Not a mechanic buy my father has a fully functional garage that he uses to work on excavating equipment. He has about every tool I could imagine. My question is how hard is it to remove factory springs and shocks and replace with an OME setup or the Tundra/OME setup. I'm not a mechanic but would like to do it myself. On a different note, do I need a diff drop kit with OME or tundra/OME lift setup?

 

Just did mine a few months back, the back is cake, you could be a child and do it. The front is a little harder. You need a spring compressor, an impact wrench would help a lot too. and you have to be careful, they can be a bit dangerous. I had a hard time getting the whole front strut back in, the control arms didn't want to give me enough space, but if you have a larger friend to help compress the lower a-arm, and unbolt the sway bar, it is not terrible. All in all, the job shouldnt take more than a day with the right parts.

 

YES

where do you live, someone might be able to help.

Its pretty easy!

 

Sounds like Jason "got lucky" , but the worst thing for me was dealing with the nut on top of the rear shocks. They're a classic headache because it's a blind reach, you need a ratcheting box wrench or a deep socket on a low-profile handle. You'll also need (well, "want") a strap wrench to get leverage on the shock body while you're cranking on that top nut.


Then, depending on where you live, then up front you may run into fun like this.

Introducing... the nut from hell (click for larger pics):


There're a LOT of siezed bolts on my truck. That comes from it spending the first 5 years of it's life in the salt of Chicago winters.

 

I live in Roanoke , VA. Can you rent a spring compressor from Advanced or Autozone?

 

Yeup... they rent 'em out here, I don't see whay they wouldn't there!

 

there are tons of guys on Blacksburg...not too far from Roanoke. If you supply beer/pizza, im sure they'd be down for some wrenchin!