Shocking

So as I documented my Tacoma tire rotation my internal wheels were already spinning regarding other possible causes for the front end vibration that really hits at highway speeds.  As I described yesterday, the vibration problem existed even before the $1600 of repair expenses and I attributed it solely to old shitty tires.

Well I did a few searches yesterday and found several Tacoma owners complaining of identical behavior, vibration kicking in around 60-70 mph.    In all of these cases the eventual fix was replacing worn out front struts.

Well that certainly seemed like a logical cause since the problem has persisted through the tire change and the truck still has the original shocks/struts on all four corners.  I immediately started checking out some how to videos.  Doing the rear shocks seemed pretty straight forward.  The front struts had complications.

The complication is a strut has a coil spring surrounding it.  This spring is compressed and under very high tension.  In order to separate a strut from the spring requires you to compress the spring further to release tension on the strut.  A garage typically has a piece of equipment specifically designed to do this.  A home mechanic has the option to use another method where you basically attach rods with fingers to either side of the spring and crank them down evenly to compress the spring.

Well every video I watched stressed the potential danger with this process.  If for some reason the spring would pop loose it would release a tremendous amount of force.  Depending on what was in it’s way when it popped, there was a possibility for severe injury.  Despite this warning I watched a couple videos that showed this manual compression method and I was confident I could pull it off without maiming myself.

However once I started researching buying replacement struts I saw there was another option available to me, you can buy the front struts already mounted on a new set of springs.  Sure it costs more than a bare strut but not painfully so.  To me, the time and aggravation savings was worth it.  Plus the springs on the truck are 14 years old, getting new springs along with the struts seems like a wise move anyway.

Replacing the pre-assembled struts/springs should be as easy as 5 bolts.  The most challenging thing might just be breaking the old bolts/nuts free.  I bought my replacement set on Amazon (free Prime shipping) and they should show up tomorrow.  Right now my plan is to get out in the garage early on Friday morning to do the work before I push north to Orlando for a long weekend.  I will replace the rear shocks as well before the month is over I’m sure.

I had the dogs sleep over last night.  Nicki has been not eating well the past week or so, at least when she is with me.  I had them for most of the weekend. Nicki was spotty with her eating then and then last night she only ate a portion of supper.  This morning she wouldn’t even touch breakfast.

Ali said she has been eating fine for her so maybe Nicki is just in mopey mode and missing Ali.  I hope that is all it is.