How To: Lift Installation (on KDSS equipped vehicles)

[DesertCanyons]

Lift with KDSS photos gone?

Why did the photos disappear? Is there a trick I don't know about? Did the OP close his photo gallery website and the links no longer work.

I have a lift on order and I have KDSS. I wanted to study this thread in more detail. I saved it in my favorites over a year ago and now I can't see the photos.

 

[bsdoig]

Why did the photos disappear? Is there a trick I don't know about? Did the OP close his photo gallery website and the links no longer work.

I have a lift on order and I have KDSS. I wanted to study this thread in more detail. I saved it in my favorites over a year ago and now I can't see the photos.

If you look on post #178 he’s attached .pdf versions with pictures!

 

[DesertCanyons]

KDSS lift install, Thanks

If you look on post #178 he’s attached .pdf versions with pictures!

Thanks for that tip. I'll look for them there. I've saved this thread as a favorite two years ago. Now that I'm about to install my lift kit, I want to read it carefully.

 

[alext72888]

Wow what an amazing thread! Thank you for everyone who contributed their experience on how to do this.

After watching videos, looking at diagrams, and reading this thread and others, I'm going to give this install a try on my own and put in a 2" front/1.5" rear top spacer lift (highway queen) on my vehicle.

I'm leaning more towards going towards the method where you disconnect the UCA from the spindle/knucle (not sure which it's called) and trying to pry the LCA down enough to remove the strut assembly.

I just have two questions for anyone who can answer them.

1. Even if I'm not removing the sway bar brackets and messing with the piston, should I loosen any of the nuts & bolts on the brackets in order to give the LCA more room to move down?

2. On the 4runner owners repair manual, it says that the nut that connects the UCA to the spindle/knucle is "not a reusable part"

I've seen videos of people reusing this bolt. What exactly does "not reusable" mean? Do I have to buy new ones if I take these off?

 

[nb rob]

Wow what an amazing thread! Thank you for everyone who contributed their experience on how to do this.

After watching videos, looking at diagrams, and reading this thread and others, I'm going to give this install a try on my own and put in a 2" front/1.5" rear top spacer lift (highway queen) on my vehicle.

I'm leaning more towards going towards the method where you disconnect the UCA from the spindle/knucle (not sure which it's called) and trying to pry the LCA down enough to remove the strut assembly.

I just have two questions for anyone who can answer them.

1. Even if I'm not removing the sway bar brackets and messing with the piston, should I loosen any of the nuts & bolts on the brackets in order to give the LCA more room to move down?

2. On the 4runner owners repair manual, it says that the nut that connects the UCA to the spindle/knucle is "not a reusable part"

I've seen videos of people reusing this bolt. What exactly does "not reusable" mean? Do I have to buy new ones if I take these off?

that nut is usually included with a new upper ball joint.
Just be careful with the cotter pin removal, and you will have no problems reusing the castle nut and cotter pin on reassembly

 

[bkaushansky]

Would this method of unbolting LCA and top shock nut allow enough play in the spring to move bilstein 5100 circlip by 1 notch?

I'd like to minimize the interaction with the KDSS. So I'm thinking that if I have the truck on stands and use the 2 jacks (one on each side of truck) to lower both sides at once with LCAs disconnected, I should have enough room...Right? KDSS shouldn't be in play since it effectively would be full suspension extension.
Thanks.
B.

 

[Cndnmax]

Would this method of unbolting LCA and top shock nut allow enough play in the spring to move bilstein 5100 circlip by 1 notch?

I'd like to minimize the interaction with the KDSS. So I'm thinking that if I have the truck on stands and use the 2 jacks (one on each side of truck) to lower both sides at once with LCAs disconnected, I should have enough room...Right? KDSS shouldn't be in play since it effectively would be full suspension extension.
Thanks.
B.

I swapped my suspension out without ever removing the kdss swaybar. Remove the lower ball joint bolts and loosen the lower control arm cam bolts but instead of disconnecting the swaybar do this:
jack up the lower control arm on the passenger side which will then lower the drivers side enough to remove the coilovers (I removed the tie rod to keep me from damaging the cv boots trying the wiggle the coilovers out). Install the new coilover.
Then use a piece of wood and jack up the kdss piston to lower the passenger side. Remove and reinstall coilover.
*have something to hold up the rotor/cv assembly in a safe position.
If you are trying to do the no spring compressor method, you might need a second hand to simultaneously raise one jack while slowly lowering the jack of the other side.

 

[young]

will the lift affect the mpg?

what about payload weight?

 

[tristero]

will the lift affect the mpg?

what about payload weight?

Yes
No

 

[progress4m]

....
I'm leaning more towards going towards the method where you disconnect the UCA from the spindle/knucle (not sure which it's called) and trying to pry the LCA down enough to remove the strut assembly.

I just have two questions for anyone who can answer them.

1. Even if I'm not removing the sway bar brackets and messing with the piston, should I loosen any of the nuts & bolts on the brackets in order to give the LCA more room to move down?

2. On the 4runner owners repair manual, it says that the nut that connects the UCA to the spindle/knucle is "not a reusable part"

I've seen videos of people reusing this bolt. What exactly does "not reusable" mean? Do I have to buy new ones if I take these off?

