nrgetic99

All those folks who have messed with the IFS on the 4th gens, why would you not remove the upper a-arm ball joint when doing coilover change outs ?

It would save all the jacking of the lower a-arm to clear the coilover assy for removal/replacement. The lower a-arm could then droop enough to release the coilover at the top first.

I have X-reas and I am simply thinking of the easiest way to remove the shock without straining anything...

I am guessing lower a-arm and driveshaft assy would droop but could be supported by a jack stand at or around level.

Thinking about it, the length of the driveshaft would limit the droop of the lower a-arm .... What am I missing here :pat:

EDITED TO ADD : With the lower a-arm connected and the outboard end of the driveshaft connected to the hub carrier, is there a danger the inner end of the driveshaft could pop out of the diff if you allowed the arm to droop too far ???

Or is there a stop of some kind that restricts downward travel of the lower a-arm before you have enough room to remove coilover ??

So many questions..... so little time

David

Good Times

When I helped Biff add his suspension, we removed the tie rod. that'll give you ample room

Hope that helps

nrgetic99

I looked at all the pics.....

Looks like loads of room without a pesky driveshaft to get in the way

David

bulldog-yota

It will be messy to remove the top a arm balljoint, with the rubber boot. Also you will have to be very careful with the ABS sensor wire as it runs along the top a arm and down. It is more of a pain to remove the a arm than slip the strut out with it in place.

IT works fine by taking out the sway bar and the tierod, even with 4wd. Tracy and I both posted write up with lots of pics. So you will be fine.

r0cky

David, ask Anthony -- i had never tried it that way, but Anthony explained it to me today and i was going to try it, but the sway bar end link balljoint is being a bastard so i quit for now.

but really - he explained it to another guy who was doing the lift today and that guy said it helped soooooo much. you WILL need to be careful with the ABS sensor wire ... but you need to be careful with that no matter how you work to get the coil/strut out.

now, i'm going to go back to fretting over how to get the balljoint out.

fourunnabilly

N99-

I'll do my best here and hope it helps ya. There is absolutely nothing wrong with disconnecting the top of the spindle from the upper control arm. This WILL buy you more space to work with, as well as allow the lower arm and spindle to droop a bit. I have installed kits this way myself, and helped to install many kits over the phone this way as well. There are two main things that you need to be aware of. The first is your abs lines. disconnect the line from the wheel sensor, and trace it back and remove it from the spindle as well, all the way to the upper control arm. Some parts involve unsnapping it from plastic or metal clips, and others involve removing a 10 or 12mm bolt. Do this first as a new line is $40 bucks that can be well spent other wise. Once this is done, disconnec that sucker and let the lower arm and spindle fall down. If this still does not allow you enough room, bend the dust shield for your disc brakes in toward the frame rail so you can place a bottle jack on top of the disc. Toss a block of wood on top of the bottle jack to allow the pressure you will now be putting on the inside of the fender to be dispersed a little better. Continue to crank that bottle jack against the top part of the fender until you get enough room to work. Ok, now comes the other important part. By pushing the lower arm down this far you may pull the axle out of the housing. To get it back in safely, which is super easy as long as you are careful, just slowly turn the hub until the axle finds the teeth/gear that it fits into and you will see that it will slide right back in. Once this is done, to get the spindle back up to the upper control arm connection, put a jack under the lower arm and crank it up there until you get that spindle where it needs to be...again, another easy answer to this scenario. After that, you just reconnect the abs line and tighten the nut on the spindle/a-arm connection. Hope that helps ya. Just take your time and pay attention to what your IFS is doing and you will be fine. Patience is key here, do your best to maintain it so you dont wreck anything. Good luck, if you have any other questions just shout back.

Anthony