92ES5sp

Weird.
Thats what I said!

I still cant find the ride height spec but later ill measure it on my car for hahas. Are you gonna do the mounts too?

llcoolpass

i found the height spec! i have the mounts. I will do them unless the those present are in perfect condition.

here's the stuff from the manual:

211 mm, front
259 mm, rear

--Measuring point--
Front: Measure from the ground to the center of the front
side lower arm mounting bolt.
Rear: Measure from the ground to the center of the strut
rod mounting bolt.
• Before inspecting the wheel alignment, adjust the
vehicle height to specification.

picture:

92ES5sp

Thanks for that, you are the man! Does it say what the fuel level should be or anything like that? Im gonna print this and check my measurements this week after I change my ECT sensor at work since its the slow season.

I got a question for ya too. Would sagging springs affect camber? Just curious because although my camber split was dead nuts in the front, the rear was not really offset last time I had it on the rack and it visually looks like the rear end is sagging a bit. I might be considering new springs; just not sure yet.

llcoolpass

the slow month for sure, u probably get a chance tomorrow! lol

yeah it ought to affect the camber... but there's no way to adjust camber.

i pulled that pic from the alignment section of the chapter on suspension from the factory service manual.

of course, post what height you get on a level surface. i will not be able to do this for a few days [changing my struts first; even if I have worn springs, I will be better off for the time being with the struts good again]

llcoolpass

something is wrong. i saw that my lower spring seat rubber isolators were dry rotting bad so i got new ones at dealer since kyb doesn't make them at all. problem is that the kyb boot kit that i have already bought is not the same thing as the stock thing creating the following problem:
i dont have a new upper insulator to go with all of this. did you all run into this same thing? what is your experience with this.
the factory part is a upper insulator with the boot all in one. kyb doesn't offer the upper insulator, just a boot. tomorrow morning, asap, im going to be there to pick up the two there that they have [thanks god they have it] @ dlr.
n e 1 do the same thing, or ??

92ES5sp

What upper insulator are you talking about? Im not sure I understand the question. Do you mean the bump stop (thats what i call it)? The boot goes over that. With mine i recieved the stop and the boot in the same box and I put them together. I didnt buy any factory parts. Its all KYB.

llcoolpass

the bottom of the spring goes to the lower insulator which i had to buy at dlr. no kyb equivalent! correct me if im wrong

the upper part also goes to an upper insulator. no kyb equivalenT... correct me if im wrong

please, get back to me asap on what you think of this new development, i appreciate it dude

llcoolpass

interesting notation with this part, hmmm, ????
http://www.autopartsplace.com/Lexus-...t-Bellows.html

i just was wondering if anyone sold it besides dlr. this says it may be one or a two piece depending on if its old or newly manufactored part

llcoolpass

i can't get the old cartridge out, im beginning to think its the nonreplaceable type ?? did your struts have the same glad nut, going by the picutre?" how hard to removeyour old cartridge?

llcoolpass

so it had to go in , the kyb strut. the strut cartridge will have to go back , and the old strut is thus trash.
i everything except replace the spring. its very easy to do with basic tools, no air tools. I would say the one thing that seems to have taken advantage of person's musicles is getting the top nut off, while the strut was clamped in a vice, and getting the two strut to spindle [ie axle carrier] bolts loose. I used my 24 inch breaker bar for each, and for an ''sst'' i used a pry bar against two of the three strut to body bolts while getting the top nut off.
it also seems that to properly torque [with a torque wrench[ you have to pull the rear shelf off. to get the strut off and to just tighten it down with what tools fit in that space, you don't need to.
the seats youlift up on the front of the seat, at the bottom where it touches the carpet so to guide you. the back of the seat you remove one bolt per side, and then push up, causing it to unhook and it comes right out through the back door. the seat bottom also fit through the rear door opening.
the spring compressor even though went wihtout a hitch still scares me more than ANY other work on a car.

even though the car seems fine now, im still going to replace the rear drivers strut assm , too. but it, my particular car at this point in time, basically doesn't need it.

theoretcally, i could have sawed off the top of the strut body, and made it so that i could screw on a strut cartridge, if i didnt lack the time to do that. so oh well for that neat possibility. the KYB strut is serviceable, coolness it is, and when the car hits 189K miles, im going to pop out the cartridge for sure!
right now she's at 139K miles.

