A simpler spring/strut install DIY -- no compressor needed

[was385]

Originally Posted by Kids Heart

Does anyone have a picture of Rear step 3?

You literally just grab the LCA once it's disconnected and pull down. You just need enough clearance so that the top of the shock (the part that goes through the top mount into the trunk) can make it out of that channel and the wheel well. Hope that's helps clarify a bit.

[Phaedrus29]

Here's from my post on DarrenDriven's DIY thread, about how I used a torque wrench on the front strut top nuts:

Originally Posted by Phaedrus29

I realized today that once the struts are back on the car, you can use a torque wrench on the top nut of the rear struts (I BELIEVE) without anything spinning. I torqued those to 41ft-lbs...actually I had a ways to tighten after my little whirl with the impact wrench. This has me a bit worried about the front struts top nut being too loose...I'm still unsure how I would torque these down with my torque wrench. When I gave it a quick try there was a scary noise...clearly stuff was spinning since (unlike the rears) the front top hats allow swiveling.

-------

Actually I just figured something out that works for torquing these nuts down, although it involves a crowfoot wrench so I'm not sure how accurate it is. Here's what I used:



6mm allen key, glove for holding the allen key in place, 17mm go-thru socket from harbor freight set (http://www.harborfreight.com/21-piec...set-67974.html), 19mm crowfoot wrench (for top of go-thru socket), and adapter to attach the crowfoot to my torque wrench.



My top nuts now seem to be at least 41 ft-lbs although I think it's possible they are over-torqued from my impact wrenching.

[Luke]

I'm not sure what is going on with mine. Used the tips outlined in the first post to start installing TRD springs. The front was a piece of cake, the rear...

I've worked about 5 hours on the rear, only got the passenger side spring in and the strut isn't even going through the hole in the trunk. The driver's side I can't get the strut to swing out or come out at all, it is bound up in there good. I've taken every bolt out of the lower control arm. Next move is to completely take the lower control arm off, I know it will come out then.

I just can't figure out why I'm having so much trouble with it. I've done this on other cars and it was rather simple.

Another odd thing, when doing measurements before starting, the driver's side was about 3/4" higher than the passenger side. Never messed with the suspension prior to today and it has less than 2k miles on it.

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Luke

I'm not sure what is going on with mine. Used the tips outlined in the first post to start installing TRD springs. The front was a piece of cake, the rear...

I've worked about 5 hours on the rear, only got the passenger side spring in and the strut isn't even going through the hole in the trunk. The driver's side I can't get the strut to swing out or come out at all, it is bound up in there good. I've taken every bolt out of the lower control arm. Next move is to completely take the lower control arm off, I know it will come out then.

I just can't figure out why I'm having so much trouble with it. I've done this on other cars and it was rather simple.

Another odd thing, when doing measurements before starting, the driver's side was about 3/4" higher than the passenger side. Never messed with the suspension prior to today and it has less than 2k miles on it.

Finished and issue resolved.

Finally got the strut out of the driver's side by taking the LCA completely loose. Got the spring changed and put back in, then was having issues getting all the bolts back in. Noticed the E-brake cable was binding part of it, then remembered I had it pulled from jacking the car up. Released it and bam, everything back together without issue.

So, everything would have been very simple if I didn't have it pulled through half of the install on the rear (passenger's side). I guess I now know that if need be, I can wrestle and power through having the emergency brake pulled. Not sure when that would ever be of benefit, but you gotta look on the bright side sometimes.

[Trettiosjuan]

Further simplification: you can do front and rear springs without removing the sway bar end links.

Thanks you for this thread, very usefull, did this last night, in the dark on the driveway fiddling around with lights (no time during daylight). I ended not removing the endlinks because of necessity as I couldn't get the nut of the front link without causing permanent damage. So I worked around it and succeeded and did similar in the rear.

So basically, if you don't want to swaybar to work against you, make it work with you, this is how I did it:

Front:
- Loosen wheel nuts
- Remove the top nuts form the struts (with suitable counterhold)
- Lift car and let both struts sink down
- Remove wheels
- Release the 12mm nut for the brake like and released on clip of the ABS cable.
- Loosen the bolt of the rearward lower arm bushing, it has pretension and prevents you from lowering the struts fully.
- Pull out struts, you should have room enough now, can be a slight struggle so watch you fenders.
- Replace springs and bump stops as described before
- Push both struts back in place, kinda. If you are two, both can push them up and position them in the spring perch simultaneously. Then one person keeps holding the strut (and the other through the swaybar) and the other person screws on the top nuts. If you are alone as me, carefully position both struts in the wheel wells, using a jack on one side and carefully raising it an inch at a time and then go to the other side that follows because of the sway and reposition there. Back and forth a few times and you can secure the top bolt on the jack side, then use the jack on the other side.
- Retighten everything, the rearward control arm bushing only when the car is on the ground with its wheels (probably need a ramp to do that properly, I never released that bushing but then it was really fighting me).

