Suspension and UCA Installation (Dobinson’s/SPC in my case, but the lessons likely apply to others.)

[USMCVader]

One of the modifications I wanted to put on my 2019 LC200 was a 2-inch lift with stiffer springs that can handle the increased weight of desired future changes. After much research and thinking about my real requirements, compared to “wants” that I might not actually need, I decided upon a Dobinson’s lift with heavy front springs and medium ones in the back. I also decided while I was in there that putting on SPC UCAs would be part of the package. I read every suspension installation post I could find, and watched more videos than I can count. At the end, I decided it was well within my skills, although having someone help was recommended too many times to ignore. So over the past three weekends, a friend of mine and I did some wrenching. While all the preparation helped, I realized that there is still not a post out there, at least that I could find, that really broke it down in enough detail to truly make it easier and reduce risk. As such, I decided to write this post to hopefully help folks avoid some of the issues we encountered. This is what it looked like after I put on Budbuilt ultimate sliders earlier this year, but before the lift.

Here it is after the lift. BTW, when my bride saw it after we put on the lift, she asked me if the Rock Warrior wheels I have been searching for will be bigger, since the stock wheels look too small now. God bless her!

 

[USMCVader]

Before I get into the specifics, I have to acknowledge the tremendous help from members of this forum. While I gathered info from many across the forum, (because as many have noted this is one of the best forums on the internet!), some specific posts and members that were particularly noteworthy were:

Itsky’s post:

Suspension Install Instructions - Your Expertise requested

Therok’s post:

Suspension install best practices

Linuxgod’s post, and Linuxgod himself, who was extremely helpful in providing the Toyota Service Manual (TSM) and answering questions:

FSM for 200 series

Crikeymike. Not only did he sell me the lift and answer questions, but he also provided the video that shows a way to significantly simplify installation in the front. Here is the link to the video:



Thank you to everyone! The IH8MUD community is awesome!

There were two other videos from the folks at Australian Images LC200 Project that also helped. (BTW, their method of installing the front suspension is not as good as the one above from Crikeymike.) Here they are:

Tough Dog Suspension Installation



SPC UCA Installation

LandCruiser 200: SuperPro UCA upper control arms install (SPC arms and balljoints) - Project 200

 

[USMCVader]

First step, gather tools.

I have a rolling cart that I use to try to keep from having tools all over and to preposition tools I know I will need. I love it, and normally it works, but I still found myself going back and forth to my larger tool chest, and as you will see from pictures, I still ended up with tools on the ground. Since it turned out that the project spanned multiple weekends, the cart did help with cleaning up the garage even though my LC was still on jack stands during the week. I also learned from many posts on the forum that some tools make things go faster, such as ratcheting combination wrenches. Accordingly, (and since more tools is always better!) I expanded my tool supply before beginning. (I decided long ago that every project should lead to more tools so my bride is somewhat used to this.) With that said, I admit I may tend to go overboard when it comes to tool buying. For instance, here is my socket drawer (this is a result of getting incredibly frustrated in a previous project and deciding I never wanted to have to buy a socket in the middle of a project again. I may have gone overboard.):

However, the back and forth to get tools can get frustrating so I will try to highlight specific sizes of tools needed for each step.

My final tool list:

1. 2 Floor jacks (I ended up borrowing my friend’s after my 25 year old jack’s seals failed after the first weekend, with the happy result that my garage floor now has some well lubricated spots. Haven’t bought it yet, but a new floor jack is another new tool for this project since seals for my jack are no longer available. Dang the luck.) You can likely do it with one, but two turned out to be helpful. Until we had the second one in place, we used the LC jack from the back, but while it worked, I don’t recommend that method unless you like monkeying around with jacks. There are pictures later to show what I mean.)

2. Jack stands. I have about ten of these, but only two that are heavy-duty. The LC is a bit beefy, so we ended up positioning these two on whichever end we were working on at the moment. My LC went up and down like a yo-yo as a result. At some point I will buy two more heavy duty ones for future efforts.

