How To: Lift Installation (on KDSS equipped vehicles)

[Hugo Stiglitz]

So perhaps others can chime in but I will give my .02. I don't plan on removing anything KDSS related on the front when installing my coil-overs and replacing my UCA. The King instructions for their setups simply have you pulling down the LCA and inserting the shock/coil assembly. I believe others here have done the same. The rear does need to be disconnected though.

When are you doing yours? Id love to know how it goes.

If you are successfull avoiding KDSS manipulation please post back.

Curious, I plan every step out in my head, if you do too, what steps and what will you be unbolting when you do yours - I guess I am asking what is your plan.

Good luck, my 5100's will be here tomorrow, I will tackle this within a couple of days...

 

[Brandonium]

I still have some time ahead of me before I go at it because...well, the setup I want is not cheap so I am waiting for tax returns. haha.

It'll probably be March or April.

Right now I am still trying to figure out what rear springs I want to run with and how much total rake I want. imp:

When are you doing yours? Id love to know how it goes.

If you are successfull avoiding KDSS manipulation please post back.

Curious, I plan every step out in my head, if you do too, what steps and what will you be unbolting when you do yours - I guess I am asking what is your plan.

Good luck, my 5100's will be here tomorrow, I will tackle this within a couple of days...

 

[Hugo Stiglitz]

I still have some time ahead of me before I go at it because...well, the setup I want is not cheap so I am waiting for tax returns. haha.

It'll probably be March or April.

Right now I am still trying to figure out what rear springs I want to run with and how much total rake I want. imp:

Ok, cool. I will dig into the install soon and will see whats possible and whats not. I get somewhat piturbed over easy installs that aren't straight forward(like suspension, suspension is almost always easy), KDSS is a wrench in the works if you will and a road I haven't travelled so I am curious and hopeful it goes well.

I think this thread will help a bunch and am grateful for the OP and all who contributed to it

 

[Brandonium]

I believe those that have gone the route of pulling down the LCA have used either a jack or ratchet strap to muscle the arm downwards. I am not sure what you would strap against under normal circumstances since many of us will be performing this install on jack stands.

Might be worth PM'ing those that have stated in this thread that this is the route they followed and ask them exactly how they did it. The question is less about can it be done and more of how did they get the LCA muscled down.

Ok, cool. I will dig into the install soon and will see whats possible and whats not. I get somewhat piturbed over easy installs that aren't straight forward(like suspension, suspension is almost always easy), KDSS is a wrench in the works if you will and a road I haven't travelled so I am curious and hopeful it goes well.

I think this thread will help a bunch and am grateful for the OP and all who contributed to it

 

[T5RUNNER]

When I did my lift, I wrapped a tie down strap around the front KDSS piston before unbolting the sway bar ends so it would not extend. When everything else was done the sway bar ends went right back into place. Toyota designed the end pieces to self allign, there is a hook at the bottom and a slot at the top to put a screwdriver into.

It was only a total of about 10 minutes extra to deal with the KDSS. I think leaving it connected and trying to twist against it while installing the shocks would have been more of a pain.

 

[craigster59]

You will have to disconnect KDSS even if you are installing UCA's along with shocks/coilovers. It will make it easier all the way around. KDSS isn't as big a deal as people think it is. The initial install write up is great and the tips and tricks added afterwards make it go a lot smoother.

Some added tips I got from Matt (mwray8909) made it go much smoother. Start with driver's side and unbolt KDSS bracket with a floor jack under the piston. Slowly lower just enough to unclip the bracket and the bar will slowly creep towards the front of the truck (about a foot). Undo steering knuckle and other bolts holding the shock and take a pry bar into the hole on LCA and pry down enough to pull the shock. Undo long bolt holding the UCA and you can pull it out through the engine bay (the bolt not the UCA).

Install new UCA and shock and reattach steering knuckle and other bolts. Torque to specs:
Upper Struct/Coilover = 47 ft lbs
Lower Strut/Coilover = 70 ft lbs
Stabilizer Bar->Knuckle = 52 ft lbs
Upper Control Arm = knuckle = 81 ft lbs
Lower ball joint-> knuckle = 118 ft lbs

Now for the smoke and mirrors. Your sway bar is still sitting on your floor jack. Wrap one end of ratchet strap around sway bar and attach the other end further back on the truck to a secure point. Now start ratcheting and the floor jack with the sway bar will slowly crawl back into position raising and lowering it with the floor jack as needed. Clip sway bar bracket back and loosely bolt it with the 2 bolts leaving about an 1/8" gap between the 2 bracket plates.

