This video is a better explanation on how to do this job but I also just did it on a tundra that is 4x4 you can check that out here : th-cam.com/video/AoA9fBNQObU/w-d-xo.html
This is a great idea for vehicles it will work on! Its probably a short list, though, so I'd like to offer an alternative to people who this wont work for and fear the rental spring compressors. Just rent two sets of spring compressors. They are free at auto parts stores to rent, whether you get one or two. With 4 of the threaded rod clamps from the two sets, you halve the amount of force on the parts and add redundancy that should prevent any sort of catastrophic failure, should something break. Sure, it takes longer to spin 4 rods versus 2, but it makes the whole process way less sketchy.
@@baileyboyensI wish people would quit saying this because I've called literally every single mechanic in my area and they all say "absolutely no mechanic will do that for you unless they are replacing the whole strut themselves" or "fuck no we dont have a spring compressor" The nice ones have told me to rent the AutoZone tool so. Where the hell do you all live with such nice mechanics who dont care about profit?
Hey Bailey - Thanks for taking the time to share your skills with us. Your videos are nicely done, thorough and quietly entertaining - Ivy could be a star of your videos!
Been wanting to install the Bilstein 5100’s on the front of my 05 Titan. Compressing the springs has been the only thing holding me back. Thank you for making this video! I’m definitely going to try it after I watch your other video!
Awesome idea, I've been meaning to do this to my 2005 toyota tundra with some bilstein 5100 adjustables. But none of the wheel shops or mechanics want to do the work for me or just compress the stock coilovers to the new struts. I've been skiddish to do this via those coil compressors almost decided to build my own wall mount, but this is so much better. Thanks again my dude awesome awesome video. One love
Heck ya man give it a go . I actually have a video of doing this on the tundra it should be the pinned comment on this video I think. Why won’t the shops do it for you that’s weird? Good luck man
Thanks for the video, seen this , didn’t like the way the spring compressors were looking and use your method instead. Worked like a charm. 2014 camery
Just a fantastic and encouraging video, and I'm driving a 2015 Honda Pilot SE with 143K miles in NEOhio. Been watching tons of videos on removing and compressing springs and shocks off the vehicle, now I'm encouraged to see if this will work on mine. The slight bummer is the top bolts are only accessible through a little plastic opening inside the engine bay under the windshield. With all the videos on all types of car suspension issues on TH-cam, you'd think more would have tried this method. Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you. I saw many films on this project, but couldn't find any one, where the spring would be decompressed totally. Everyone compresses the old spring and relocates it on a new strut. I have a new assembly, but think it is safer to bring decompressed spring for recycling than to bring it as the assembly with that compressed spring in it. very informative film w/quite easy solution of the problem.
I have to say Thanks again Bailey! I put new front struts ony 98 4runner today and the job went great! If I ever run into you, I owe you a greasy cheeseburger!! Lol!!
Great Video, thanks! This method is far safer that using spring compressors. I did this today on my 97 4runner with TRD progressive front coils and 5100 Bilsteins with 2 1/2" lift. Because of my taller setup I ended up having to remove the lower ball joint from the lower control arm in order to remove the coil. First side took me two hours and the second side took me 30 minutes.
Yupp i approve this method brudah! As long as the car allows it, and you've placed the floor jack in a safe position underneath so it doesnt slip n slide.. thank you for making a solid video 👍
I had a Toyota hilux 5VZFE engine. I always changed my oil and filter at 5000 km. Over 100000 km? Compression still showed 179 psi per cylinder. Good torque at 291 NM. With the manual tranny? Great engine! Subbed and liked 👍 cheers from Australia
WARNIG FOR ANYONE WITH BILSTEIN ADJUSTABLE SHOCKS!! I just successfully installed Bilstein 6112’s on my 2000 Tundra 4x4 and this method worked but almost didn’t. The issue was the length. In the instructions it says to set the drivers side to a higher lift setting than the passenger side. Passenger side was a breeze, divers side was almost a little too long uncompressed to use this method. I had to have a second person step on the lower control arm to swing it down far enough for me to get the bottom of the shock bolted in. For my Access Cab model, Bilstein recommended no more than a 1” lift (the shock is capable of 2”) so if a person disregarded that advice and tried to max it out, it might have been too long for this method to work (on my specific vehicle anyway).
