room to get everything in and line up the 3 bolts up top with the holes at the top of the wheel well.
Now, put your jack under the controll arm, which is what your shock assemply is sitting in.
Now, slowly start jacking everything up, while holding the shaft of the shock to try and align it into the whole in the top plate. You will have to push it towards the front center of the car. When you think you've got it, jack it up some and look at it through the hole from iniside the trunk to see if the shaft is going through the hole.
If you don't see it, drop it down and try it again. Your just compressing the shock.
Once you get it through, jack it all the way up until you can get the washer and nut on top of the screw.
I jacked mine up until I thought the springs was compressed enough so I could get the nut on as tight as I could. Don't jack to much or you'll lift it off your jack stands, which could possbible drop your car. Not a good idea with your rear suspension all taken apart!

Now, you can drop your jack, take the shock assembly back out, really tighten that nut, put the plastic cap back on, and put it back into the car.
You should now be able to put everything back together on that side.
I would recomend putting everything together under the car and dropping it off the jack stands before reassembling the interior of the trunk.
That way, you can make sure the top 3 nuts didn't loosen up after the wheels got back on the ground. Make sure their good and tight. Now put your interior back together.

I actually liked this method better then using the springs compressors cause it's alot quicker and easier to jack my hydrolic jack then it is to crank those spring compressors.
Also, you don't really have to worry about alighing the pieces with whiteout, tightening the nut, only to find out it's missaligned and have to redo it. Using the jack, youknow everythings lined up cause it's areadly in the car in the possition it needs to be in.

When I first put the car down, I had 4 finger gap!
That was higher then with the TRDs!
It settled to 2 fingers by the next day, and now it's almost fully settled to about a 1 finger gap.
Next weekend I'll get an allignment.
I hope this helped.

Mr_Meaty

whoah. That was longer then i thought!
Wish I took some pics!

_JB

Wow, thank you Mr_Meaty. Awesome post.

jjjosh41

I bought the H-Tech springs but dont have them yet so im not sure how tightly they are wound.

Ill be doing the install this weekend so if I have any big questions ill be on here trying to flag one of you guys down. Thanks again for all the help so far.

Mr_Meaty

Nice. I like the H-tech drop too.
I ended up having to split my job between 2 weekends, but I have a pregnent wife and 2 kids that need my time as well! So I did my rears last weekend and the fronts the weekend before that. Next weekend I'll get an allignment.

brian

i used that club-tc guide when i did my coilovers, worked fine for me.

DonnyDarko

Yo,

I was just wondering if anyone has heard that the stock shocks will get ruined fast with the TRD lowering springs. I cant afford both, but i can afford the lowering springs, but i dont wanna do it if its gonna blow out my stock shocks fast...anyone know about this???

brian

TRD springs are the mildest drop and therefore will give your stock shocks much more life than any other set of aftermarket springs. You'll eventually have to replace them though, just not for at least a year or two. I've heard of some people going only 10k miles and having to replace them, and others have gotten over 20k-30k out of the stock shocks. It just depends.

THansenite

Mr_Meaty, that was an awesome write up. I never want to have to fight with spring compressors again. If I do any more springs for friends, I may have to try this. Nice write-up.

Mr_Meaty

Thanks for the compliment guys. I love ScionLife cause there is such a wealth of usefull information on it. I'm glad to do my part.

Brian: I had my TRDs in for 10,000 miles and had no extra wear on my shocks. I now have Hotchkis and so far so good.
You should be fine with the TRDs for quite some time. You probably only have to worry about really quick shock loss with a 2" drop, like the Tien S-Techs.

Game

Nice write-up.

That message board would be great (I like the set-up alot better) if it had alot more members.