Who has tried this front shock removal method?

1985taylor1925

Senior Member
I just got my tundra front set up. The last time I changed my front coils I just rented the tool from autozone, which is supposedly dangerous, but worked just fine.

Today I tried another method. I lifted one side, removed the three nuts for mounting the top plate to the frame, then removed the nut that holds the shock on. I then lifted it more until the spring pushed the control arms down as far as it would on its own. Then put a jack bewteen the top control arm (turn the toyota jack up side down and put the the end right against the upper ball joint nut. works great) and top of the inner wheel well, and started jacking the control arms down.

I think this would have woked well with stock coils. But with my PP coils which are significantly longer I had the control arms cranked to a ridiculous angle, and the coils were still under compression. I forgot to disconnect the sway bar at the beggining, which probably would have helped a ton by relieving pressure. But my fear was that I would damage the cv, or ball joints, or really screw up the alignment with pushing the arms so far down.

Has anyone used this method with success with AFTERMARKET coils? Again, with the shorter length of stock coils I probably could have had them off no problem. Just wondering if anyone has done this and can offer advise. Otherwise its back to the tool from autozone which takes forever and is a ton of work.
 
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Use the autozone spring compressor. It may be dangerous, but Its probably way safer than the method you are describing

Your not going to damage the cv's or ball joints from extending the arms. Just be careful with the jack.
 
There is no danger in using the auto store spring compressor kits. They are built to be used safely. Its more dangerous to jump behind the wheel of your car and take a drive. Dont be scared, they are almost impossible to use incorrectly.
 
This actually seems more dangerous than using a spring compressor. Just my personal opinion. I will look at the service information and post it up here next week just so you can see what the factory recommends.
 
You guys may have missed it it my first post, but I did use the compressor tool from autozone the first time I changed my coils. Im not concerned with it being dangerous. Im more concerned that it took forever and was just generally a pain.

I thought there was someone on the forum that changed their shocks using the method I tried today. Any I still think it would be a good methed with a shorter coil. But I cant remember the thread. oh well
 
I don't know about getting them out, but I used this method yesterday to get my 3" coils and Billies IN. I would think that it may work getting them out as well. You are right though, you have to crank that UCA down pretty far.
 
Ya I may try that today. Again my only concern is if the angle will damage the cv or ball joints. I guess it shouldnt since nothing is moving.
 

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