Hi Everyone-
I wanted to post this thread to share my experience so far in replacing ALL AHC shocks and ALL AHC hard lines. There seems to be scattered information in the forum, where in the majority of cases in which people replaced these parts, they were only doing 1 corner, 2 corners at most.
I bought this truck back in February, and it being a NJ/PA vehicle, the rust was not great. However, the frame is solid and purely surface rust, and there was enough other maintenance done (timing belt, water pump, brakes, new muffler, brand new tires), that I figured it was worth it because all the other rusty parts could be replaced over time (optimistic view of a rusty truck
). The first big project I decided to tackle was the AHC system because it was definitely not in spec with the way it was riding. After replacing the globes, flushing with new fluid, getting pressures into spec and leveling through adjustment of torsion bars, and clearing up an actuator circuit issue (melted wires from exhaust heat), I could tell that this system was worth keeping because it was driving so much better. However, there was still some instability in the vehicle, and I'm attributing it to the fact that the shock bushings are absolutely shot. Although the majority of the suspension shock is absorbed by the globes, the shocks still hold a lot of weight, and if the bushings are shot/uneven, I'm logically concluding that this would definitely affect ride quality and stability.
Shock bushings aside, the hard lines going from the accumulator to the top of the shocks were horrible looking, and I knew I wasn't getting them out without cutting the shocks out too because they're corroded to the top of the shock. So, I ordered all new shocks from Toyota (roughly $900), all new spacers/bushings/bolts/brackets for the shocks from Partsouq ($175), and all the hard lines from Impex ($700). I was worried with having these lines shipped overseas, but they packaged them to be practically bulletproof with many layers of bubblewrap/plastic. Add this all to the cost of the globes I bought from Impex ($600), and in parts alone, I'm at roughly $2,400. Honestly not too bad when comparing to the cost of converting to traditional suspension, assuming your accumulators, pump, and other parts are healthy. And FYI, I did the 16 step damper test prior to this job to make sure my accumulators were working, because if one or more of your accumulators aren't working, then that's when this project would've gotten to be out of my budget for what I'm willing to dish out at once.
So, let's get into the job itself. I brought the car to my buddy's garage where we're just working with a floor jack and jack stands. We started with the rears because we figured those would be the biggest pain. Starting with the driver side rear, we were not able to get the line out of the accumulator with a line wrench itself, so we carefully made a cut in the line with a sawzall right before the flare nut, so that we were able to get a six-point socket over it. Be CAREFUL you don't hit the other line going into the accumulator. That worked beautifully - the leverage got it turning relatively easily, and the threads were completely intact on the inside of the accumulator. The suspension fluid kept it healthy in there! Also, when we were making the cut in the line, the leftover suspension fluid in the line acted as a lubricant, reducing friction and also catching any tiny metal pieces that would've went flying. Next, we saw that the line was attached to a bracket that's bolted into the frame, which was in a terrible position because it's right behind the wheel well. We knew that bolt wasn't coming out because it was rusted to hell, so we just used pliers to get the line out of the bracket. We figured we could use that same bracket in place to support the new line (the lines come with new brackets, just remove those and use the old ones in the frame).
Next was cutting the shock out. We removed the spare tire from the rear to give us clearance, and standing where the spare would be, we reached into the top shock area and made a cut into the top shock bushing and through its metal rod. The bottom of the shock was then able to pull out from the bottom, and the line was now free from the shock body. Snaking out the line was a bit tricky and we had to make another cut with the sawall, but no big deal. Next was trying to get the new line in. We tried and tried and tried with the fuel tank in, but there was absolutely no way. We had to drop the fuel tank.. ugh. So if you do this corner, plan for the same. This is where things got messy. I knew I'd have to replace fuel parts because by the look of my fuel filler neck and the clamps on the hoses that were attached to the tank, this wasn't going to be pretty. The clamps were rusted shut, so the only way we were able to disconnect the fuel filler neck from the tank was to cut through the rubber hoses that connects them. So we cut those, disconnected the fuel pump wiring from the rear seat access points, and fought to get the fuel tank strap bolts out. They're 14mm but were 13mm by the time we got them out. Once the tank was dropped, getting the line in was a breeze. Then it came time to connect the line to the top of the new shock. We just could not get a good angle or get our hands into that gap where they connect. Even if we could, we didn't have the proper tool to torque the top shock bolt to spec (51 ft lb) from that angle. Sooo, we cut a hole in the floor above. Wasn't my first choice, but honestly it made things so much easier. I was able to fit the line onto the shock from the hole access (3 in. hole), along with get a torque wrench in there for the shock nut, and place the bolts for where the line screws into the shock bracket. Voila! In terms of the passenger side rear, this went way quicker because nothing was in the way. We did it the same way we did the driver side, and probably took only 30 minutes from first cut of the line to having it all done.
For the fronts, we cut out the old shocks and lines. We thought the fronts would be way easier, but getting them out was really tricky because 1) the torsion bar kinda gets in the way and 2) there's wiring harness brackets on top of the frame next to the accumulator where the hook in the hard line gets stuck on when trying to pull out. After a few more cuts with a sawzall, they were out. Where we're at now is trying to get the driver side line in. It's so long, that we have not found a way to get it in yet. The end of the line where it flexes doesn't really help much here. We are thinking we're going to have to unbolt the crossmember that supports the transmission to have more room, and those bolts are very unhealthy looking as well. Up until this point, it's been 9 hours of work so far. We will most likely resume next week once all the new fuel parts come in (new tank, fuel filler neck, hoses, clamps), and I will give an update once I have one. This has been exciting, frustrating, hopeful, and soul-crushing all at the same time. All I know is that it's going to feel great once it's done. I just want to inform as much as possible because there's such little detail on this forum surrounding the replacement of lines in particular.