3. Metric ratchets (1/4, 3/8, ½ inch drive) and sockets (5, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 27, 30mm)

4. Ratcheting wrenches (Regular or flex-head in the same sizes as above) [while you can do most of it with regular wrenches, a flex head is particularly useful for the top of the rear shock. Not sure why Toyota didn’t put an access panel in the inside for that since it is ridiculously hard to reach.]

5. 3lb metal mallet (This was primarily to disconnect the spindle from the UCA, but we ended up using it on other parts. More on that later.)

6. ½ inch torque wrench (the high torque values are 133, 150, and 221 ft/lbs)

7. Punch of some sort, preferably brass. (This is primarily for the bolt on the lower front shock, my punch was a piece of steel rod since it is what I have.)

8. Cable ties or nylon strap (I used them to hold items like the tie rod out of the way.)

9. Pry bar (Preferably a thin one, a crow bar is too big. Ask me how I know. Thankfully I have friends with tools.)

10. Anti-seize (I likely did not use this enough, will likely pay for it later. Now that it is finally all in, my OCD will probably make me go back and methodically correct myself.)

11. Vise grips (Normal sized are is ok, but needle nosed ones might help if everything goes sideways. More on that later.)

12. 1/2 Cordless Impact gun (air or cordless, we had and used both)

13. Paint marker to mark alignment cams

14. Strap wrench to hold shock body in place (may not need if shock has flats on top of bolt or shock body. There is a way to do it with a vise grip too where you clamp the vise grip under the lip of the shock, but we couldn’t get that method to work reliably.)

15. Ball joint separator (More on this later, but not only did I buy one, but I modified it with a Dremel tool to reduce the potential for damage to rubber boots on tie rod ends.)

16. ½ inch breaker bar. Mine is 18” long, ended up using a piece of schedule 40 pipe on it to get more out of it on a couple nuts.

17. Poor man’s thread chaser. (I made this with a 14mm-1.50 wheel stud. More on this debacle later. If you end up going this route, PM me. We will both share a laugh.)

 

[USMCVader]

Getting ready

1. Remove protective plate (3 bolts, XXmm) and open KDSS valves exactly three turns.


a. My valves have the 5 or 8 mm nut (I forget which, sorry), rather than the hole for a hex wrench, so it was relatively easy. I used a 3/8 wrench and socket.

b. Shortly after I bought the LC, I coated the KDSS with marine grease. While a bit messy, it has prevented the corrosion issues many others have encountered, so my valves opened easily. There are many posts here on what to do if they do not.


2. Lift vehicle (If you are interested, you can measure the height of your vehicle before putting on the lift. I didn’t, and I sleep well at night without that information. LC runs fine without it too.)


a. I used jack stands, but wished that I had a lift, either two post or scissors type. (I still wish I had either type of lift, lifts are awesome!)

b. If you use jack stands, put them under the frame and not the rear axle since that needs to droop to swap out the springs.

3. Remove wheels (22mm socket)

a. I still have stock wheels with the security lug nut. (Is someone really going to steal stock wheels? Every time I look at them I wonder what Toyota was thinking. I will be replacing them soon.) Those things are not only a magnet for rust and risk for breaking, but the adapter to get them off is a pain to track. If I had not been a bit OCD about putting it back in my tool cart, I am sure I would have misplaced it at some point.

b. We took all four wheels off, thinking this was going to be a one-day job. Once things went sideways, we put all four wheels back on until the new replacement part arrived. (Teaser alert!) I suggest just taking the two off on the end you are working on, which allows you to tuck them underneath. That doesn’t work as well if you take all four off.

 

[USMCVader]

The rear suspension
We started with the rear suspension. Others have started with the front. I am glad we started with the rear since it is easier and allowed us to show some progress later when we started breaking things. (2nd teaser!)

• Place jack under rear differential pumpkin. Be careful of the drain plug on the passenger side.
  
  
  

• Many directions say to disconnect the rear ABS wire from axle. We didn’t find this necessary and simply watched the wire for stress throughout the process.
• Disconnect sway bar mounts at the axle. Four bolts, 14mm. There are rubber bushings inside the bracket that may come off. There are cutouts on the bushings to help align it when you put them back in later. (Sorry, I forgot to get a picture of this.)

