FtMyersLS

How do you align the top mount to be sure that the 3 bolts align with the holes? I know that the strut shaft wont spin once the spring is loaded on it. Please let me know any tips as I will have the grandkids over saturday and they dont need to hear me scream M______F_____ when I have to kep compressing the spring to realign the strut.

Thanks in advance

G

Romanova

Honestly, if I had to do it again, I'd just pay someone to do it. It was a huge pain, even though I've done struts many times before. Each side took several attempts to get it lined up and trying to mark things didn't help much.

Watch your spring compressor if you do it. I used a Blue Point and it wasn't great, with the needed compression, then the threaded rods were hitting the mounts or if you did them the other way there was another problem IIRC.

Make sure you read this thread if you haven't already: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...del-ls430.html

bradland

When I bought my '06 approx 5 years ago the selling dealer added "new front struts" to the sales pitch. Unfortunately, their tech did exactly what you're afraid of doing as mentioned above.
I rented a spring compressor and removed both struts to correct the issue. Basically, the coil was not seated correctly on the lower spring perch.
Yes, it is annoying as most of us don't work with spring compressors on a daily basis. Luckily I was able to get it aligned on the second try.
If I can offer any advice, first and foremost be very careful compressing the spring.
Second, I'd put a mark on the rubber insulator before removing the spring from the old strut. If you are replacing the rubber insulator I will stress only using the Genuine Toyota/Lexus part.
Aftermarket insulators are a joke in comparison.
If you replace the insulator simply transfer your mark from the old part to the new.
rkw77080 points this out in step 11.