Noice! Gotta do this with my Silverado and I hate those cheap spring compressors. I like how you have the wheels under the truck just in case something goes wrong. 👍
Heck ya thanks for subscribing ! I did not loosed the alignment bolts . Although you could and it would prob be even easier? But was a non issue for me. You would want to get a alignment afterward either way so guess it wouldn’t hurt
BE AWARE... PLEASE READ THIS: This is a good idea only if you are planning on installing new lower ball joints, or you are will replace the bolts... Please be aware that the bolts that hold the LBJ are YIELD TO TORQUE and cannot be reused...I repeat CANNOT BE REUSED. Inform yourself about Yield to torque bolts and you will understand. Buy new OEM bolts so you can save the money that the shop will charge for placing the new struts on the mount and springs... Or just buy the entire assembly. But for your safety DO NOT REUSE the bolts. Thanks
Old Mustang fox, have to use smaller coil spring compressors than ones you pictured that go on sides of coils for the front, then let A arm down with Jack after disconnecting Strut with Jack under, and stand back, let them pop out like you do for back. No coil spring compressor needed for taking them out or putting them in, in back. Front you have to compress enough to wedge it in a-arm and jack it up to connect strut up for front. 😆
I have been using this method of replacing struts for about 10 years. I have done it on 3 3rd gen 4Runners and 2 3rd gen Tacomas. I figure why not use the suspension as the spring compressor. On 3rd gen Tacomas and 4th and 5th gen 4Runners are even easier.
I did this. I feel its a lot safer than the rental compressor tool. The only thing that gave me trouble was the bolts for the lower ball joint. They would not catch the thread! Eventually they did.
Thanks for the video. I am in the process of doing this on my 2001 Tundra 4WD. I just got one side off. There were some KYB gas shocks on the truck, and when I finally got the bottom bolt undone on the bottom of the shock, by tapping it carefully with a punch after the nut was removed, the gas shock let loose pretty explosively. I had lowered the floor jack to decompress everything, and even so, those gas shocks still had some energy in them. Just a heads up to others, be safe. I had safety glasses on and anticipated this might happen. It was not the coil spring but the shock absorber. Any tips on how to avoid this from happening on the other side?
@baileyboyens Thanks...its an 01 Runner with the original suspension. Tie rods are toast, so I've decided to replace everything since I'm in there. I like this method much better than those spring compression tools. Thanks, man!
I’ve been messing with the suspension on a 2004 Sequoia. This isn’t my jam do I’m getting as much information from TH-cam as possible. I wish I saw this before replacing my lower ball joints!! What kind of dog is Ivy? Looks and acts like my families Cavapoo.
Sequoias are awesome! Ive learned everything from youtube basically so figured I’d try and put somethings out that might help others as well. Ivy is supposedly a poodle Pomeranian dachshund mix hahaha little bit of everything!
I’m going to be running those shocks in the rear those are Land Cruiser shocks. with the Dobinson Springs 3 inch lift believe they’re not those shocks are long travel
I rewatched your video to get ideas for what I’m thinking about trying but didn’t see any thing to help me with my theory. My 2.5 spacer came as a regular 1 inch ring which bolts on like you have there and a quarter inch plate. I did not include the plate as I thought I only wanted to go 2 inch lift but now I want to put it in. I was thinking if there is a way, by loosening the top three bolts on the strut cap and then lifting the body high enough to slide that quarter inch plate in. You executed the spring swap flawlessly so do you have any recommendations on what I’m thinking about doing? I mean we wouldn’t drive around without those three bolts because we would think the entire strut would come out of its bracket somehow. That’s kind of what I want to make happen in a controlled way so I could get that quarter inch plate in.
I’m pretty sure I’m following what you are saying. I’m assuming you had somebody else instal the original spacer ? You are looking for a shortcut on a job that does not need a short cut. If you have basic tools and watch some timmythetoolman videos i am confident you can get the other spacer on! You won’t be able to just slide it on you will need to remove the whole strut assembly. Just make sure you have the car jacked up safely!! Good luck 👍🙌
@@baileyboyens Gotcha and thank you. I did the original work myself and I do admit I’m looking for a shortcut because I don’t want to take the lower ball joint apart again if I don’t need to. I’ve already done an alignment or I should say had it done and I’m thinking if there’s a shortcut to slipping a spacer in I might get away with it
@@baileyboyens - unfortunately the top of my front shocks on my car (BMW E46) are bolted to the strut tower in the engine bay so if I tried your method it would most likely mushroom out the top of the tower.
