TRD
MEMBER BRACE SET:
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Front
Member Brace
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Left Side Rear Member Brace
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Right
Side Rear Member Brace
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Strip
of rubber insulator |
There
is no additional mounting hardware provided. You will need to re-use all of the
old hardware.
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Part
I Front Member Brace:
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Following the TRD instructions I started work on the Front end first. I
lifted the car at the jack points and placed it up on my Stands.
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Next I removed the Factory Braces and tossed them to the side. (cheap
stuff) I kept the bolts off to the side and close to where I had removed
them.
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I then lined up the new brace and installed the rear bolts. (Unless ya
have a big tummy, be sure to hold the brace up or when you move down to
the front bolts it might just smack ya in the face!) Be sure that the
“TRD” badge is facing down towards the ground.
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Next I installed the front bolts. I then inspected how the bar fit to
see if it would rub up against the chassis at any point. If it did, then
I would have cut a portion of the rubber insulator and placed it between
the chassis and the bar to protect from damage and squeaks.
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I had no areas of concern so I torqued everything down in an X
pattern. Left Front-Right Rear-Right Front- Left Rear.
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All done! On to the rear!
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Driver side front rear mounting point |
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Side view of front driver mounting
point |
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Passenger rear mounting point |
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Passenger front mounting point |
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Installed view from front of car |
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This is the front member brace
installed |
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Part
II Rear Member Braces:
 | First I placed the front of the car
back down on the ground. Next I rolled the rear end up on to the ramps.
If you do not have a wheel lift, USE ramps! You will eventually need to
load the suspension down while torqueing down the rear member bolts, and
if your wheels are dangling freely up in the air it is rather difficult
to load down the suspension. Also make sure that the brake lines are up
above the brace and not below it. Some have had damage occur to their
brake lines with them being below the brace. You may also want to add
some insulator to the brace where it looks like the brake line will rub
against it.
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 | There are no Factory
Braces, and this is part of the photo set I lost. There are 4 bolts that
need to be removed to install the brace. 2 on each side. The first bolt
is found on a small factory chassis brace. It is a very small piece of
Grey metal on my car. The TRD instructions do contain a diagram of this.
Hopefully my Editor will also add one in here. ;) There are some
pictures below that show what it will look like after the install, I
hope they help in locating the correct area. DO NOT
remove the chassis brace; just use the bolt and mounting point. |
 | The other
bolts are located where the lower Arm connects to the Member. Keep in
mind to only do one side at a time so that you will always have a model
to refer back to.
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 | This is where
it gets tricky and many people have different ways of doing the install.
I followed the TRD instructions and after removing the blots attached
the member brace and torqued down the front bolt, that mounts to the
chassis brace. Next is where you need to load the suspension and where
my BAG O RICE came into play. (hmmm does this mean I know have a rice
car) The TRD instructions
state, that you need to place aprox. 240lbs in the passenger
compartment, or 2 adults. I used my neighbor and my bag of rice. He sat
on my rollbar and held the bog of rice. We figured he weighed close to
220 + 25lb bag of rice gave me what I needed. ;) So while everything was
loaded down I tried to insert the bolts back in…No go! The lower arm
was off alignment just slightly, but enough to prevent me from getting
the bolt all the way through. I pushed up on the arm, but no luck. So I
applied some basic principles of leverage. I used a screwdriver that
allows for different bits to be placed in it, as my lever. I wrapped
with a shop rag, and inserted it into the mounting hole…a little pull
on the lever and the bolt slid in nice and smooth! I know some have used
their jack to raise up the arm and the mounting point, and some have
played with the amount of weight to get things to line up. Where there
is a will there is a way! Once everything was in I torqued it all down
and did the other side the same way. Then back to earth, and off for a
test run!
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Driver's
side rear brace |
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Passenger side rear brace |
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Impressions:
Simply Sweet! The car should of came this way! This is a major
improvement! Road feel is improved cornering speed has gone up. No real
discernable change in ride comfort for me. Even the wife noticed the
difference! I have been asked more than a few times if I had to do
things over with would I go about it the same way?
Will not counting the roll bar, IMHO this should be done the day
you buy the car! I would still go with the front strut tower brace
first, but I would next go with the member brace, and move on to the
rest. If your are on a budget like I was I thinking this is the way to
go! |