My experience / tips replacing coilovers - BOTH WAYS (LCA vs. Knuckle method)

[NC_Oak]

I swapped all 4 sasq. bilsteins with eibach pro truck 2 with HD springs. I did this because I wanted to correct the front end sag from replacing the superlight plastic bumper with an aftermarket and adding a winch.

In the front, I did one side by dropping the LCA. I did the other side by pulling the knuckle. I wanted to compare and contrast. For the TLDR group, the LCA method was by far my preference. If anyone has any questions about any of this, just ask.

LCA method - straightforward as plenty of people have shared and videos created, and pretty quick. I'm not going into the steps in detail, after skids removed, I zipped off the sway bar mounts, loosen the top hat bolts, support the knuckle with a jack, then pull the LCA bolts, the bottom studs will clear LCA. You do not elongate the CV, it doesnt drop. Once you have the top bolted on your new coilover (which is a bit of a pain to line up), I used a heavy tie down strap to secure the side I was working on to the frame on the other side. THere's a few ways to do it but this prevents the knuckle from driving outward when you jack up the bottom of the LCA / knuckle / coilover in order to get the LCA back into position so the bolts can be reinstalled.

KNuckle method - this really wasn't all that much harder, but more steps. This has been documented pretty well so I won't add much here. The end of the CV is sharp, wear gloves. I used my impact wherever I could, including the axle nut. The threads on the cv towards the end definitely wore down a bit and my impact was simply in reverse, no hammer / anvil. It still threaded back on no problem and the inner threads were fine. This way was more steps, took more time, and IMO present more risk to the axle. I supported it and all, just my opinion.

General stuff:

• I won't preach on an impact gun. If you still manually do everything, that's your choice. I have a cordless, they've come a long way.
• You absolutely want ratcheting FLAT wrenches. OEM nuts on the sasq are 15mm. The eibach's are 17mm. I have a full set and the rear has VERY little clearance. If you use a non ratcheting wrench it would take forever.
• As I said above in the LCA method, strap the assembly to keep it from driving out when you jack up to get the LCA back into the frame mounts.
• I used a mechanics mirror to help line up the bolt pattern on the rear top hats. I used to jack to drive it into position after installing the lower bolt. The coilovers are heavy and difficult to line up. The bolts eibach provide are pretty short which means you need the top hat resting all the way up.
• I used three jacks. The bronco jack, my floor jack, and a bottle jack.

Eibach Protruck 2 stuff:

• After install, my front was sitting about 40.5" to bottom of fender. I had them set to almost the bottom of the threads, leaving 3/8" remaining. This is just about the LOWEST lift possible. After driving for about 8 miles, they settled back to 39.5". I've had an alignment and intend to adjust the front back up a bit. There is certainly more lift available with these.
• The rear sits closer to 42" with 7/16" threads exposed. I didnt measure yet on flat ground for the rear. my driveway is a bit tilted and I didn't measure before I pulled out of the garage. Again, more lift is certainly available.
• The eibachs are valved very lightly. I can notice more brake dive. However, the ride is nice, as it is certainly softer. haven't been to the trails yet as I just got them done this past weekend.
• No way I put 37s on with these coilovers. I'll see how they perform more as put more miles, bumps, trails, et cetera on.

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[Rumbloki]

• You absolutely want ratcheting FLAT wrenches. OEM nuts on the sasq are 15mm. The eibach's are 17mm. I have a full set and the rear has VERY little clearance. If you use a non ratcheting wrench it would take forever.

This work even better. More swing without other bolts in the way.

 

[PWillette]

I swapped all 4 sasq. bilsteins with eibach pro truck 2 with HD springs. I did this because I wanted to correct the front end sag from replacing the superlight plastic bumper with an aftermarket and adding a winch.

In the front, I did one side by dropping the LCA. I did the other side by pulling the knuckle. I wanted to compare and contrast. For the TLDR group, the LCA method was by far my preference. If anyone has any questions about any of this, just ask.

LCA method - straightforward as plenty of people have shared and videos created, and pretty quick. I'm not going into the steps in detail, after skids removed, I zipped off the sway bar mounts, loosen the top hat bolts, support the knuckle with a jack, then pull the LCA bolts, the bottom studs will clear LCA. You do not elongate the CV, it doesnt drop. Once you have the top bolted on your new coilover (which is a bit of a pain to line up), I used a heavy tie down strap to secure the side I was working on to the frame on the other side. THere's a few ways to do it but this prevents the knuckle from driving outward when you jack up the bottom of the LCA / knuckle / coilover in order to get the LCA back into position so the bolts can be reinstalled.