That’s only 50% correct. I just installed Bilstein 6112’s on my 2000 Tundra 4x4 and this method worked but almost didn’t. The issue was the length. In the instructions it says to set the drivers side to a higher lift setting than the passenger side. Passenger side was a breeze, divers side was almost a little too long uncompressed to use this method. I had to have a second person step on the lower control arm to swing it down far enough for me to get the bottom of the shock bolted in. For my Access Cab model, Bilstein recommended no more than a 1” lift (the shock is capable of 2”) so if a person disregarded that advice and tried to max it out, it might have been too long for this method to work.
This video is a better explanation on how to do this job but I also just did it on a tundra that is 4x4 you can check that out here : th-cam.com/video/AoA9fBNQObU/w-d-xo.html
This is a great idea for vehicles it will work on! Its probably a short list, though, so I'd like to offer an alternative to people who this wont work for and fear the rental spring compressors. Just rent two sets of spring compressors. They are free at auto parts stores to rent, whether you get one or two. With 4 of the threaded rod clamps from the two sets, you halve the amount of force on the parts and add redundancy that should prevent any sort of catastrophic failure, should something break. Sure, it takes longer to spin 4 rods versus 2, but it makes the whole process way less sketchy.
Also you can always remove them then just take it into a shop and they can swap them for you quickly and pretty cheap too.
@@baileyboyensI wish people would quit saying this because I've called literally every single mechanic in my area and they all say "absolutely no mechanic will do that for you unless they are replacing the whole strut themselves" or "fuck no we dont have a spring compressor"
The nice ones have told me to rent the AutoZone tool so.
Where the hell do you all live with such nice mechanics who dont care about profit?
I've swapped plenty of struts and never used a spring compressor. I've always managed to find some version of this method. Good sharing!
Hey Bailey - Thanks for taking the time to share your skills with us. Your videos are nicely done, thorough and quietly entertaining - Ivy could be a star of your videos!
Thank you thank you thank you! Ivy is too shy for the camera 😂😂
Dude, thank you. You saved me 150 bucks from a shop charging me to get the struts together. Subscribed!
Let’s gooo! Stoked to hear that. It’s so easy this was I’m not sure why more people don’t do it.
Brother you’re my hero, I thought I was effed but you gave me the safest way to do this
Let’s go man! Stoked!
Been wanting to install the Bilstein 5100’s on the front of my 05 Titan. Compressing the springs has been the only thing holding me back. Thank you for making this video! I’m definitely going to try it after I watch your other video!
Goodluck!!!
Did it work for you?
I've thought about this a long time ago. I knew it was possible. Finally someone proved it.
Awesome idea, I've been meaning to do this to my 2005 toyota tundra with some bilstein 5100 adjustables. But none of the wheel shops or mechanics want to do the work for me or just compress the stock coilovers to the new struts. I've been skiddish to do this via those coil compressors almost decided to build my own wall mount, but this is so much better. Thanks again my dude awesome awesome video. One love
Heck ya man give it a go . I actually have a video of doing this on the tundra it should be the pinned comment on this video I think. Why won’t the shops do it for you that’s weird? Good luck man
Hey big thanks to you Bailey for sharing this info. I have no special tools for this job atm so this is great! Wishing you well
Yessssir 🙏🏻🫡 good luck have fun
Thanks for the video, seen this , didn’t like the way the spring compressors were looking and use your method instead. Worked like a charm.
2014 camery
Just a fantastic and encouraging video, and I'm driving a 2015 Honda Pilot SE with 143K miles in NEOhio. Been watching tons of videos on removing and compressing springs and shocks off the vehicle, now I'm encouraged to see if this will work on mine. The slight bummer is the top bolts are only accessible through a little plastic opening inside the engine bay under the windshield. With all the videos on all types of car suspension issues on TH-cam, you'd think more would have tried this method. Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you. I saw many films on this project, but couldn't find any one, where the spring would be decompressed totally. Everyone compresses the old spring and relocates it on a new strut. I have a new assembly, but think it is safer to bring decompressed spring for recycling than to bring it as the assembly with that compressed spring in it. very informative film w/quite easy solution of the problem.
