front jack points with skids

So i am planning to install my coilovers in the next couple of weekends and I was wondering about front jack points. I currently have an RCI front skid along with Valhallas Sheild and I would like to avoid removing those. My question is, would it damage or bend the skids if i placed a 2x4 on my floor jack, across the cross member where the skids bolt to it and jack it up? From there I would put jack stands along the frame sides and on my sliders as well.

 

I usually can get my jack right under the ball joint and lift from there, but nothing will be hurt if you do it from the cross member with a block of wood

 

Yeah i can always lift one side from my slider or the frame rail, and I guess i could just install one side at a time, but I guess I was just being lazy and wanted to just jack up 1 time lol. It probably is safer to do 1 side at a time.

Now that I think about this, I may try this since I am planning to only loosen the UCA ball joint and the bottom shock mount bolt and ratchet strapping the 2 LCA together and if one wheel is on the ground, it wont go anywhere to go so the side thats up on the jacks would come down easier. I just dont want to deal with loosening a bunch of stuff just to lower the LCA a bit.

 

What coilovers are you installing? You will most likely have to loosen the lower control arm to let it drop down to get the coils in and out. I would loosen it to make it alot easier because you will have to get an alignment anyway.

 

Loosen/remove the sway bar link and it should droop down enough?

 

It didn't when I put my Toytec Alumas in.

 

Maybe if you did you wouldn’t have needed to loosen the LCA? And your talking about loosening the cam adjusters?

 

My sway bar was disconnected and yes the cam bolts is what are loosened for it to drop. It's even in the installation instructions I believe.

 

You just gotta manhandle the coilovers. Hold them on each end and compress it like an accordion and slip it in.

Maybe newer trucks are a bit different but I've never had to do more than drop the sway bar links and stand on the lower arm. I've done this a dozen times but not on a newer tundra. Maybe the lca has more tension in the bushing than first gens have.

Manhandle it.

 

As far as jacking goes I don't know what your skids are like. You can bend them and can damage the bolts if you aren't careful about where you jack and how you distribute the force. I would use a block and just hit the frame instead. That's how I lift my truck most of the time.

 

Don’t jack it up on your skids.

If you look under your frame next to your body mount, there’s a little tab before the frame “curves”. That’s the furthest point can you safely use your jack stand before it becomes unstable. You’ll see that there are rivets under your frame every 6 inches or so, those are areas where you’d use your jack or bottle jack.

Your opening post does mention that you’ll be jacking on your frame and your sliders too, but honestly, you really only need to jack the areas that I mentioned if you’re doing your coilovers.

Don’t touch your LCA bolts; it’s not necessary. Break the castle nut, take out cotter pin/clip, unscrew the castle nut (leave about a few threads), hammer the side of the spindle so the taper end of the ball joint pops out, and your UCA is free from the spindle.

Unscrew the 4 nuts holding the coil to the shock mount, then break the NUT on the bottom shock bolt. Break the nut, not the bolt, easier to break nut loose, then use a dead blow or mallet to push the bolt out.

After, get a 2x4 and shimmy it under the front bump stop. You should be able to push it down enough to get your coil over out without unbolting anything on the LCA except your coil over mount. Might need a 2nd hand for this process.

Getting the new coil over in, you need someone to push down on the spindle as hard as they can while you position the coil over into the LCA and shock tower.

Should be a fairly easy job doing it. Check out snailtrail4x4 to see the install, cause that’s what I watched to install mine.

Make sure you install your bushings correctly too.

 

Eibach coilovers. I seen a couple guys do the ratchet thing including on ironmans website. Don't see why it wouldn't work

 

It didn't bend or give at all?

 

Thanks this was the area I planned to use the jack stands. I was going to use 4 total stands just to be safe, 2 on frame and 2 on sliders.

Check out the ironman coilover install on tundra on their website. That's where I got the ratchet strap idea

 

You wouldn’t need that many jack points, 2 is enough if you’re doing both sides. You have your rear wheels too, so I doubt anything will happen unless if you’re shaking the crap out of your truck while you’re working on it. As long as your points are stable and on flat ground, you’ll only need 2.

I just saw the video, they’re using the ratchet strap to pull down the LCA. Worth a try! If that doesn’t work, use the 2x4 method. All you’re really trying to do is pushing the LCA down as much as you can to get the lower shock mount into the LCA. Whatever works and gets it in.

You’d probably want to get the top hat onto the shock tower first, then get the lower shock mount into the LCA.

 

Are you using 6 ton jack stands?

 

They are 3 ton each stand

 

Ya was planning on getting the top hat in and putting the bolts in loosely before doing the bottom mount.

 

Ive installed enough times, i finally loosened the lca pivot bolts. Omg it moves so much easier!!

 

No doubt but I'm thinking this would be faster but I'm usually wrong when I try to save time

 

one way you can jack the truck is with the LCA. One side at a time. I do it with my wife’s pilot since jack locations are so limited

 

Would honestly rather jack on my frame rails under the driver door at that point so I can leave jack in place with a stand and just go to town on the suspension

 

You’ll want the jack to lift the a arm to bolt in top coilover bolts

 

Good point

 

I did this, but found out that the 5100s were ET, so the top hat sit perfectly in the shock tower.

 

You were expecting different? It should fit perfectly right since the shocks are truck specific.

 

The black shocks that were on the truck were about an inch shorter than the 5100s. So when I placed the 5100s in, I had to push the LCA down a lot more, in order to fit the entire shock body into the shock tower and LCA mount.

 

That makes sense, must have misunderstood you. I am expecting that as well.