TRD Sportivo Installation Update

H.     I then removed anything else that looked like it would get in the way. First was the ABS speed sensor wire harness.

I.        Then the Brake line Mount.

J.       Now came the fun part, removing the steering knuckle from the strut.

I did not want to create any unnecessary stress on the brake line, and the ABS speed sensor, so I supported the calipers using my jack. This worked, but I just did not feel like it was as stable, as I would have liked for it to be. So I switched over to the jack case which was just the right height. (Sorry no picture of that)

K.     I then proceed to what I found to be the most difficult part. Removing the front sway bar. First I removed the brackets on both sides (easy).

L.    Getting the sway bar out was a royal pain in the ass. I did not even think about taking pictures. In retrospect, I think it would of saved a lot of time and effort if I had removed the front spare tire, and compartment. This I believe would allow for a lot more room to maneuver the sway bar out with. [Editors note: I found removing the front spare tub almost a necessity.]  Funny thing is once I found the proper pattern, lift here turn there, inch this way, it came out smoothly and the new one went back in easily. [Editor's note: Also notice that the slit in the sway bar

M.   Now that I had no obstructions in the way or at least very few, I then removed the top three nuts from the front strut tower brace/chassis mount. When doing this be sure to hold up the strut assembly when removing the last nut. The strut assemble might drop, and/or lean to one side. This however unlikely could cause damage to the bolt that the nut mounts to. The following picture shows the complete strut & spring assemble.

N.     Now it was time to use those spring compressors. I placed one compressor on each side of the spring. Next I tightened them down by hand until I could not turn them any more. Then I installed and tightened the safety locks. Once I felt that every thing was secure I began to slowly remove the strut center nut.

Even with the spring compressors in place, when the nut came off there was still some tension, just enough to send everything flying a few inches. DO NOT LOSE ANY OF THE PARTS. YOU WILL NEED TO RE-USE EVERY THING EXCEPT FOR THE CENTER NUT! New center nuts are provided for all four struts/shocks. Here is a picture of everything disassembled in the correct order.

O.     Next I removed the compressors VERY slowly a few turns on one side a few on the other. I have heard horror stories about injuries so I was being EXTRA careful. Then I put the new spring onto the new strut. You should be able to read all of the TRD labels from left to right bottom to top once you are done. The strut has a TRD sticker on it and the springs a TRD label on them. They should not be upside down. A cool side note, if you look at all f the writing on the struts you will notice one of the few parts in English shows KYB. Do they make the struts for TRD? Here is a picture of the completed assembly, along with some comparison shots. I found that I did not need the spring compressors to accomplish the reassemble. My weight pushing down was suffecent. Also note that the center bar of the strut, mounts to a KEYED mounting hole in the dust cover/mountng bracket. Be sure this is aligned correctly.

P.       So now all that was left was to put everything back on, except for the sway bar I waited until I had completed both side before installing the sway bar. I pretty much followed the reverse of what I have described here, and what do ya know I got new struts, and springs in the front. Best of all I did not have to pay some money hungry dealer $800.00. After one side was completed, including the installation of the new stuff. I then moved over to the other side. This way I always had a complete model to refer back to if anything got confusing.

Part II Rear Strut component removal & Installation:

Ok on to the backside. I was a wee bit tired at this point so I did not take as many pictures as I had for the front. Most of the work is very similar to the front.

Q.     The first thing I did was to loosen the lug nuts on both rear wheels.

R.     Next I removed the center cap over the strut tower using the standard screwdriver. (please note I have previously installed the TRD Rear Strut tower brace, so once again it does look a little different than a stock car)

S.       Once again I loosened the center strut nut prior to removing the assembly from the car.

T.      I then proceed to lift the car. Once more I did not use the center lift points for fear of not being able to get the jack out from under the car. Also I was unable to use my ramps on the front end. The car is to low now, and damage would have occurred to the bumper cover. So up front I placed wheel stops, and at the lift points on the sides went the jack stands.

U.      I then inspected everything to see what would get in the way. I went straight for the sway bar. I disconnected the sway bar from the lower portion of the link, leaving the upper portion of the link attached to the strut. I then removed the Sway Bar Brackets, and Bushings. I did this on both the passenger side and the driver side of the car.  Once everything was disconnected, I removed the sway bar from the car. This was nowhere near as difficult as the front.

V.      Next I moved onto the Brake Line mount. Just like before I wanted to get everything out of the way that looked like it would get in the way. The following series of photos will show what I did up to this point, along with providing some reference.