Stoked it helped you!! Good luck
I have to say Thanks again Bailey! I put new front struts ony 98 4runner today and the job went great! If I ever run into you, I owe you a greasy cheeseburger!! Lol!!
So stoked it helped !!
Great Video, thanks! This method is far safer that using spring compressors. I did this today on my 97 4runner with TRD progressive front coils and 5100 Bilsteins with 2 1/2" lift. Because of my taller setup I ended up having to remove the lower ball joint from the lower control arm in order to remove the coil. First side took me two hours and the second side took me 30 minutes.
@@-gnbuilders-6233 always takes way longer first side haha. Stoked it worked out for you!!
Great "outside the box" thinking. I'll try that on my Prius. I was dreading using spring compressors that I've heard called "widow makers".
Safe, simple, & secure. Great video … thank you very much!
Stoked thank you!
This helped me get my springs out of my Marauder without the tool. Thanks!!!
Awesome!!!
Yupp i approve this method brudah! As long as the car allows it, and you've placed the floor jack in a safe position underneath so it doesnt slip n slide.. thank you for making a solid video 👍
perfect illustration of removing coils from shocks way easier than using a spring compressor .
You're video was great! Way easier than using the compressor.... Thanks!!!!
Heck ya glad it helped!!
I had a Toyota hilux 5VZFE engine. I always changed my oil and filter at 5000 km. Over 100000 km? Compression still showed 179 psi per cylinder. Good torque at 291 NM. With the manual tranny? Great engine! Subbed and liked 👍 cheers from Australia
Great idea and video. But I am really amazed on how clean and rust free that 4runner is. 😇💯😬
Right! It’s so awesome. I bought it in Austin Texas. It stays in the garage during winter for the most part now
Thanks for the video and demonstration. Working on my Taco this upcoming weekend and will save time and $ taking the assemblies to a shop.
Heck ya man you’re welcome!
WARNIG FOR ANYONE WITH BILSTEIN ADJUSTABLE SHOCKS!!
I just successfully installed Bilstein 6112’s on my 2000 Tundra 4x4 and this method worked but almost didn’t. The issue was the length.
In the instructions it says to set the drivers side to a higher lift setting than the passenger side. Passenger side was a breeze, divers side was almost a little too long uncompressed to use this method. I had to have a second person step on the lower control arm to swing it down far enough for me to get the bottom of the shock bolted in. For my Access Cab model, Bilstein recommended no more than a 1” lift (the shock is capable of 2”) so if a person disregarded that advice and tried to max it out, it might have been too long for this method to work (on my specific vehicle anyway).
Fu##ng hell wish I’d watched this before I started the job with spring compressors……so easy thanks👍
Haha let’s go baby get it done!
Noice! Gotta do this with my Silverado and I hate those cheap spring compressors.
I like how you have the wheels under the truck just in case something goes wrong. 👍
Always slide them under !! Good luck on the Silverado
We don’t have to loosen the alignment bolts? Most others did. Thanks for sharing this is so much better. New sub. Really appreciate.
Heck ya thanks for subscribing ! I did not loosed the alignment bolts . Although you could and it would prob be even easier? But was a non issue for me. You would want to get a alignment afterward either way so guess it wouldn’t hurt
Great video. And narration!
good idea!! only works with bolted lower ball joints though.
BE AWARE... PLEASE READ THIS:
This is a good idea only if you are planning on installing new lower ball joints, or you are will replace the bolts... Please be aware that the bolts that hold the LBJ are YIELD TO TORQUE and cannot be reused...I repeat CANNOT BE REUSED. Inform yourself about Yield to torque bolts and you will understand. Buy new OEM bolts so you can save the money that the shop will charge for placing the new struts on the mount and springs... Or just buy the entire assembly. But for your safety DO NOT REUSE the bolts.
Thanks
Thanks for sharing .. I haven’t had any issues but I guess it only takes one time
Thank you for bringing this to attention, I've never heard of those bolts. I'll keep in mind. Thank you again.
