Using KDSS to help remove front coilovers (1 Viewer)

[Yorttam83]

Used your method today, minus the LCA business. Worked out great. Thanks for posting it.

At 116K, my factory shocks/struts were ready for a refresh.

View attachment 3502010

The marriage between the rod and nut was a strong one. This morning was exciting.

The 5100s are riding nice though. Peter's Mill Run tomorrow I hope. Got to even out the gouges in my skids.

So you didn’t touch the valves to relax the kdss system? I’ll be tackling my suspension soon and while I have an understanding, my mechanical skills are in in way professional lol

 

[rav8]

So you didn’t touch the valves to relax the kdss system? I’ll be tackling my suspension soon and while I have an understanding, my mechanical skills are in in way professional lol

I did not.

On the rear, I disconnected the sway bar at the piston and link only. Used an under hoist support stand to adjust axle angle for shock removal/replacement and later to position sway bar for re-installation. I reconnected piston side first.

Up front I used the same support stand to raise the passenger LCA just slightly, which made more room for removing the driver strut assembly. Then moved the stand under the front KDSS piston and compressed it. This gave me room to remove/reinstall the passenger strut assembly with very little coaxing. I again moved the stand under the passenger LCA and raised it until the KDSS piston was close to fully extended (car was on a lift, so I stopped adjustment before it got too light on that side). The new driver strut went in with a little prying between the frame and where the sway bar meets the driver LCA (5100s are a bit longer assembled than stock).

I set it down, torqued the lower shock/strut bolts or nuts and all was good. You can substitute bottle jack anywhere I used support stand if doing this from jack stands. Hope that helps.

 

[Hiluxforever]

So you didn’t touch the valves to relax the kdss system? I’ll be tackling my suspension soon and while I have an understanding, my mechanical skills are in in way professional lol

Whatever you do, don't do that, if you are trying this way, as it will make it so the kdss can't help you.

Also make sure to use a jack that moves in a smooth motion vertically. I used a craptacular floor jack and it fell off everything 3 times. I now only use screw and hydraulic bottle Jack's. I was complacent in my prep.

In all fairness to myself, I learned all my mechanic skills in my teens and twenties, Including a stint helping wrench on a class 7 and class 8 Tough Trucks, but it's been a minute, I had not done any suspension work since my 85 4runner I had 17 years ago. I had not done any IFS work since putting Icon (Donahoe Racing) Upper A-Arms on my 85 5 lug, I was about half way through building a class 7s race truck when I enlisted. Ended up in Northern Cali and switch to 4wd. That was in 1999-2000.

So I was able to get it done by myself using the two stalls we rent in our parking garage