Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Tacoma Strut Question

I am getting ready to change the struts (coil overs) on my 1996 4WD Tacoma. I am putting on the Bilstein HD shocks. I will be using a wall mount spring compressor. The almost non-existant directions from Bilstein says to not fully tighten the damper nut until after the suspension is loaded (wheels on the ground).

My question is torquing the damper rod nut. My Haynes manual call for 22 foot pounds on the damper nut. Can I use a regular socket and torque wrench on this without it spinning, (no way to put a wrench on the holder when using a socket).

Are yall tightening them loaded on the truck as the directions say or tightening them in the compressor? how tight?

Thanks for any information.

Here's a video that shows the strut installation. Skip to 4:40. As far as the rest of the video ... I have no idea if it's a good method or not. My guess ... probably not.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkVLBOnAifc

22 ft lbs is not very much torque. If it won't torque with a socket without spinning - torque something else to get a feel for what 22 ft lbs is like. You can easily get 22 ft lbs of torque with just a wrench.