Rear:
- Loosen wheel nuts
- Remove the top nuts form the struts (with suitable counterhold)
- Lift car and let both struts sink down
- Remove wheels
- Loosened but not remove the inner bolt of the lower control arm (pretentioned)
- Removed outer bolt of the lower control arms
- Push down control arm, the other will follow because of the sway bar.
- Move outward the shocks, plenty of room here, and replace springs etc
- Move shocks inward.
- Same procedure as front, either with two pulling the control arm up and guiding the shock simultaneously, or raising one lower control arm incrementally with a jack and the other arm following because of the sway bar, going back and forth to guide both shocks and eventually getting the top nuts back on.
- Retighten all parts, the inner lower control arm bushing only when the car is on the ground with its wheels, easy enough to reach without a ramp.

Of course this is completely at your own risk, it might be the method with releasing the least bolts but it probably ain't the most professional or fastest method.

But it worked for me, would have taken me approx two hours in daylight if I didn't spend almost the same amount of time cursing that endlink and looking for a solution...

[aaguilar3]

Just want to thank everyone involved in the DIY. This was very detailed and straight forward for someone like me who has never done anything like this. I only had issues when putting the strut back into the hole and having it come all the way through. Eventually I figured it out. I only got to do the front because I spent so much time and was starving. (my own fault for not having all the sockets organized and not doing a couple things right the first time. I will finish the rear today though. Looks easier.

Oh 1 question. I feel like i held the allen pretty good while using an open socket to tighten the nut but felt it turn the allen turn a bit while doing it. Would a little turn damage the strut? How would you know if something is wrong. The car drove fine. No weird noises or anything.

[cycleboy]

I just finished w this. The front wasn't bad but the rear was a pain in the ass!

I was swapping out LCA's also. The hard part was getting the struts/springs to compress enough to get the bolts back through the LCA. Driver's side was especially hard. About 1.5 hr for the front and 5 hr for the rear!!!

I don't have a good way to torque the top nuts without spinning shafts. I marked one with a sharpie and tried it and it had rotated a quarter turn and I wasn't at 41lb yet. Not sure how to finish it???

[Agent 86]

Originally Posted by cycleboy

I just finished w this. The front wasn't bad but the rear was a pain in the ass!

I was swapping out LCA's also. The hard part was getting the struts/springs to compress enough to get the bolts back through the LCA. Driver's side was especially hard. About 1.5 hr for the front and 5 hr for the rear!!!

I don't have a good way to torque the top nuts without spinning shafts. I marked one with a sharpie and tried it and it had rotated a quarter turn and I wasn't at 41lb yet. Not sure how to finish it???

I didn't swap out my LCA's, but I did remove the lower shock bolt, sway bar bolt and inner hinge point bolt on the LCA. To compress the spring, I used a hydraulic jack to push the arm up, while carefully guiding the shock shaft.

For torquing the top nuts without the shaft rotating I used a pass-through socket set with a "T" handle allen wrench. This won't get you the exact torque setting, but it shouldn't be to difficult to approximate. At Harbor Freight you can get both tool sets for less than $30. Not the highest quality tools, but IMO perfect for this task.

[cycleboy]

Originally Posted by Agent 86

For torquing the top nuts without the shaft rotating I used a pass-through socket set with a "T" handle allen wrench. This won't get you the exact torque setting, but it shouldn't be to difficult to approximate. At Harbor Freight you can get both tool sets for less than $30. Not the highest quality tools, but IMO perfect for this task.

I've got the pass-through ratchet and allen wrench, but my torque wrench isn't pass-through, so I was more concerned about getting them at or at least near 41 ft-lb.

Curious also if the shaft rotated by 1/4 turn, is that a problem?

p.s. I didn't have enough height from my jack to get stands under the back end, so I couldn't use the jack to push up the LCA as it was holding up the car! (Yes, I had a spare wheel from my SUV under there in case the jack failed.)

[bryan767]

Don't you need to preload the top mount onto the strut?

Meaning either A) use a jack under the lca to lift the shock and compress the springs or B) use some coil compressors?

I heard that not doing either of those could result in failure and clunking

[sissupr]

Used this method and the original OP from Darren. Thanks to both OPs. Took about 3hr, rears took longer because I didn't have a long enough thru socket. Make sure you have a deeper length thru socket to get to the rear top strut bolt.

[adrixe]

Following this diy, i cant for the life of me, loosen the top nut of the struts!!! Anyway to loosen them? With all my force, wouldnt loosen. Looks like it has a locktite red on it.

[adrixe]

[brz408]

I think that nut will just keep spinning unless you have the allen wrench holding it in place through the center. It should spin off though. Maybe add some wd-40 and let it soak a few mins? Mine spun off right away. Use some leverage and a second set of hands if needed.


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