CHANGE 4runner shock WITHOUT Spring Compressor tool???

If you are "lifting" your front end with the adjustable Bilstein 5100's (like the 3rd or 4th clip position) you may need to put the lower shock bolt in and compress the LCA with the floor jack in order to get the upper shock threaded post into the shock tower hole (the spring will need to be compressed more in order to engage the upper shock mount so you can get the rubber/washer/nut on).
Bilstein 5100 Part #: 24-196499 Front shocks: amzn.to/3GTqPRU
for this 2019 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off Road
5th generation

[@chadjoneslsu]

One amazing thing as hands on learner . Is I’ve seen three videos of someone using this same technique on a 4Runner . But still people just have different ways . I love seeing all the videos and learning from everybody. Great video thanks for letting me know. Last video a guy actually took the lower control arm bolts of and even the bushing . As you said you won’t need too👌 anything to make the job easier

[@JimmyFlim]

Dude, your video is superb. I've watched about a dozen of these over the past 2 weeks in preparation of doing this for my 2nd gen Tacoma and your video by far covers way more than any others I'd seen. Especially the significant info on torquing the cam bolts after the vehicle is lowered onto the tires on flat ground.

[@juliosdiy3206]

I have full confidence of doing it man ur video is the best ive seen u explain alot.

[@Fortress9196]

This video was a huge help! I've had a set of 5100s sitting in the a box in the garage for a while. I wanted to do the work myself, but was hesitant about using a spring compressor. After watching this video I got it done this afternoon without any problems. This is my first time commenting on any YT video... just had to let you know how much I appreciate the instructions!

[@andywiggens1069]

Thank you so much for your entertainment only video this was by far one of the easiest installs I have ever done. I'm an old fart (61) and went out and knocked the front end out in 2 hours. The hardest part of the job was putting back that damn after market skid plate back on

[@basik1dotcom]

Great job on the shock swap, way less sketchy than a spring compressor.

[@Asian_Connection]

This is really a great video. Super detail and extremely comprehensive. Do more. Get a 3rd gen 4runner. It's great fun to work on.

[@Kaseyaught6]

Thanx for the great vid. Works on 2nd Gen Tacoma. Hardest part was rusted strut mount bolts … install with your example was a piece of cake. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@anesthesiadreamin]

That's good news that it works on the second gens as well! Glad it helped you 🙂 Thanks for watching and for posting 👍

[@davidhess3895]

Thanks. I'm about to do my 2015, front and back. I like your style and the way you approach the job. At 140k, I imagine I'll be replacing other system over time, so keep the 4 Runner videos coming!

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Good luck and be safe! Let me know how it goes for you. 👍

[@hughmongus8860]

Thanks for your entertainment only video That was the easiest install I have ever done knocked it out in 2 hours the hardest part was installing the after market skid plate back on

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Great news! Glad it helped. Which shocks did u use?

[@hughmongus8860]

@@anesthesiadreamin Bilstein's 5100 Tomorrow the backs go on

[@thomaswarren222]

Thanks for this! I'm going to do my Tundra and this is going to save me about $1000!

[@stevenbard4088]

Thanks for adding the text for your learnings as you did the install.

[@atts_other_at]

Very useful video, most of this info was relevant to my 3rd gen 4Runner. the process was pretty much exactly the same.

[@tanktankerson1042]

Thank you for this video! I've been wanting to replace my front shocks on my 07 FJ Cruiser for a while now and get rid of the lift kit spacer that I installed back in 2008. Looks like I can do that with these shocks and movable snap ring. Plus, I don't have to take "everything" apart!

[@edlee7917]

Thank you for making this video. Good tips and techniques!

[@RockyBourgoyne]

Nicely done video sir! Extremely informative and well detailed. Appreciate it

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Thanks for the kind comments, and thanks for watching! Hope it's helpful :-)

[@eleazararauz5413]

Works 100% I just did it yesterday with heavy duty DOBINSON SPRING on my 4Runner 😎

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Good to hear! I will have to check out the Dobinson springs... Do you have a heavy front bumper or winch?

[@apacheturtleisland9462]

clear and concise , great instruction

[@YTisDumb]

Totally works on 3rd Gen as well. Thank you sir!

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Good to know! Thanks for sharing and glad it worked 👍

[@MrStephen777]

Very usefull film. Looks safer than using my standard spring compressors, i hope. Just wish i had workshop garage drive, anything rather than working in road.

