Gallowbraid
Adventurist
I go out of town for a week and the UPS guy loses his mind...
Lift install ran into a snag. Apparently some 2015 models have a different shock mount welded to the rear axle than every other Tacoma since 2005. Even though OME lists that their 90061 shock will work with 2005 and up models, some of us are lucky enough to have a truck with the oddball mount.
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Stock shocks are back on while I decide what to do with this. Looking around the ol' interwebs I've found the following solutions:
1. Clearance the shock mount with a grinder. By taking that sharp angle in the mount where the shock is hitting and turning it into more of a curve you can get enough clearance to mount the shock. Not real keen on this since I'm a believer that the mount was designed with that amount of material for a reason. I'm also concerned that as the suspension cycles there's a chance the shock could still hit if I don't clearance enough.
2. Take a big ol' hammer and bend the wings of the mount apart. This, again, creates enough clearance for the shock, but at what cost to the integrity of the mount?
3. Order a bilstein 5100 extended shock that has the body at the top and the piston at the bottom solving all the problems. Leaning toward this solution.
So here I sit with an angle grinder, a big hammer and two bilstein shocks in an online shopping cart...
Bilsteins.
Oh, and I am working on an idea for a new/improved/better upper shock mount.
In looking at some of the Bilsteins I'm not sure that they're going to solve my problem, the bodies appear the same. The smaller diameter versions appear to be inverted.
I've moved from having the grinder ready to actually plugging it in....
On my to do list.Pulled out that pesky lawn mower filter from the air injection pump and added the Uni filter. My lawn mower filter was in good shape and hadn't started to degrade yet. Spun the impeller around and verified all the fins were in good shape with no foreign materials present.
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I assume you fully cycled the suspension, to ensure the shock clears throughout the axle travel.
Did you have to pry the lower mount open any to get the shocks to fit? On one set of my Billies I had to spread the flanges a little. Silly me - I thought all shock mounts were the same size.
BTW, your u-bolts are not long enough. You should have upwards of an inch of bolt past the nut. But, I'm sure you know that.
I might have a spare, new, unused set that is longer than stock. I will check.
Ya know, Blue Sea makes a nice, round, panel-mount USB charger.
Don't know if one would fit in the A-pillar cover - but they do look really nice.