Hi Everyone,
My wife and I recently moved from Dallas to Tacoma, WA, where I now have access to tons of National Forest Service roads and it has been a ton of fun. The stock shocks were getting too bouncy, even in the normal and sport setting, so I found a local shop and had Bilstein 5100s installed on all four corners of my GX460 with original springs (stock coils in front, stock airbags in the rear), and they leveled out the rake on the vehicle by raising the front slightly. The truck had over 100,000 miles on the stock shocks, including several trips off-road in California, Nevada, and Colorado over the past 3 years. Due to the cost of the move, I wasn't ready to lift the truck just yet. However, I don't think the shocks were installed correctly, and I wanted to see if anyone else has had this issue and corrected it.
The vehicle now tilts half an inch to the passenger side. The car's alignment feels good until about 10-15mph, then the steering wheel tilts itself a few degrees to the driver's side to keep the car straight, though it keeps tracking straight on the road with no additional input. Doing some reading, it seems that maybe the KDSS flutter valves were not opened during the installation. The steering wheel moving is most likely caused by the piston on the front sway bar actuating, I think. Additionally, they said something about setting the clips to different heights on the front springs, which I am not sure why they did that. Wouldn't that result in different spring rates for the drivers side and passenger side?
My best guess is that they did not open the KDSS valves, and then attempted to compensate for the sway bars by adjusting the clip height setting on the shocks themselves. Would opening those valves and using a jack to correct the lean fix the issue, or do they need to take off the front shocks entirely, make sure both springs are the same height on the front shocks, and then reinstall with the valves open? My gut says that both shocks should be set to the same height.
I am returning to the shop next Tuesday to have them try to fix the issue, but I wanted to see if anyone has had and fixed this issue.
I do not want to mess up the KDSS system, and plan on putting nicer shocks on in the spring (looking at Fox 2.5s and Airbag Man lifted airbags from Australia), but I am quite unhappy with the current handling characteristics of the car due to the lean. Any help or suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
Edit: I am also taking recommendations for shops in the Tacoma area. I would be willing to travel anywhere in the Puget Sound area for the next upgrade.
My wife and I recently moved from Dallas to Tacoma, WA, where I now have access to tons of National Forest Service roads and it has been a ton of fun. The stock shocks were getting too bouncy, even in the normal and sport setting, so I found a local shop and had Bilstein 5100s installed on all four corners of my GX460 with original springs (stock coils in front, stock airbags in the rear), and they leveled out the rake on the vehicle by raising the front slightly. The truck had over 100,000 miles on the stock shocks, including several trips off-road in California, Nevada, and Colorado over the past 3 years. Due to the cost of the move, I wasn't ready to lift the truck just yet. However, I don't think the shocks were installed correctly, and I wanted to see if anyone else has had this issue and corrected it.
The vehicle now tilts half an inch to the passenger side. The car's alignment feels good until about 10-15mph, then the steering wheel tilts itself a few degrees to the driver's side to keep the car straight, though it keeps tracking straight on the road with no additional input. Doing some reading, it seems that maybe the KDSS flutter valves were not opened during the installation. The steering wheel moving is most likely caused by the piston on the front sway bar actuating, I think. Additionally, they said something about setting the clips to different heights on the front springs, which I am not sure why they did that. Wouldn't that result in different spring rates for the drivers side and passenger side?
My best guess is that they did not open the KDSS valves, and then attempted to compensate for the sway bars by adjusting the clip height setting on the shocks themselves. Would opening those valves and using a jack to correct the lean fix the issue, or do they need to take off the front shocks entirely, make sure both springs are the same height on the front shocks, and then reinstall with the valves open? My gut says that both shocks should be set to the same height.
I am returning to the shop next Tuesday to have them try to fix the issue, but I wanted to see if anyone has had and fixed this issue.
I do not want to mess up the KDSS system, and plan on putting nicer shocks on in the spring (looking at Fox 2.5s and Airbag Man lifted airbags from Australia), but I am quite unhappy with the current handling characteristics of the car due to the lean. Any help or suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
Edit: I am also taking recommendations for shops in the Tacoma area. I would be willing to travel anywhere in the Puget Sound area for the next upgrade.
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