[@mwilson4706]

Installed my front 5100 Bilsteins today using the lower A arm as the spring compressor. I'm over 70 so getting up off the garage floor takes a little longer than in the past. Less than 2.5 hrs for both side. Drove the 4R up on a 2x12 on the side opposite that I was changing to keep the front a little more level when the other side was up in the air. Jack stands and floor jack worked very well. To be safe, go slow when lifting the lower A arm and compressing the spring. I would do it this way again but hope these shock get me 100k and more years than I will be driving.

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Good job! Thanks for the tip on the board for support and leveling. And thanks for watching and letting me know how it went 👍

[@michaela5965]

Thank you for the good video. You could use external snap ring pliers to spread that clip. May save finger from a screwdriver cut.

[@gobfranklin6759]

Interesting! Thanks for showing this.

[@rma7921]

Great video, I'm not a big fan of this spring compressors... gotta do this job, maybe this week. I have the bilstein 5100s but they're just a tad too high ;) My wife is 5'

[@TheCoco300]

Great video!! 👍🏻👍🏻.

[@Steve-um5mm]

You are correct about having the weight of the vehicle on the ground before torquing the control arms and lower strut bolt. However with the tire on and jack removed you have less room to work. Try leaving the jack under the frame only on the side you are working on,floor jack under the lower control arm, then jacking up until the frame just starts to lift off the jack stand. You have now simulated the weight of the vehicle being on the tire, and can carefully do your torquring without the tire in the way.

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Like it! Thanks!

[@One_over_the_eight]

That's incorrect as you'd have the spring fully compressed, which it wouldn't be under normal driving conditions. Lifting the whole weight of the vehicle is just as bad as torquing when fully unloaded. The correct procedure is to measure the distance between the centre of the wheel hub and the edge of the body at the wheel well when the vehicle is on all four wheels. Once the vehicle is raised with the wheels off put a trolley jack under the wheel hub and raise the suspension to the distance previously measured. This will give you the correct tension on the spring as if the vehicle is sitting on its own weight. Now torque up.

[@high_lyfe8546]

That's a good method I'll do that next time, measure the centre of wheel hub to underside of guard. Then remove wheel and jack to desired height with weight off the truck

[@high_lyfe8546]

Looks much easier I replace my front struts on my Hilux, I used the same method only I compress the LCA with the jack to feed the centre bolt through the top hat next time I'll follow your method

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Love the Hilux 😁👍👍👍

[@peterciarroni8920]

Great job!

[@g.fortin3228]

Yes better with one tire on the other side instead of the whole front being on jacks... but nice way to do this for sure ! thanks for the tip on the pop noise.. think i have that going on and cant find the noise !

[@clivefisher2335]

Awesome video thanks

[@charros4811]

I'm 💯 percent doing this thanks to you even though I have a Pathfinder r51 ✌🏽

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Did it work on the Pathfinder also?

[@charros4811]

@@anesthesiadreamin No I haven't done it yet, I'm sure it should same setup.

[@hughmongus8860]

Thanks for your entertainment only video this is by far the easiest install I have ever done I'm an old fart and did the front end in 2 hours the hardest part was putting the aftermarket skid plate back on

[@tim285401]

thanks I will be doing the same thing with the 6112 kits and new Element UCAs, so I will need an alignment. I will save this video on my KZbin profile

[@user-ul2it8vz6q]

FYI this method works on a 2022 TRD Pro with Fox shocks. Couldn’t find out if it would work anywhere but it does. Had no issues adding Eibach leveling springs. Might need to pry down on the upper control arm a bit to get the ball joint bolts back in.

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Wow, that's really good news! And how much lift did the eibach springs give you?

[@user-ul2it8vz6q]

@@anesthesiadreamin +1.4 in the front and right at 1 inch in the rear. Ride is so much nicer and almost all body role is gone as well as the nose dive when breaking. Truck is leveled now which I was worried about as Eibach shortened the front springs a small amount for the 21+ Pros

[@rickdougherty1371]

@@user-ul2it8vz6q Did you have to remove the sway bar also, or just the 2 ball joint bolts, and loosen the LCA?

[@user-ul2it8vz6q]

@@rickdougherty1371 Had to disconnect the end links where they connect to the swaybar.

[@rickdougherty1371]

@@user-ul2it8vz6q Ha, I didn't see this till too late! Did mine yesterday and didn't have to touch the sway bar, went smooth!

[@jeffreybateham9527]

Tim the toyota toolman says the factory spec book says to line up the spring end parallel with the control arm.

[@johnmckenzie5707]

Another way to keep the truck from falling to the ground is taking the removed wheels and putting them under the truck so that if it does fall the wheels.tires will support until you can get a jack under it..

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Yes, great point, extra safety. If we have to work on an axle on the trail, we always stuff the tire under the frame just in case 👍 thx for watching and commenting

[@juliemiller5740]

Great. Thanks

[@jimjensen6339]

Love this! Is there a reason you didn't just separate the upper arm from the spindle to drop it down? Great work making this job easier and safer!