I wanted to post this thread to share my experience so far in replacing ALL AHC shocks and ALL AHC hard lines. There seems to be scattered information in the forum, where in the majority of cases in which people replaced these parts, they were only doing 1 corner, 2 corners at most.
I bought this truck back in February, and it being a NJ/PA vehicle, the rust was not great. However, the frame is solid and purely surface rust, and there was enough other maintenance done (timing belt, water pump, brakes, new muffler, brand new tires), that I figured it was worth it because all the other rusty parts could be replaced over time (optimistic view of a rusty truck
). The first big project I decided to tackle was the AHC system because it was definitely not in spec with the way it was riding. After replacing the globes, flushing with new fluid, getting pressures into spec and leveling through adjustment of torsion bars, and clearing up an actuator circuit issue (melted wires from exhaust heat), I could tell that this system was worth keeping because it was driving so much better. However, there was still some instability in the vehicle, and I'm attributing it to the fact that the shock bushings are absolutely shot. Although the majority of the suspension shock is absorbed by the globes, the shocks still hold a lot of weight, and if the bushings are shot/uneven, I'm logically concluding that this would definitely affect ride quality and stability.Shock bushings aside, the hard lines going from the accumulator to the top of the shocks were horrible looking, and I knew I wasn't getting them out without cutting the shocks out too because they're corroded to the top of the shock. So, I ordered all new shocks from Toyota (roughly $900), all new spacers/bushings/bolts/brackets for the shocks from Partsouq ($175), and all the hard lines from Impex ($700). I was worried with having these lines shipped overseas, but they packaged them to be practically bulletproof with many layers of bubblewrap/plastic. Add this all to the cost of the globes I bought from Impex ($600), and in parts alone, I'm at roughly $2,400. Honestly not too bad when comparing to the cost of converting to traditional suspension, assuming your accumulators, pump, and other parts are healthy. And FYI, I did the 16 step damper test prior to this job to make sure my accumulators were working, because if one or more of your accumulators aren't working, then that's when this project would've gotten to be out of my budget for what I'm willing to dish out at once.
So, let's get into the job itself. I brought the car to my buddy's garage where we're just working with a floor jack and jack stands. We started with the rears because we figured those would be the biggest pain. Starting with the driver side rear, we were not able to get the line out of the accumulator with a line wrench itself, so we carefully made a cut in the line with a sawzall right before the flare nut, so that we were able to get a six-point socket over it. Be CAREFUL you don't hit the other line going into the accumulator. That worked beautifully - the leverage got it turning relatively easily, and the threads were completely intact on the inside of the accumulator. The suspension fluid kept it healthy in there! Also, when we were making the cut in the line, the leftover suspension fluid in the line acted as a lubricant, reducing friction and also catching any tiny metal pieces that would've went flying. Next, we saw that the line was attached to a bracket that's bolted into the frame, which was in a terrible position because it's right behind the wheel well. We knew that bolt wasn't coming out because it was rusted to hell, so we just used pliers to get the line out of the bracket. We figured we could use that same bracket in place to support the new line (the lines come with new brackets, just remove those and use the old ones in the frame).
Next was cutting the shock out. We removed the spare tire from the rear to give us clearance, and standing where the spare would be, we reached into the top shock area and made a cut into the top shock bushing and through its metal rod. The bottom of the shock was then able to pull out from the bottom, and the line was now free from the shock body. Snaking out the line was a bit tricky and we had to make another cut with the sawall, but no big deal. Next was trying to get the new line in. We tried and tried and tried with the fuel tank in, but there was absolutely no way. We had to drop the fuel tank.. ugh. So if you do this corner, plan for the same. This is where things got messy. I knew I'd have to replace fuel parts because by the look of my fuel filler neck and the clamps on the hoses that were attached to the tank, this wasn't going to be pretty. The clamps were rusted shut, so the only way we were able to disconnect the fuel filler neck from the tank was to cut through the rubber hoses that connects them. So we cut those, disconnected the fuel pump wiring from the rear seat access points, and fought to get the fuel tank strap bolts out. They're 14mm but were 13mm by the time we got them out. Once the tank was dropped, getting the line in was a breeze. Then it came time to connect the line to the top of the new shock. We just could not get a good angle or get our hands into that gap where they connect. Even if we could, we didn't have the proper tool to torque the top shock bolt to spec (51 ft lb) from that angle. Sooo, we cut a hole in the floor above. Wasn't my first choice, but honestly it made things so much easier. I was able to fit the line onto the shock from the hole access (3 in. hole), along with get a torque wrench in there for the shock nut, and place the bolts for where the line screws into the shock bracket. Voila! In terms of the passenger side rear, this went way quicker because nothing was in the way. We did it the same way we did the driver side, and probably took only 30 minutes from first cut of the line to having it all done.
For the fronts, we cut out the old shocks and lines. We thought the fronts would be way easier, but getting them out was really tricky because 1) the torsion bar kinda gets in the way and 2) there's wiring harness brackets on top of the frame next to the accumulator where the hook in the hard line gets stuck on when trying to pull out. After a few more cuts with a sawzall, they were out. Where we're at now is trying to get the driver side line in. It's so long, that we have not found a way to get it in yet. The end of the line where it flexes doesn't really help much here. We are thinking we're going to have to unbolt the crossmember that supports the transmission to have more room, and those bolts are very unhealthy looking as well. Up until this point, it's been 9 hours of work so far. We will most likely resume next week once all the new fuel parts come in (new tank, fuel filler neck, hoses, clamps), and I will give an update once I have one. This has been exciting, frustrating, hopeful, and soul-crushing all at the same time. All I know is that it's going to feel great once it's done. I just want to inform as much as possible because there's such little detail on this forum surrounding the replacement of lines in particular.