Old Mustang fox, have to use smaller coil spring compressors than ones you pictured that go on sides of coils for the front, then let A arm down with Jack after disconnecting Strut with Jack under, and stand back, let them pop out like you do for back. No coil spring compressor needed for taking them out or putting them in, in back. Front you have to compress enough to wedge it in a-arm and jack it up to connect strut up for front. 😆
I have been using this method of replacing struts for about 10 years. I have done it on 3 3rd gen 4Runners and 2 3rd gen Tacomas. I figure why not use the suspension as the spring compressor. On 3rd gen Tacomas and 4th and 5th gen 4Runners are even easier.
Sweet man ya it’s much easier than the conventional tool
Awesome way to do the job. Not sure my Acura can do this too though.
I did this. I feel its a lot safer than the rental compressor tool. The only thing that gave me trouble was the bolts for the lower ball joint. They would not catch the thread! Eventually they did.
i wont go back to the clamp style this felt so much more safe !
Broooo this is brilliant!!!!!!
Did it end up working for you?
Ganna do this on my 03 Tacoma tomorrow thanks bro!
Let’s go! You’re welcome man good luck
Good video,, good for tacobell owner,, BUT,, does it work on my 2021 f150 ??? try ??
GREAT VIDEO MAN!! THANKS!!
Thank you!!
Bonus points for listening to Palace
Fantastic,,,,so simple...yes far better then Coil clamp
Awesome ! Glad to hear it worked out for you!!
Very good definitely will try out someday save a lot time
Awesome! Just be careful !
I see you got fluffy there for safety purposes the inspector make sure it's done right!
Yessir she doesn’t let anything slide double and triple checks my work 😂😂
Thanks for the video. I am in the process of doing this on my 2001 Tundra 4WD. I just got one side off. There were some KYB gas shocks on the truck, and when I finally got the bottom bolt undone on the bottom of the shock, by tapping it carefully with a punch after the nut was removed, the gas shock let loose pretty explosively. I had lowered the floor jack to decompress everything, and even so, those gas shocks still had some energy in them. Just a heads up to others, be safe. I had safety glasses on and anticipated this might happen. It was not the coil spring but the shock absorber. Any tips on how to avoid this from happening on the other side?
Use a bottle jack on the top of the upper control arm to release some tension .. Goodluck be safe!!
Great video, thank you 👨🏼🔧
Thank you for watching hope it helped!
You think this will work on an 03 pontiac vibe fwd for the rear struts? Basically a Toyota matrix?
I have no idea what the underside of one of those looks like.. but the vibes are sick cars! I bet you can figure it out either way! Goodluck
I'm replacing my inner and outer tie rods. I'm guessing this would be a prime time to change the shocks using this method?
@@da324 you don’t have to take the shock off to replace the tie rods. So unless the shocks need to be replaced it’s not a big deal
@baileyboyens Thanks...its an 01 Runner with the original suspension. Tie rods are toast, so I've decided to replace everything since I'm in there. I like this method much better than those spring compression tools. Thanks, man!
Bout to see if I can do this on my 2005 sequoia
Should work! Have fun!
Same way I've always done it.
I’ve been messing with the suspension on a 2004 Sequoia. This isn’t my jam do I’m getting as much information from TH-cam as possible.
I wish I saw this before replacing my lower ball joints!!
What kind of dog is Ivy? Looks and acts like my families Cavapoo.
Sequoias are awesome! Ive learned everything from youtube basically so figured I’d try and put somethings out that might help others as well. Ivy is supposedly a poodle Pomeranian dachshund mix hahaha little bit of everything!
Did you have to get a new alignment afterwards? Nice video, subscribed!
Yes I did! Thank you!!
How did you get that coil off the old shock and put it on the new shock?
That’s literally what I explain in the video hahha
@@baileyboyens I'll take a second look. Maybe I skipped over it 🤣. Thanks for the quick response!
@@Followthepinas I just can’t explain it better than the video haha basically just compress the lower control arm and loosen / tighten the top bolt
Hey man do you think this technique would work on a ford falcon
I have no idea tbh. Sorry!
