TRD Black Chrome Strut Bar Install

TRD Black Chrome Strut Bar Install

Difficulty(1-5)=1
Estimated Time=25-35 Minutes

Tools:
Nylon Pry Tool-(I used a Flathead Screwdriver)
14mm Socket on 3/8 Dr
14mm Wrench
Torque Wrench
Scissors



This is what your STB(Strut Tie Bar) should look like right out of the UPS box:


1)The first thing to do is remove the windshield wipers, pop off the black plastic cover by prying it off, then use a 14mm socket to loosen the wiper mounting nuts. After you have the mounting nuts removed slightly wiggle the blades until they come off of their mounts.

2)After you have removed the wiper blades you want to loosen the push pins keeping the black cowling secured there are 3 of them on each side 6 in total, one is a t-mount push pin located inside the rubber tube.

Here they are still secure


And after being removed



2) After loosening the cowling you may either fully remove it by removing the remaining securing pins, or just hold it up while you work. The area you are working with first is the driver side strut tower you want to remove the two strut bolts nearest the engine, shown here circled in red.



3) Do the same thing for the 2 twin bolts on the passenger side strut bar.

4) Placing the strut bar through the wiring harness on the driver side, seat the rear slot onto the protruding rear bolt, then place the rear slot over the rear bolt on the passenger side, the front two slots should then slide over the bolts and into there places. As you can see in this picture I had to use a screwdriver to get enough clearance to fit the first slot over the bolt. The driver side is the hardest part of this whole process.




5) After the bar is set safe and secure and you have placed the washers included with the packaging on the bolts, finger tighten all the nuts back into place, and then starting with the rear driver side bolt, tighten them in a X pattern IE Driver Side Rear-Passenger Side Front-Driver Side Front-Passenger Side Rear





6) After being double sure that all the nuts and pins you have loosened are resecured and will hold you need to move to the vacumm switched valve connection wires. Position these are far from the strut bar as you can get them and then zip tie the connector and the wires down(I only had the one zip tie and had planned on multiple zip ties, I will update this picture as soon as I have it done properly) to avoid the bars vibration tugging on the wires.




7) And last, but by far not the least, remove the plastic covering the TRD logo on the bar and ejnoy your new toy.

Sorry the photos arent great quality, I normally dont document working on the car.

It's a nice write-up. Needs to be posted in the tech section.

I couldnt figure out how to, I think only admins can.

I did lol. Here's the link to the proper section: http://www.club-tc.com/forums/tc-knowledgebase/. Don't worry, I got Navy on it. He's going to move it for you.