Replacing shocks/struts...never again

[lendaddy]

Just finished putting new shocks and struts on my Tundra (350,000+miles). Sweet fancy Moses did that suck. I have all the air-tools,impact wrenches, etc..and it still took me half the day. I consider myself a pretty decent wrench too, no Tim Hancock but I hold my own.

Every bolt was frozen, I snapped one off, had to air chisel another nut off..... Don't get me started on the cheesy spring compressors they loan ya(though this was the easiest part). Are shocks always a pain in the ass or what? Where is that whiskey?

If someone tells me they would have put these on at a shop for <= $150 I may kill myself.

[masraum]

Shocks can certainly be a pain. I'd much rather do shocks than struts. If I have to do shocks, I want to do old school shocks that are mounted to the upper and lower control arms in the front and to the body and axle in the back.

I prefer to not do struts (all though the inserts on a 911 aren't bad). And the shocks on a miata are kind of a pain because they are coilovers so you need a spring compressor. Yes, miata have factory coilovers (not height adjustable), but they are NOT struts.

[Hugh R]

Its cause you live in Michigan. Out here, not a big deal a little dirt maybe, but no rust. But yeah, I hear you. As I get older (57) I really don't like working on cars anymore.

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Its cause you live in Michigan. Out here, not a big deal a little dirt maybe, but no rust. But yeah, I hear you. As I get older (57) I really don't like working on cars anymore.

I don't mind working on them really, I did the brakes on it recently, the front axles, the starter (located under the intake manifold, I chit you not). This all went just fine. This job was the devil.

[VINMAN]

The shocks on my Grand Cherokee are a breeze. Dont even have to jack it up or get underneath to change them. Everythings accessible from the wheel well.

[Mrmerlin]

you prolly should have replaced the shocks sooner than 350K,
and I hope used anti seize on every bolt you put back in
I just put front struts in my Rover, the lower attach bolts were frozen it took lots of PB blaster and some torch heat to free then big bolts

[9dreizig]

that's the kind of job you let the service center do..

[porsche4life]

Yup, damn rust belt...

My corrado came from joisey, and doing the suspension on it sucked. My 944 is a texas car, and it wasn't bad...

Of course the pan gasket has a small leak, so it self lubricates the undercarriage a bit....

[lendaddy]

Indeed I should have let the Midas Man have at this one. The truck has 350k on it but only the last 125K or so are mine. The fronts were not original but I'm pretty sure the rears were.

I did use some antiseize on the tough to get to nuts, but the majority came right off with the impact.

The location of the nuts is what killed the project, several were of the 1/4 turn at a time variety, it blew. If I had pneumatic ratchet I could have cut out a hour or more, but that's one of the few common tools I lack (yes I considered buying one but the idea of spending my "savings" stopped me. yea, I'm a idiot like that.

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

The shocks on my Grand Cherokee are a breeze. Dont even have to jack it up or get underneath to change them. Everythings accessible from the wheel well.

The rears I did with the wheels on. I suppose the same is possible with the fronts but I didn't really think of it.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Its cause you live in Michigan. Out here, not a big deal a little dirt maybe, but no rust. But yeah, I hear you. As I get older (57) I really don't like working on cars anymore.

Same here. As I get older I realize that I can make money easier than I can make time, and farm the more difficult maintenance out to someone I trust.

[DaveE]

I did all four corners on my wife's Audi A6Q. It wasn't that bad really.

[fastfredracing]

Just another day at the office for me.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Hmm, just upgraded to Konis on one of the 944s. Four bolts on the top of the tower, two at the spindle connections (and two for the brake calipers, to make access easier - plus I rebuilt them since I was in there). When they were stubborn I just got a big-azz breaker bar and "crack", off they came. No fuss, no muss. This is a local NE car (not one of my transplanted CA cars) that I picked up here so there was some rust/corrosion too.

Maybe you've got the wrong kind of vehicle... Chalk one up for 944s for simplicity and ease of maintenance/repair!

[azasadny]

We tried to replace the struts and shocks on our son's 2002 Ford Focus... Never again! I paid the local tire shop and paid $150 and they did it... Said the parts were all rusted in place and they had to fight it every inch of the way...

[sc_rufctr]

I recently replaced the front strut inserts on my mothers car. Absolute pain in the a$$.
Her mechanic wanted $300 to do the same job so I volunteered to do it for her.

I have press and a big vice mounted on a steel plate. I clamp that vice in the press. I use the vice to grab the big nut holding the struts in.
It's also a good way of holding the strut assemblies so you can work on them... Compressing the springs is always a pain.

All in all it took me a full day. It's just a bad job but we don't get snow down here so the nuts were easy to get off.

As I'm getting older I'm thinking of getting a torque multiplier.

[cstreit]

Timely,

Ijust took my Durango in to a buddies shop because I could clearly see every damn shock bolt was fubar. In addition it needs a fuel pump. Drop the 27 gallon fuel pump with recessed rusted studs? No thank you.

[JavaBrewer]

Back in college a buddy and I decided to refresh the suspension in our VW "rally" cars with Koni products. His was a '79 Rabbit hailing from somewhere in the MidWest and mine a '80 Scirocco SoCal native. Since he rented the spring compression tool we started in on his Rabbit first. After 3-4 hours of battling rusted/frozen bolts with no success we shifted to my car and had it completed in 2 hrs including a lunch break.

I recently installed new pads and rotors on my wife's '03 LR Discovery. One side was dead easy where the other was a major PITA. After removing the wheel I noticed that the brake caliper guide pin bolts were completely stripped. WTF goes out the my local brake shop... I wrestled them with vice grips to a stalemate so I coated them heavily with PB blaster for the night. The next day with the bolts removed I encountered the exact same situation with the caliper mounting frame bolts. A few more hours of battle is concluded with a rotor set screw that refused the impact driver and insisted on being drilled out. Damn what a mess. I definitely say I earned $350 the hard way that weekend.

[vash]

rest assured..i bet that is the last time you need to work on those shocks again..350k miles is damn impressive. 1st shock change?

i hate when the rear shock shaft spins and the nut is locked.

[1990C4S]

Heat is your friend on rusty bolts. Cherry red, then impact gun.