Now, move to passenger side and do the same procedure but now when you go to reattach the swaybar there is no piston on passenger side so you use a bottle jack to raise and lower the drivers side. Raise driver = sway bar lowers on passenger, lower driver = passenger sway raises. Get it lined up with the bracket and ratchet strap into place. Bolt it up and Bob's yer Uncle.

Hope this wasn't too long winded or confusing, just wanted to consolidate the tricks into one post.

 

[mwray8909]

If you guys have any questions about the KDSS feel free to PM. And I give you what assistance I can as I did with [MENTION=144107]craigster59[/MENTION]


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[cheeser]

When I did my lift, I wrapped a tie down strap around the front KDSS piston before unbolting the sway bar ends so it would not extend. When everything else was done the sway bar ends went right back into place. Toyota designed the end pieces to self allign, there is a hook at the bottom and a slot at the top to put a screwdriver into.

It was only a total of about 10 minutes extra to deal with the KDSS. I think leaving it connected and trying to twist against it while installing the shocks would have been more of a pain.

How did you wrap it under the piston when the piston is making contact the sway bar? Thought there may not be enough room between the piston and bar to slide the strap between the two?

 

[T5RUNNER]

How did you wrap it under the piston when the piston is making contact the sway bar? Thought there may not be enough room between the piston and bar to slide the strap between the two?

Just wrap it around the whole thing. Around the outside of both eyelets.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz]

My 4Runner is a 2016 TEP w/KDSS


Ok I knocked mine out this morning and......

Took 3.5 hours and thats with coffee, texting and just taking my time.

I almost feel bad..... One of the easiest mods I've ever done. I know I owe it to this thread though, I read it over a few times and the referenced thread and like always I came up with a game plan....Now sometimes my game plans turn to SH@! and fully expected this one too just because the KDSS was unknown territory for me.

I wanted to thanks the OP and all others who contributed. I just followed the steps as they are presented and it all went well, much better than expected.

Mounting the KDSS sway bar back literally took me 10 mins. before I jacked up the truck I did ratchet strap the KDSS piston at its current position.... after I installed the shocks etc and lowered the truck to the ground I literally did not have to move the passenger sway bar mount, it just went right back together, the drivers side took a little bit of manipulation but nothing like I had thought.

One thing I did that I did not see throughout the threads is I did not waste time pulling the spring out, just the shock, I used 2 zip ties through the damper rod hole and through the spring to hold it in place just until I fed the new shock back up, then cut the zip ties and finished feeding up the shock mated with the spring.

I also marked the spring (prob not necessary) but I did it anyway, I wanted it back in the same position as the factory placed it, thats me though.

I will post pics

I went with .85 on the bilsteins and got about 1.5" of lift and I think if I had went 1.75 Id be cussing at negative rake right now.

Ive already lifted plenty of toyotas, 6" to 10" etc, re-geared blah blah, I really want to keep this 4Runner close to stock but that rake was killing me.

Drove it about 50 miles, after about 200 more miles I will get it aligned

(And yes my 4Runner has been undercoated if you see that gunk everywhere)

It now sits just about perfect

Thanks again everyone!

Before and after measurements:

Before:
DF - 34
PF - 34 1/8

DR - 36.5
PR - 36 3/4


After:
DF - 35 3/4
PF - 35 5/8

DR - 37
PR - 36 3/4

BEFORE


AFTER
excuse my ghetto boards lol

 

[tmeays8]

Just wondering, how much of a lift do you need to start considering wheel spacers? I'm looking into getting a little lift like 1" to 2" max due to low garage clear. Didn't know if I should look into spidertrax's or not to bother.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Just wondering, how much of a lift do you need to start considering wheel spacers? I'm looking into getting a little lift like 1" to 2" max due to low garage clear. Didn't know if I should look into spidertrax's or not to bother.

My 2 cents, I don't care for wheel spacers. I had some on my FJ for tire clearance and did the BMC. I just don't like wheel spacers, never had a prob with them but I always felt like they are a weak link

I would buy a wheel with the offset you need to clear everything. Wheel spacers seem pretty popular here.. Most people buy them to move their wheel out further to clear inner fender area.

The amount of lift you're going to do won't upset anything....unless you want to go with a bigger tire....search the forums bunch of great info I personally won't do a wheel spacer again

 

[T5RUNNER]

Just wondering, how much of a lift do you need to start considering wheel spacers? I'm looking into getting a little lift like 1" to 2" max due to low garage clear. Didn't know if I should look into spidertrax's or not to bother.

Spacers are just for looks. They make tire clearance problems worse because they increase scrub radius.

 

[yellowdog]

My 4Runner is a 2016 TEP w/KDSS


Ok I knocked mine out this morning and......

Took 3.5 hours and thats with coffee, texting and just taking my time.