When I did my lift (see my signature), I did not disconnected UCA and was able to pry the LCA down enough to remove and then install the strut assembly back with 5100 and spacer.

You can loosen the alignment bolts on LCA, so it will move down a lot easier and farther (just mark the location of the alignment cams, so it will not be too far out when you put all back together). However, I did not do it and still able to push LCA far enough.

Hope this helps.

 

[turbohardtop]

I have read this thread and I am confuse with the different methods. I have a Lexus GX460 and assume the suspension is pretty much the same. I plan to change out the suspension with Radflo coilovers and rear shock/spring combo with Total Chaos UCA. I do not want to mess with the KDSS if I could help it. I plan to jack up the lower control arm after the car is up on the jack stands. Then I remove the 2 bolts on the LCA, not the castle nut. Then remove the shocks by prying the LCA down. Once the shock is out I could remove the UCA. is this correct? Do I need to jack up the opposite side of the car to be able to lower the LCA or is the prying method sufficient? Thanks in advance.

 

[Cndnmax]

I have read this thread and I am confuse with the different methods. I have a Lexus GX460 and assume the suspension is pretty much the same. I plan to change out the suspension with Radflo coilovers and rear shock/spring combo with Total Chaos UCA. I do not want to mess with the KDSS if I could help it. I plan to jack up the lower control arm after the car is up on the jack stands. Then I remove the 2 bolts on the LCA, not the castle nut. Then remove the shocks by prying the LCA down. Once the shock is out I could remove the UCA. is this correct? Do I need to jack up the opposite side of the car to be able to lower the LCA or is the prying method sufficient? Thanks in advance.

When I did mine I removed the two lower ball joint bolts and supported the brake rotor so it didn’t drop too low. Loosen the two cam bolts on he lower Control arm to allow it to drop. Jack up the lower Control arm on the right side (with shock in place) remove and replace left side shock. Then Jack up the kdss piston with a block of wood and jack to lower the right side. Very quick and easy. No need to disconnect anything related to the kdss system.

I did chose to disconect the tie rod aswell because fishing the shock through was damaging my cv bolts.

 

[turbohardtop]

great. Do you have any pictures of the bolts on the ball joint? I am trying to visualize where and what it looks like. Planning the install in my head.

 

[Cndnmax]

great. Do you have any pictures of the bolts on the ball joint? I am trying to visualize where and what it looks like. Planning the install in my head.

The two bolts that u mentioned on each side of the castle nut

 

[turbohardtop]

ok, so the cambolt are the ones with the markings on it for alignment correct.

Thanks again.

 

[Cndnmax]

ok, so the cambolt are the ones with the markings on it for alignment correct.

Thanks again.

Yeah, mark their location before u loosen them. Although, mine did not move at all.

 

[schnazzdaddy]

Question with all of the various methods has anyone resulted in the KDSS system producing a more significant chance of a lean than another? I'm looking at installing a ICON stage 2 kit but hoping to avoid having to monkey with the system such as the balancing procedure. Also i have researched both aspects (Lift/Lean) and there are not great threads connecting the two topics, and seems the lift threads have a lot more participation and have been active in the last 2 years.

 

[a.delav]

Hey Guys - I'm pretty new here and wanted to share my gratitude for this thread. Over the weekend we lifted our recently purchased 2014 TEP (w/KDSS) with a 6112 kit in the front, and the tips here really helped.

No big issues with the KDSS system, and the front achieved a nice 2.25" lift, just as I was hoping based off another thread on this shock.

Results - BEFORE; AFTER
DF - 34.75; 37.00
PF - 34.25; 36.50
DR - 37.00; 37.75
PR - 36.50; 36.50

However, the rear has quite a bit of lean as things have settled and I'll need to do some reading... the measurements below are with a 1/2 tank and no driver. Could this be the culprit, or, is there a KDSS issue at play?

I'll eventually be doing a Wheeler T13 spring and 5160 shock but wanted to let things settle first. Perhaps this will address the lean?

Before:

Before:

After:

 

[mteolus]

I had my lift done at Tandem Automotive in Ft. Worth (Haltom City) and the Toyota Certified Mechanic said you have to re-charge the KDSS (or something like that) to get them back to specs. So I can only assume the guys in the YouTube Hawaii video didn't fully complete the job. Possible that the KDSS may not even be effective after they did their lift. Just my speculation but I'll ask the guy next time I see him.

After my Toytech Boss lift my 4Runner was pretty close to level. Got about 4" of lift in the front and 3" in the back.

 

[Dan_P]

2017 TRD Off Road, with KDSS

I've got my 6112 (preassembly) and 5100 (+ Dobinson) on order. I think that I'm going to give this a shot myself so I'm organizing all the instructions and tips I can get my hands on. I have KDSS and plan to use this thread combined with Sp8ball's/Antman's.

This is a pretty silly question...I hope this isn't a bad sign as I prepare to start this project! Are the pictures for Page 1 of this post showing up correctly? I can see the pictures on Antman, Sp8ball, and other pages of this very post...but I cannot see the pictures on Page 1 of Eddiebx's instructions. Reading page 1 it seems these pictures are pretty important.

Thanks for the collective input / tips everyone has put into this!