Sweet. Looking forward to trying it this week. I had to pound on my OEM ones to get them off.
no need for a spring compressor
- Thread starter Elton H
- Start date
Sweet. Looking forward to trying it this week. I had to pound on my OEM ones to get them off.
98OzarksRunner
New member
I did mine pretty much that way, except on the 3rd gen you don't need to remove the tie rod end. If you remove the nut on the sway bar link it has plenty of flex. On the 3rd gens, remove the 4 bolts in the lower ball joint. I also put the bottle jack between the frame and lower control arm to push it down instead of the pry bar. I didn't loosen the lower control arm bolts. I've done it 3 times (2 vehicles) - it works, is safe, and takes about 1/2 hour each side to do (well, after you've done it a time or two).
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THEREALTOR1
New member
When I did mine, Zack from Newark, DE walked me through it over the phone, invert your bottle jack and place the base in the bottom of the fender well (there's actually a bit of a flat spot in there which kinda works nice if it you get it right in there), and then if iirc I just sort of "fit" the grooves on the top of the bottle jack on the crown nut to the ubj. You can almost get it pretty vertical and "tight" so to speak, and then just slowly start expanding it.
Glad I came across these threads again i'd lost all my bookmarks on a crashed laptop. Post some pics if you work on yours tomorrow Qyota (if you would), i'm hoping to get mine in the garage and pull out my 99's w/spacers and put in my 881's and would be nice to see some pics to get the mental juices flowing again. Thanks.
THEREALTOR1
New member
Yeah i definately left the lbj connected to the knuckle as I was hoping to keep the geometry somewhat intact as it was going to be a few days before I was going to be able to get in for an alignment. The only thing I did (again iirc correctly as it was awhile ago), was loosened the uca mounting bolt/nut (19mm I think), and disconnected the sway bar from the end links (14mm). I might have loosened the mounting bolt/nut for the lca (same as the uca), but I can't remember if did or not, i'd have to look at everything again.
Qyota
New member
OK - done! Sorry, no pictures. I was extremely dirty, sweaty, and pissed off. Prying down the LCA while trying to get everything aligned and jacked into place while also putting in the lower shock bolt was quite difficult. Not hard to conceptualize, but hard because it really is a 2-man job. One guy to sit on the pry bar, and the other to do the 2-hand work with the new components. I literally had to sit on the pry bar (a 5-foot piece of 1" black pipe) while working in the new shock/spring. Not terribly fun.
But hell, it's done! Looks good...time for a test drive. Alignment early this week, although I don't think it'll be off much. Over the '99 tall springs, the TRD springs on 5100s seems to be only 1/2 - 3/4" lift. I'll give it some time to settle, etc...but it looks about the same height-wise.
But hell, it's done! Looks good...time for a test drive. Alignment early this week, although I don't think it'll be off much. Over the '99 tall springs, the TRD springs on 5100s seems to be only 1/2 - 3/4" lift. I'll give it some time to settle, etc...but it looks about the same height-wise.
98OzarksRunner
New member
I removed the sway bar top nut and pulled the sway bar out of the way. I then put the bottle jack, upside down, between the frame and the sway bar mount tab as shown by the red lines. Just turn the jack and it pushes the lower control arm down - easy cheesy (just don't let the jack pop out!). The sway bar actually helps hold the jack in place on the bottom of the frame.
THEREALTOR1
New member
That is a good spot. But i'm a little confused Ozarks. Did you just undo the nut and pull the bushings off of the sway bar end link, but leave the sway bar on the end link itself? You said the sway bar helped support the jack but when you said you "pulled the sway bar out of the way" I assumed you meant you pulled it off the sway bar link (which I know requires having to loosen both sides of the sway bar at both drivers & passenger side end links and loosening the bolts underneath at the bushing mounts). So was just curious is you loosened everything and pulled it out of the way or if you just left it on the end link and removed the top nut? Thanks.
98OzarksRunner
New member
I removed the nuts from the top of the links on both sides and pulled the sway bar off the links. That gave me room to move the sway bar out of the way so the jack would fit. I didn't loosen the bolts holding the sway bar to the frame - I just let it hang in place. I pulled the links down and put the end of the jack (top) into the 'pocket' created by the link in the bracket. You could also take off the links from the bracket on the LCR and probably do the same thing.
THEREALTOR1
New member
Gotcha. cool. Thanks Ozarks