KNuckle method - this really wasn't all that much harder, but more steps. This has been documented pretty well so I won't add much here. The end of the CV is sharp, wear gloves. I used my impact wherever I could, including the axle nut. The threads on the cv towards the end definitely wore down a bit and my impact was simply in reverse, no hammer / anvil. It still threaded back on no problem and the inner threads were fine. This way was more steps, took more time, and IMO present more risk to the axle. I supported it and all, just my opinion.

General stuff:

• I won't preach on an impact gun. If you still manually do everything, that's your choice. I have a cordless, they've come a long way.
• You absolutely want ratcheting FLAT wrenches. OEM nuts on the sasq are 15mm. The eibach's are 17mm. I have a full set and the rear has VERY little clearance. If you use a non ratcheting wrench it would take forever.
• As I said above in the LCA method, strap the assembly to keep it from driving out when you jack up to get the LCA back into the frame mounts.
• I used a mechanics mirror to help line up the bolt pattern on the rear top hats. I used to jack to drive it into position after installing the lower bolt. The coilovers are heavy and difficult to line up. The bolts eibach provide are pretty short which means you need the top hat resting all the way up.
• I used three jacks. The bronco jack, my floor jack, and a bottle jack.

Eibach Protruck 2 stuff:

• After install, my front was sitting about 40.5" to bottom of fender. I had them set to almost the bottom of the threads, leaving 3/8" remaining. This is just about the LOWEST lift possible. After driving for about 8 miles, they settled back to 39.5". I've had an alignment and intend to adjust the front back up a bit. There is certainly more lift available with these.
• The rear sits closer to 42" with 7/16" threads exposed. I didnt measure yet on flat ground for the rear. my driveway is a bit tilted and I didn't measure before I pulled out of the garage. Again, more lift is certainly available.
• The eibachs are valved very lightly. I can notice more brake dive. However, the ride is nice, as it is certainly softer. haven't been to the trails yet as I just got them done this past weekend.
• No way I put 37s on with these coilovers. I'll see how they perform more as put more miles, bumps, trails, et cetera on.

Nice write up.
I'm running the Eibachs w/ 37s and very pleased. A bit of brake dive as you say but love them otherwise for slow speed wheeling/crawling. Probably not the best choice for high speed running.

 

[NC_Oak]

This work even better. More swing without other bolts in the way.

I

This work even better. More swing without other bolts in the way.

I like that, ratcheting wrench worked perfectly tho.

 

[3ljfsoi85rd]

Question:
Has anyone tried accessing the tophat nuts from the top? Once I had mine back together, I noticed it could have been tightened/loosened from the top.

 

[mpeugeot]

I have to agree, more brake dive than the HOSS 2 Bilsteins, less brake dive than the HOSS 1 Hitachi, and absolute magic off-road. Once you get used to the Eibach setup, they feel decent on the street. Also, a 37 (of any normal weight) is going to exceed the capabilities of the Pro-Truck 2.0 shocks.

 

[SierraBronco]

[/QUOTE]

I like that, ratcheting wrench worked perfectly tho.

I use one of these. Very handy. Feels like I’m not even doing anything.

 

[Broncobro04]

my preference was the sketchy method because who doesn’t like to flirt with death every once in a while? Didn’t need to mess with cv or LCA. Disclaimer: Would not recommend this.

 

[Fordified1]

I use one of these. Very handy. Feels like I’m not even doing anything.

[/QUOTE]
Can I borrow that?

 

[SierraBronco]

[/QUOTE]
Can I borrow that?
[/QUOTE]

She’s more than happy to help anyone out. Just brace yourself for what some might consider an excessive use of the C word if there’s something fighting her

Seems she went with the “remove UCA and entire knuckle option.”

(Yes, she’s putting the original yellow Blowsteins back in. Or…bilservoirs…? Anyway-Benjamin button de-build is ongoing)

 

[87-Z28]

@NC_Oak Nice write up.


Gonna annoy some people with this one, but what good is B6G if you can’t throw stuff out there.

Spring rate is KING, the damper merely dances to the king’s tune. And that tune can change a crap ton whether slow rock crawling or high speed handling. Way too easy for people to blame the damper and look for holistic solutions from the damper. This thought pattern misses the mark a bit.