• We also disconnected the sway bar from the KDSS on the driver’s side. We actually did this before disconnecting the sway bar from the axle. Disconnecting where we did might not be necessary, but two items to note. One is that even with the KDSS valves open, there is still pressure so the connection may move on its own once disconnected. Be careful. Also, putting it all back together later requires using a jack to push it back in place. Unfortunately, we were doing this before the arrival of the second floor jack, so we had to improvise. (Don’t send hate, it worked…and we were wicked careful around it. Also, if you look at the picture you can see where we put the jack stands under the axle at this point and had this jack on one side, and the floor jack on the other. Lots of frustration and four letter words at this time in the install. The TSM shows disconnecting this as well and specifically says “If the rear stabilizer control cylinder extends and it is difficult to temporarily install the stabilizer link to the stabilizer bar, raise the stabilizer control arm with a jack…” so while it was frustrating, we seem to have been on track.)

 

[USMCVader]

• Loosen bolt (22mm) on top of the shock. This is where a flex head ratcheting wrench helps immensely. Awkward does not begin to describe it.
• Disconnect lower end of shock (17mm) (this gives you more droop to get the spring out).
• Lower rear axle as much as possible, being careful to not stretch brake lines (we found the risk to the brake lines was far higher than the risk to the ABS wire).
• Remove springs and install new ones. They are handed, with different lengths for each side, so check carefully to make sure you match them to their appropriate side.
• Finish removing bolt at top of shock, remove shock, and install rear shocks. This is done through the gap between the body and the frame. We found it helped to have someone underneath help get the nut on the top and to hold the ratcheting wrench on the nut. Driver’s side takes more unnatural contortionist maneuvers to do this. Dobinson’s shocks have a different top nut size than stock, so you will need to check the size for your shocks.
• Don’t fully tighten lower shock bolt until you put full weight back on the ground. Torque to 72 lbft. Torque sway bar bolts on axle to 22lbft, and if you disconnect the sway bar from the KDSS linkage, the torque is 74lbft.
• NOTE: The TSM calls for disconnecting the emergency and parking brake cables. We didn’t find this necessary. It also calls for disconnecting the lateral control rod (Panhard bar), but we didn’t do that either.

 

[USMCVader]

The Front Suspension

My friend and I did the front springs and shocks, and then the next day I went back in and installed the SPC UCAs. Worked pretty well for me, but there are other options. The path below discusses it as two processes since that is how we installed it.

Shocks and Springs

• Loosen KDSS valves 3 turns.
• Lift vehicle, remove wheels (same comments as above).
• Disconnect the steering arm and tie up to the side out of the way. Unfortunately, this is where we started breaking things. A common method is to take off the castle nut, flip it over, put it back on, and then use a mallet to pound on the top of the bolt/castle nut combination to break the tie rod end loose from the spindle. The castle nut protects the threads and helps keep the bolt head from mushrooming. However, in our case we did not quite get the castle nut flush with the top of the bolt, and when we hit it the threads on both the bolt and nut stripped. I am the proud new owner of a new tie rod end as a result. (One point of interest, the new one ordered from Advance Auto came with a bolt underneath so you can put a zirk fitting in, which I will likely do when I get a chance.) Once the new one came in, we used a ball joint separator to break it loose (right tool for the right job, a lesson I keep having to learn again and again). I ground down the one I bought to make it thinner so that it wouldn’t damage the rubber seal and could better fit around the tie rod. I haven’t tried it, but maybe a two jaw puller would work too?
• Disconnect ABS wire from UCA and spindle. On the UCA there is a bolt holding the bracket on, we took it off with a 12mm ratcheting wrench. On the spindle there are little plastic clamps. Instead of pulling them out as you might with other plastic connections, these open and you can pull out the cable with much less risk of breaking the clamp. There may not be a need for this if you are not swapping out UCAs, but disconnecting the ABS wire provides a bit more give in case you get more movement than we did.

• Loosen four bolts (14mm) holding sway bar to frame.