Great job, thanks so much
Heck ya! Thank you 🙌🏻
you are so right, thanks for the info.
Mate that looks easy enough. Think I’ll have a go and report back… if I can still see 🤕, jokes aside, deffo more confident to have a go. Cheers
Get after it! Let me know how it goes! If you have your fingers still to type 😂
This strut looks almost exactly like the Silverado 2008 through 2014.
I have a first gen tundra. Did you have to loosen the lower control arm cam bolts at all? Or just the 4 lower ball joint bolts?
i didnt loosen the cam botls. but you can you will need to get an alignment either way.
I’m going to be running those shocks in the rear those are Land Cruiser shocks. with the Dobinson Springs 3 inch lift believe they’re not those shocks are long travel
these arent extended travel shocks im planning on keeping this one mostly on pavement. original shocks were just done for
@@baileyboyens Yes I understand but thank you for the stance that I like I know someone running that set up with amazing really comfortable to
@@flexapex9801 im excited to have a better ride!
I rewatched your video to get ideas for what I’m thinking about trying but didn’t see any thing to help me with my theory.
My 2.5 spacer came as a regular 1 inch ring which bolts on like you have there and a quarter inch plate. I did not include the plate as I thought I only wanted to go 2 inch lift but now I want to put it in. I was thinking if there is a way, by loosening the top three bolts on the strut cap and then lifting the body high enough to slide that quarter inch plate in.
You executed the spring swap flawlessly so do you have any recommendations on what I’m thinking about doing?
I mean we wouldn’t drive around without those three bolts because we would think the entire strut would come out of its bracket somehow. That’s kind of what I want to make happen in a controlled way so I could get that quarter inch plate in.
I’m pretty sure I’m following what you are saying. I’m assuming you had somebody else instal the original spacer ? You are looking for a shortcut on a job that does not need a short cut. If you have basic tools and watch some timmythetoolman videos i am confident you can get the other spacer on! You won’t be able to just slide it on you will need to remove the whole strut assembly. Just make sure you have the car jacked up safely!! Good luck 👍🙌
@@baileyboyens Gotcha and thank you. I did the original work myself and I do admit I’m looking for a shortcut because I don’t want to take the lower ball joint apart again if I don’t need to. I’ve already done an alignment or I should say had it done and I’m thinking if there’s a shortcut to slipping a spacer in I might get away with it
@@bripro68I feel ya. Honestly not much more work tho.. also if you are going to add the spacer you ideally should get it re aligned again
@@baileyboyens truth. Just looking for a cheat, esp for only half inch of lift.
Wheel alignment?
Yes always get one after suspension work
I tried this on my 202 sierra 1500 just lifted entire truck 😂😂 worked on impala do
Stoked!
I guess you don't know if this works on a Nissan Xterra? It seems like it should work.
Great idea.thanks
Beside videography, good explanation
Thanks fam
Thanks a million
Good video
Thank you man!!
I was thinking about that
Brilliant
Hope it helps!
OUR 4Runner.
your exhaust pipe that needs a new sensor
Genius!
Was stoked that it worked so well ! Hopefully it helps you
@@baileyboyens - unfortunately the top of my front shocks on my car (BMW E46) are bolted to the strut tower in the engine bay so if I tried your method it would most likely mushroom out the top of the tower.
This is great! Anyone try it on a Nissan Frontier?
Now for the back😂😂😂
woah! yes thanks
You’re welcome 🫡
Thanks bro
hope it helped family
Puppy ivy in this what the heck 😢
🥹🥹🥹🥹
Seems sketch
Wyatt do not try this at home
I care
Family thank you
bilstein 6112's don't work this way
Thanks for letting us know. Are they just bigger or what
That’s only 50% correct. I just installed Bilstein 6112’s on my 2000 Tundra 4x4 and this method worked but almost didn’t. The issue was the length.
In the instructions it says to set the drivers side to a higher lift setting than the passenger side. Passenger side was a breeze, divers side was almost a little too long uncompressed to use this method. I had to have a second person step on the lower control arm to swing it down far enough for me to get the bottom of the shock bolted in. For my Access Cab model, Bilstein recommended no more than a 1” lift (the shock is capable of 2”) so if a person disregarded that advice and tried to max it out, it might have been too long for this method to work.