Spring rate gives you real power to affect handling and shock travel. Damping rates only provide perceived power and let you fine tune the strut response. Relying on damping to control suspension response relieves symptoms instead of curing the disease.

 

[87-Z28]

my preference was the sketchy method because who doesn’t like to flirt with death every once in a while? Didn’t need to mess with cv or LCA. Disclaimer: Would not recommend this.

I did that on my rears just to adjust the preload by moving the Circlip a notch (soft spring). But not gonna do that on the fronts.

 

[Fordified1]

A BMW coilover got my Son a few months back. He’s sporting titanium pins in his left hand now. Could have been much worse.

 

[TLO]

More brake dive compared to the Bilsteins with winch?

I swapped all 4 sasq. bilsteins with eibach pro truck 2 with HD springs. I did this because I wanted to correct the front end sag from replacing the superlight plastic bumper with an aftermarket and adding a winch.

In the front, I did one side by dropping the LCA. I did the other side by pulling the knuckle. I wanted to compare and contrast. For the TLDR group, the LCA method was by far my preference. If anyone has any questions about any of this, just ask.

LCA method - straightforward as plenty of people have shared and videos created, and pretty quick. I'm not going into the steps in detail, after skids removed, I zipped off the sway bar mounts, loosen the top hat bolts, support the knuckle with a jack, then pull the LCA bolts, the bottom studs will clear LCA. You do not elongate the CV, it doesnt drop. Once you have the top bolted on your new coilover (which is a bit of a pain to line up), I used a heavy tie down strap to secure the side I was working on to the frame on the other side. THere's a few ways to do it but this prevents the knuckle from driving outward when you jack up the bottom of the LCA / knuckle / coilover in order to get the LCA back into position so the bolts can be reinstalled.

KNuckle method - this really wasn't all that much harder, but more steps. This has been documented pretty well so I won't add much here. The end of the CV is sharp, wear gloves. I used my impact wherever I could, including the axle nut. The threads on the cv towards the end definitely wore down a bit and my impact was simply in reverse, no hammer / anvil. It still threaded back on no problem and the inner threads were fine. This way was more steps, took more time, and IMO present more risk to the axle. I supported it and all, just my opinion.

General stuff:

• I won't preach on an impact gun. If you still manually do everything, that's your choice. I have a cordless, they've come a long way.
• You absolutely want ratcheting FLAT wrenches. OEM nuts on the sasq are 15mm. The eibach's are 17mm. I have a full set and the rear has VERY little clearance. If you use a non ratcheting wrench it would take forever.
• As I said above in the LCA method, strap the assembly to keep it from driving out when you jack up to get the LCA back into the frame mounts.
• I used a mechanics mirror to help line up the bolt pattern on the rear top hats. I used to jack to drive it into position after installing the lower bolt. The coilovers are heavy and difficult to line up. The bolts eibach provide are pretty short which means you need the top hat resting all the way up.
• I used three jacks. The bronco jack, my floor jack, and a bottle jack.

Eibach Protruck 2 stuff:

• After install, my front was sitting about 40.5" to bottom of fender. I had them set to almost the bottom of the threads, leaving 3/8" remaining. This is just about the LOWEST lift possible. After driving for about 8 miles, they settled back to 39.5". I've had an alignment and intend to adjust the front back up a bit. There is certainly more lift available with these.
• The rear sits closer to 42" with 7/16" threads exposed. I didnt measure yet on flat ground for the rear. my driveway is a bit tilted and I didn't measure before I pulled out of the garage. Again, more lift is certainly available.
• The eibachs are valved very lightly. I can notice more brake dive. However, the ride is nice, as it is certainly softer. haven't been to the trails yet as I just got them done this past weekend.
• No way I put 37s on with these coilovers. I'll see how they perform more as put more miles, bumps, trails, et cetera on.

 

[NC_Oak]

More brake dive compared to the Bilsteins with winch?

Yes more brake dive than the 2.0 bilsteins with the winch and bumper. @87-Z28 springs are key no doubt. One would assume the HD springs from eibach were best for the weight I have on there (not forgetting all the 3/16" skids). Brake dive was more but was still very controllable in a hard brake.

I'll be on the trails weekend after this. I look forward to seeing the difference all say is great. Wheeling around here is slow and all the reviews said the eibachs were not good at fast, and great at slow, so I'll report back. I plan to do the same trail I did a week ago on the sasq bilsteins so I Can provide a good comparison.

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