please delete

Currently in the process of assembling the front strut but Dobinsons did not provide a top hat. All the kits I’ve seen had preassembled front struts so is it customary to reuse the old top hat from the oem front strut on your new front struts? Sorry if this is a dumb question, this is my first rodeo. They didn’t provide any instructions either.

 

Yes, they are expecting you to reuse your old top hat.

 

Personally I wouldn’t reuse anything. I’d just go get the new stuff to have complete drop in ready assemblies.

 

New is best, but I reused the tophats on my 2017 tacoma when I redid my suspension a couple months ago. They were still in great shape. Be careful when assembling. Coils can become missles (injury or death can result). If you are not sure, have a professional assemble them and do the install yourself. Good luck.

 

Do the "no compressor method" when taking off your old suspension so you can safely pull your top hats off and re-use them (assuming they're in good shape).

Suspension companies usually don't provide new top hats unless you buy the whole unit pre-assembled. There's youtube videos out there that will walk you through the "no compressor method." It's safer than using one of those sketchy hand-held spring compressors.

 

They offer assembled with new tophats for an additional $180. You can find the KYB tophats and then have most any auto repair shop assemble them - they'll likely charge you 30 minutes for this work, maybe less. Or perform the no compressor method using the LCA to compress the shock/coil assembly.