[@hinklej2]

Do the two bolts by the lower ball joint require Loctite? I saw that on a 4th gen they do.

[@tp7592]

For more safety you can throw the tire and a piece of solid wood under the truck if the stand slips in case .

[@anesthesiadreamin]

very good suggestion! Thankyou 🙂

[@tongtongwang]

Very nice video, learned a lot. just one question, if I just want to remove the top center nuts and replace the rubber below that bolt, do I have to remove the two lower ball joint bolts? thanks a lot

[@anesthesiadreamin]

If you're talking about the bumper that wraps around the shock rod, yes, I believe that you have to remove the whole thing

[@tongtongwang]

@@anesthesiadreamin just the highest center bolt not the rest three lower bolt

[@jackiemuc4187]

I have a question, I have a 2013 4 runner, I took it to the shop for front struts change, they called me later and said that it will be more money because they did not realize it has hydraulic struts and this more money, then they call me later and said they did not know it was attached to the rear shocks so will have to buy rear shocks. Can someone tell me more about this. I am confused. I am afraid they might mess my car up.

[@Rjj2721]

Find another shop asap. Most shocks/strut assembly are fluid with hydraulic fluid or nitrogen gas. Struts are normally done in pairs you do not have to get the rear ones done unless they just need to be replaced. Unless your struts have a hydraulic hose line or additional reservoir.

[@TechCrazy]

Just curious how your old shocks were blown but yet, there were no oil leaks I am in the same boat and there are no visible oil leaks and yet the shocks are bouncy.

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Yes, the driver's side actually was leaking oil. I think Toyota made a great upgraded suspension for this Off Road model, but they put kind of crappy shocks on it. (Obviously the PRO version has the best Shocks.) The back ones on our trd off road are bad now. And it has less than 40,000 mi. Otherwise the 4runner has been great👍

[@TechCrazy]

@@anesthesiadreamin I got a guy to do the shocks but he did a bad job as I was under the weather. I am going to redo it this weekend as per this video. Doing the rear was a pain with little to no space to get the spacers in the frame. I wish Toyota had. a cut out there with a plastic cover with clips to cover so its easy to install them.

[@anesthesiadreamin]

@@TechCrazy Good to know! Thanks for sharing that information. I am supposed to replace the rear shocks next, I'm glad to know it's not going to be a 5-minute job and I will plan for more time :-) 👍 Good luck with your shock change, I hope it works well for you

[@racerx7057]

Do one side at a time by leaving the opposite side tire on so the vehicle remains stablized. Am I missing something here?

[@anesthesiadreamin]

A couple other commenters mentioned that, I have not tried it, I don't see why it wouldn't work. This is why I love you too, cuz of the great ideas that come through the comments. Thanks for watching and for your ideas 👍

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Sorry I meant to say this is why I love you tube 🤣🤣🤣

[@hinklej2]

Did you get an alignment afterwards?

[@anesthesiadreamin]

No. I am replacing those tires in 5-10k and will get one then for sure. But I feel pretty good about marking the cams like in the video, getting them back in the perfect place... and it drives fine. If I had gone higher with the bilstein adjusters for more lift then definitely would need an immediate alignment.

[@bonifaciomagdiwang1697]

What is the best height for lift in a driver side 2.5" and the passenger rear is 1.75" ?

[@high_lyfe8546]

Would it be safer leaving one wheel left on in the front? Or remove both before starting the job.

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Maybe, that has been discussed by other commenters here, but I have never tried it. But it seems like it would be a bit safer. As long as you can jack one side up high enough without tilting it too far

[@high_lyfe8546]

@anesthesiadreamin yeah I had that problem before because my jack wouldn't go high enough. I may have to lose both wheels to get the height. I'm doing another install, have new struts for the front

[@jorgeusa1925]

Is this the same for rear? Or is it simpler

[@anesthesiadreamin]

This model 4 runner has leaf springs in the rear, so the only things holding the rear shocks on are two bolts each. So yes, much simpler

[@kyky274]

I’m way late on the video. I’m about to do this tomorrow. I’m going to the 3rd clip setting of 1.75”. I’m assuming since I’m going higher on the shock that I might have a harder time getting the top bolt thread through to get the nut on. Any advice would be great.

[@Michael-xs7rz]

No torque specs?

[@anesthesiadreamin]

I don't put torque specs on my videos on purpose. Every year might be different.

[@anesthesiadreamin]

Also I wouldn't trust a KZbin video, even my own, for technical specifications. Always check your manual first.