I almost feel bad..... One of the easiest mods I've ever done. I know I owe it to this thread though, I read it over a few times and the referenced thread and like always I came up with a game plan....Now sometimes my game plans turn to SH@! and fully expected this one too just because the KDSS was unknown territory for me.

I wanted to thanks the OP and all others who contributed. I just followed the steps as they are presented and it all went well, much better than expected.

Mounting the KDSS sway bar back literally took me 10 mins. before I jacked up the truck I did ratchet strap the KDSS piston at its current position.... after I installed the shocks etc and lowered the truck to the ground I literally did not have to move the passenger sway bar mount, it just went right back together, the drivers side took a little bit of manipulation but nothing like I had thought.

One thing I did that I did not see throughout the threads is I did not waste time pulling the spring out, just the shock, I used 2 zip ties through the damper rod hole and through the spring to hold it in place just until I fed the new shock back up, then cut the zip ties and finished feeding up the shock mated with the spring.

I also marked the spring (prob not necessary) but I did it anyway, I wanted it back in the same position as the factory placed it, thats me though.

I will post pics

I went with .85 on the bilsteins and got about 1.5" of lift and I think if I had went 1.75 Id be cussing at negative rake right now.

Ive already lifted plenty of toyotas, 6" to 10" etc, re-geared blah blah, I really want to keep this 4Runner close to stock but that rake was killing me.

Drove it about 50 miles, after about 200 more miles I will get it aligned

(And yes my 4Runner has been undercoated if you see that gunk everywhere)

It now sits just about perfect

Thanks again everyone!

Before and after measurements:

Before:
DF - 34
PF - 35 1/8

DR - 36.5
PR - 36 3/4


After:
DF - 35 3/4
PF - 35 5/8

DR - 37
PR - 36 3/4

BEFORE


AFTER
excuse my ghetto boards lol

Marked for reference later. Thanks for the great post.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Marked for reference later. Thanks for the great post.

No problem, feel free to ask any questions when you tackle this. It would have been easier with 2 people but Ive always managed by myself... like the zip tie thing on the springs, no biggie

Forgot to add this pic, I had read of some clearance issues on the drivers spring next to the KDSS piping, so thats the main reason I wanted the springs back in place just as they had been installed at Toyota(I knew there was no issues with clearance as the truck was so I just kept it all the same). Just marked the top hat area and followed it down on the spring with my trusty paint pen.

Disclaimer - just so everyone knows, this pic was taken before the strut was completely put back into position and damper nut torqued.(there is some play between spring and top hat, and the isolator isn't snugged down yet....just didn't want people using this pic for a "right or wrong" look of a finished strut.







Also a pic (since I was by myself, I would let the spring sit there for a moment before I zip tied it up and fed the new shock up and in) Just use caution and judgement where you "rest" things... watch your cv boots etc

 

[Riflman]

Alright I need some help! I'm half way though installing my 6112s on the passenger side. I have the top three bolts torqued down on the shock tower and the lower through bolt on the LCA just pushed through with the nut hand tight. I'm trying like hell to get the LCA up high enough where I can install the LCA ball joint bracket; its the one with the two bolts that get torques to 160nM. The problem is when I use my floor jack to lift up the LCA its lifting the whole truck and not compressing the shock. I've got about an inch gap and as it is now the shock isn't compressing at all.

How did you resolve this? I'm in the same situation right now with truck on jack stands and stuck. Ack!

 

[cheeser]

How did you resolve this? I'm in the same situation right now with truck on jack stands and stuck. Ack!

Any resolution to this? I plan on doing mine in a few months.

 

[xnodesirex]

I plan on replacing my shocks in a few days, because one is showing serious signs of trouble.

Was planning on just going with OEMs, since we don't do serious offroading.

Is it worth swapping out the springs while we've got the axle dropped? If so, any specific recommendations?


(edit: at 75k miles on a 2012 TE)

 

[Riflman]

I plan on replacing my shocks in a few days, because one is showing serious signs of trouble.

Was planning on just going with OEMs, since we don't do serious offroading.

Is it worth swapping out the springs while we've got the axle dropped? If so, any specific recommendations?


(edit: at 75k miles on a 2012 TE)

If anyone needs help doing this install don't hesitate to PM me for help. I earned plenty of tricks to make the install WAY easier. Regarding the lower ball joint bolts, you can use a ratchet strap hooked to the coil spring and the bottom of the LCA to compress the strut enough to get the bolts in. BUT!!! You cannot use a 3-400# loading strap or it will break and could be dangerous. It will have to be one of the huge ones truckers use. Other option is to use a length of chain between the bottom of the jack and the frame of the truck.

https://youtu.be/oNpM9fOB9bA

 

[mwray8909]

I have done a few of these with KDSS now. Feel free to PM as well.

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