92ES5sp

Hey sorry for the late reply been stuck working on somebody elses fine Cadillac
Yes they did. I dont know, never messed with it. Plug 'n' play with new struts. The housing was really rusted anyway. The old struts were so shot that they would compress themselves upside down on the floor.
Im not sure, I mean they got plenty of lubrication from the leaking struts they didnt dry rot or anything, so I cleaned them up and slapped them on the new struts. I dont know if that was a bad move, but no noises or anything from them 10,000 miles later.
I bought the KYB equivalent to that part. The bellows and the bump stop. Got if from shockwarehouse.com.
Nice! Is that the factory approved sst? hehe

Yea congrats. Hope you had a few beers after you were all done! I remember that I also cleaned up the axle carrier to strut mounting surface and sprayed some penetating lube to help getting tham back in, but after doing it that wasnt really necessary. The new struts slid right in. And yea spring compressors arevery scary!! The back seat is very easy to take out too like you said. I especially like the square pieces of foam on top. Cute. Mustbe sound deadening I guess. I also noticed a few weeks later that the rear strut mount to body nuts cam loose and started to make a little noise, so I retorqued those and theyve been fine since.

llcoolpass

no time for beer, i literally got part at dlr when they first opened, drove home, did the work, didnt even put seat back in, or take the tools out of car, and drove on the highway. i figure if it can handle my commute, i would know if anything was loose.... [no joke] [LOL]

im going to be checking the torque on the three nuts myself, interesting that you had to, as i figure they are not perfect since i didn't take off the rear shelf yet. and still, i have to do the driverside strut parts.

the thing is, i think the noise i was having was more the spring. since the lower insulator was bad. but i can tell having a new strut was way better. i can't believe how well the car handles the pot holes and terrible roads of Camden, particularly federal st. coming off of rt 130. anyone from new jersey know what i mean. even in normal cars its a noisey annoying experience. now its like perfect or something. neat car i guess! im still doing the drivers side even though it doesnt need it just to balance it out with the other side. i just wish i had the money and the not credit card to pay for it with heh.

i had those insulation bricks too. i dont think they used them on later years, instead, a solid sheet. i also found 2 quarters under the seat, and some kind of red film all about the surface the seat was covering, that looks like it needs to be removed with anti bacterial cleaner.

one more thing, there is no bump stop on there to begin with, and i had a hard time with the one that came in the kyb box [the bellows thing was in the box too, that kyb product we were talking about]. so, long story short, im not putting them on, even tohugh in a really bad situation metal would hit metal and possibly damage the strut. unless you can better luck putting them on? what do you think of this you all?

my torque wrench doesnt go higher than 150 lb ft.
so i did 140, and then just put my 2 ft breaker bar on it and pulled up with one arm to come close to what i know i am capable of pulling with my arm. still, i wish i couldhave torque those strut those two spindle bolts properly. fsm says they are each supposed to be torqued to 188 lb ft

Ariyanna

I live in Camden, Ablett Village ring a bell? 96 Black ES300 with 2001 ES300 chrome rims have u seen it around? maybe you can help me replace my struts, mounts, springs and bushings, I bought the Toyota struts from trademotion so I should have the same comfortable ride again. Let me know when ur available

llcoolpass

more of a instant message/PM thing LOL

you may need a few more parts than just the struts, unless you got the entire assembly as one unit [usually 250 dollar for it]...

This might work. We are not too far. I'll contact you.

llcoolpass

fyi, my 1993 struts were not serviceable. this is a major contradiction to the status quo.

also, therefore, "92ES5spd" also had non serviceable ones.