 

[USMCVader]

Disconnect sway bar from the linkage attached to LCA. The TSM has you disconnect both the sway bar and the linkage, but that proved to be a problem for us on both sides. The issue is that when you put the link back in, it is exceedingly challenging to get the bushing to line up on both sides, and when you put the bolt in you risk cross threading the captive nut on the LCA. If you disconnect the link from the sway bar, and leave it attached to the LCA, you can do everything you need to do without putting that captive nut at risk. However, we didn’t do it the way I recommend here, ended up jacking up the first thread or two in the captive nut on the passenger side, and thereby created a need to chase the threads on the captive nut. Sounds easy, but that nut is well protected on both sides. I ended up buying a 14mm 1.50 wheel stud, and then cut it down so I could fit it in. Then I cut some cutting slots into it to make it a poor man’s thread chaser. A set of needle nose vice grips to turn it, and some methodical work, and we were back in business. The alternative was buying a new LCA so I think it was worth it. Plus I got to make a tool that is now ready for the next bonehead mistake I make with a 14mm bolt.

 

[USMCVader]

• Loosen and remove lower bolt on shock (22mm). Once you remove the nut, you may have to drive the bolt out using a long punch. This is where I paid the required blood tribute to this project. The rod I used to drive out the long bolt hung up on the shock absorber as I went to pull it out. I didn’t realize he was going to do it, but my friend pushed down on the LCA while I was pulling and the rod suddenly came free…and I hammered it into my forehead. Since it was a head wound, I then proceeded to spray blood all over the garage before I could get a paper towel on it. Too busy bleeding to take pictures, sorry. Despite my friend trying to get me to put Crazy Glue on it, I had the bleeding stopped in short order and we continued, albeit with some chuckles that lasted the rest of the day.
  
  
• Using a paint pen or Sharpie, mark the LCA eccentric bolt locations. Once marked, loosen them with a 24mm socket.
  
  
• Loosen and remove two large bolts holding LCA to spindle (22mm). This was the real secret to Crikeymike’s video, and is what separated this method from the one in the TSM and most of the other posts and videos out there. These bolts have the highest torque value (221 ftlbs) of any I have found on the LC, so getting them loose is definitely an opportunity to sweat. However, by doing this you can drop the lower control arm while keeping the driveshaft in a normal position and with less risk to the CV boots. It also guarantees that you can get the shock out of the pocket, with no prying, no bouncing, etc.

 

[USMCVader]

• Remove (4) top nuts (14mm) holding on stock coil over, take out

 

[USMCVader]

• Install new shock coil over. They are handed as well, so make sure you have them on the matching side of the vehicle. Replace four nuts on top, and while still loose, bolt lower end of shock to LCA. Don’t torque until weight is back on vehicle since it will lead to early failure of the bushing.
• Bolt LCA to spindle using the two bolts removed earlier. Torque to 221 lbft.

 

[USMCVader]

• Reattach sway bar. This was a challenge, mainly because the front sway bar has a KDSS pivot point on the driver’s side. The diagram below shows what it looks like, with the bottom line that if you need it to move in a particular direction on the passenger side, you need to push up either forward or back from the KDSS pivot on the driver’s side. (I suggest starting on the passenger side since by the time you get done with that, the driver’s side will seem easier.) Once the vehicle is on the ground, torque to 100 lbft.

 

[USMCVader]

• Tighten up four bolts (14mm) that attach sway bar frame. (64 lbft)
• Reattach tie rod to spindle. Torque to 51lbft and put a new cotter pin in.
• Lower vehicle and torque everything to spec.

 

[USMCVader]

Upper Control Arms

I found this to be the easiest part of the whole project. The instructions from SPC are decent, and since it is only held on with one large bolt and a ball joint, it is more a matter of working in confined spaces than any real mechanical difficulty.

