Hi. Havent been around for a while but have a question regarding front struts on my 98 taco trd. I just got new bilstein struts put up front 6 months ago and my front end is very very bouncy. I took it back to the shop to see what they thought. They seemed to think the struts were probably gone. So they call Toyota. Toyota goes on to tell my mechanic that its probably the springs that are shot not the struts. Im thinking WTF? That makes no sence. Struts are basically shocks and they dampen the front springs from boucing. Anyone ever heard of this? I have about 190.000k on the truck.
Thanks.

 

A quick wat to check the shocks is to bounce the front end up and down with your body weight. At the bottom of a cycle let go and if the shocks are good, the front end should come up to it's ride height and stop. If the shocks are bad, it'll come up above the normal ride height and then drop back down (may even cycle a few times).

 

The front end on my 98 Taco was wicked bouncy, I hated it, I ended up replacing the springs and shocks and that did the trick.

*edit-just looked at your homepage and you have a heavy front bumper and winch on there, upgrade your springs and coils to something more heavy duty, all that weight will wear down those springs pretty quick and cause it to be bouncy.

 

I'd say you are correct. Springs and shocks do different things. Springs hold the weight while the shocks resist movement. Stiffer springs will only limit the travel over a bump giving the impression of less bounce. The shocks will actually stop the movement.

 

Yup. Nice try Toyota. My front end bounces a few times (3)if i press on the front end and let go. I have 6000 km on new struts and this is the state they are in. Now i wonder if Toyota will fork over a new set as well as install. I doubt it.