Hello All,

Great board! I just finished putting Bilsteins all the way around my 95 4runner. Thanks to a few threads here it was a no-brainer on the purchase and almost a no-brainer on the install. I do have a couple of questions. What are the torque specs for the upper and lower (front and back) nuts? I've read that the torque on these nuts is really important. The directions that came with the shocks are seriously confusing. I believe the uppers get 20Nm and I have no idea what the lowers get.

If anyone else is thinking about changing shocks the install was really easy on my 2nd gen. 2-3hrs for this complete beginner. Here's a few things I learned. Some things maybe obvious.
1. No need to remove the tires! Just turn the wheels right or left for the fronts. Rears don't really get in the way.
2. Only need to jack up the front end until the tires are just off the ground for front install. No need to jack up the rear at all. Just compress the shock once you bolt them to the top mount.
3. The bottom of the front shocks needed to be convinced by a hammer to fit. Mounting bracket was about 1/8"-1/16" to narrow. No big deal.
4.Use a vice grip on the "piston rod" part of the shock to keep it from turning while you tighten the top nuts.
5. I bounced the rear of the truck before I tightened the rear lower bolts to "seat" the bushings.
6.Oil the bolts the night before!

Please let me know if any of this wrong! I'm a novice.

I'm thinking about Addco sway bars now. I'm never satisfied. I do mostly city driving. Is it worth it to replace the OEM bars? What do sway bars actually do?

It feels good to do this kind of thing yourself. I might just try a timing belt change next. Watch for that thread. I'll need your help!

After a few days I'll post my "review" of the Bilsteins. Though it does feel much better going over the bump in my drive way and vehicle roll is much tempered. You might have to take my review with a grain of salt as I had 135,000 miles on my OEM shocks.

Thanks,
Sam

 

Glad it was easy for you!

Today I spent about an hour trying to remove the top bolts off my old rear shocks in my 1990 4Runner. What a beeyotch! I liquid wrenched the heck out of 'em too. Tomorrow I purchase a nut-splitter.

I'm just replacing the rears right now with Rancho 9009s to accommodate a near-future lift. The Vise-grip idea worked well to hold the piston from moving although I would only recommend doing this on removal of trashed shocks. The Rancho instructions actually specify not to use any type of gripping device directly on the piston as it will affect performance and life apparently. Could be different with the Bilsteins though.

Have fun with that Timing Belt job. It's a doosy.

Regards,

Warren

 

Your right! I should have mentioned in my original post that I used a little wrap of rubber around the piston where I used the vice-grip and clamped it as far up as possilbe. The Bilstein instructions said nothing about how to lock the piston from turning or using a vice-grip on the install.

I was lucky. All the nuts popped right-off. I WD40ed them the night before. Good luck.

Thanks,
Sam

 

Sam glad to hear that is not too bad of a job to do. I am going to put some Bilsteins on my 94 soon as well as some Downey Heavy Duty Coils to get rid of my saggin A$$!

 

Good job! I am going to be replaceing my shocks in the near future, so its good to hear how easy it was! And it should be even easier on the rear end of my truck!


PB blaster works wonders on those pesky nuts.

 

I'll try that PB Blaster stuff if I ever have the opportunity of removing rusty bolts again. For today, the Nut-splitter worked fine.

I like the ride so far. Haven't done much driving yet and have only tried them on setting 3. Cornering is way less mushy and bumps don't jarr as much so all is well.

I can't stand the Rancho red boots they come with so I picked up some black ones for (to my amazement) only $6 Canadian each.

Also replaced the eye bushings with Energy suspension ones. Not for the colour, but for the fit. These Ranchos aren't made for the 4Runner but will accommodate a future lift.

Here's a pic. http://pacificcoast.net/~wsmith/LRShock&Spring.JPG

Gotta wire up some lights now so cu later,

Warren

still working on that avatar thing....

 

Nice boots. Where did you get them? Did your Ranchos come with torque specs for either nut? If so please let me know what they are, just curious.


BTW, In my post above I mentioned that the Bilstein instructions say nothing about using a vice. Well, I read them through today and there is a note about no, "...vice or any similar tool."

Sam

 

Rancho sells the black boots....

I had no specs on torque with the Rancho instructions but my service manual says 47 ft. lb for the bottom and 20 ft. lb for the top. This is for the rears only b.t.w.

Take care,

Warren