• Loosen KDSS valves 3 turns.
• Lift vehicle, remove front wheels (same comments as above).
• Set up SPC UCAs per SPC instructions. I put the ball joints on before installing the UCAs (30mm), but you could wait until it is installed instead. By this time in the project, I was tired of hanging out in my wheel wells so I was onboard for anything that I could do to prevent more of that.
• Use jack to support lower control arm.
• Disconnect the ABS brake wire from the UCA. (Same comments as above)
• Pull the pin from the ball joint. It is not a normal cotter pin, instead it has a clip that slips into one of the notches in the castle nut. While might be reusable, the SPC UCAs come with a cotter pin and I like those better anyway.
• Remove the nut from the ball joint, and strike the flat spot on the side of the spindle arm with a mallet (3lb metal mallet in my case) to break the ball joint loose.
• At this point you need better access to the bolt holding the UCA on. There are plastic wheel well coverings on either side that Toyota calls Fender Apron Trim Packing (WTF?) that are held on by two types of clips. Some are the normal black push button kind, and the others are white circles with holes in the middle. The TSM simply says to use a clip remover for all of them, but I could not figure out how the white ones actually worked and didn’t feel like replacing them, so I only removed the black push button ones on the bottom. It gave me enough room to get my hand and tools in so it worked.

 

[USMCVader]

• Remove the nut, bolt, (sorry, this one where I did not write down the nut size), two washers, and the UCA. (At least this is what the TSM says.) I ended up moving tubing and wires around from the top of the engine, and then going back and forth from the top of the engine to the wheel wells to pull the bolts out. I also removed the battery and its plastic tray. It is doable on both sides, with the key being patience. The bolts slid out surprisingly easily.
• Installation is essentially the reverse, with no OME parts other than the UCA bolt and nut being used with the SPC UCA. Once it was all installed I greased the ball joint.
• Reinstall wheels, check torques, etc. I could not get my torque wrench in on the driver’s side, so I applied ROGT (Relatively Old Guy Torque) such that I was comfortable driving it to get the alignment done and where I could have someone check the torque. (136 lbft)

 

[USMCVader]

Wrap Up

• You will definitely need an alignment. When I got to my guy (because in Rhode Island it is all about having a “guy” for everything from auto repair to where you buy your sea food), he was laughing as I drove in because he could hear the tires on the tile as you entered the shop.
• By doing it yourself you will save hundreds in labor costs, and learn more about your Land Cruiser in the process.
• While my tool inventory is perhaps over the top, in reality we only used a couple of tools for this project, primarily sockets, wrenches, jack stands, jacks, and a torque wrench. If you don’t have the tools now, by selectively buying them you could easily have them on hand for a relatively low investment. And these kinds of tools never go out of style. (Although they do break, exhibit A being my floor jack.)

 

[TLC2013]

Nice work, Thanks for sharing. Appreciate all the details in your posts. Great write up.

 

[USMCVader]

Nice work, Thanks for sharing. Appreciate all the details in your posts. Great write up.

Thanks! I was trying to provide help to everyone else looking at the same project. Realized after I posted it that my picture of my socket drawer might make some balk at the idea of doing it themselves. Everything to the left of the wrenches is SAE and doesn't apply, and half of the ones to the right are deep sockets or duplicates for 1/4, 3/8/ 1/2 drives, or 6 pt vs 12 pt. I have taken quite a bit of grief from my friends for it all, especially since I am still methodically adding to my impact sockets, and you certainly don't really need that if you are willing to apply sweat. However, after three trips to the store to get individual sockets for a previous project, my patience ran out and I pulled the trigger on this mess. Took me weeks to figure out how to fit it all in the dang drawer.

 

[linuxgod]

Man I wish I'd seen that Exit OffRoad video before doing mine a few years ago. Seems like that would make it MUCH easier. Trying to get the strut in and out of the cradle on the LCA was near impossible otherwise

 

[USMCVader]

Man I wish I'd seen that Exit OffRoad video before doing mine a few years ago. Seems like that would make it MUCH easier. Trying to get the strut in and out of the cradle on the LCA was near impossible otherwise

We tried it the more normal way, and when we struggled to get the OME version out, we were certain that getting one two inches longer was going to be beyond challenging. Crikeymike came through with the video, and that is by far the easiest method. (Even including the gut busting effort it takes to loosen those two bolts.)