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Plan. |
More
photos below. |
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After a 150 something thousand miles, my stock Supra
shocks were shot. Apparently Tokico makes the factory shocks,
the only difference being the stock ones are black. Since I
will have to remove the springs anyway, I decided to go ahead and
upgrade them too.
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Eibach springs...
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The Project. |
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Since I have TEMS, I had to completely remove the rear seat, tire cover,
and all the skin in the back of the car just to get the back
actuator off. I then broke loose the top center
bolt of all four shocks. Remove the bolt on the upper A arms.
On the right front the bolt goes forward and I had to loosen the windshield washer bottle
to give myself enough room for the bolt to come out. After
removing the TEMS actuators, I took off the 3 bolts holding the shock tops
and the one holding the bottoms in. I pushed down on the
lower A arm with one leg, tilted the top of the shock out from under
the fender, and lifted the shock and spring out. I used a
spring compressor to squeeze the springs prior to undoing
the plate at the top of the shock (this plate is under tension, be
sure to compress the spring). This plate can now be taken off
by removing the single center bolt loosened earlier (if it wasn't
loose earlier, the shock shaft will just spin with the bolt now).
I removed the compressed spring and set it onto the new shock.
I attached the top plate, hand tightened the center bolt, and
released the spring. There are set places the springs sit in.
After each shock and spring was done, I installed everything back to
where it started. An important thing to pay
attention to- after reinstalling the upper A arm bolt, set the tire
onto the wheel hub and lift the suspension to approximate ride height with a floor jack.
Then remove the tire and tighten the bolt. This allows
the bushings to be in their untwisted state while the car is under
normal load.
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Difficulty. |
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1- Since I had TEMS, I had to remove the rear seat, the tire cover
and all the rear skin just to get the rear actuators off the top of
the shock. Geeze!
2- Compressing the spring takes some time. Tighten a little on
one side then the other, and back, and forth, etc. It goes a
whole lot quicker with an air ratchet.
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The Problems. |
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1-
Some have talked about the Tokicos blowing seals, but mine haven't
(knock on wood).
2- I wished that Tokico would have put there lettering on the other
side. As it is, the lettering faces the engine compartment
instead of the wheel opening.
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The
Payoff. |
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After the sloppy ride that I used to have, this upgrade was well
worth it.
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Back to top... |
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Time |
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6 hours (done with springs) |
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Total Cost |
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$300.00 |
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Difficulty, 1 to 10 |
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1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 |
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Problems, 1 - 10 |
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1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 |
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Payoff, 1 - 10 |
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1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 |
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Materials/Parts |
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Tools |
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Ratchet and sockets |
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Phillips head screwdriver |
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Spring compressor |
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Pliers |
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