roadfrog

I did. That post you quoted was old.

skablaw

I'm sorry to resurrect a fairly old thread, but I'm hopelessly stuck and I can see that fblonk got to the same impasse I'm at and overcame it so I'm hoping for a little detail around this part of the process:

I'm at the point where I'm trying to muscle the strut assembly out - getting to the top wasn't so bad and I have those nuts off. At the bottom, though, it's a warzone. The swaybar link is going to have to be cut off because the space for the hex wrench in that upper bolt is one more attempt away from being totally stripped out. Beyond that, though, I don't see how I'm going to get the lower part of the strut off its spindle. I got the nut off no problem, but it just seems like there is so much downward force being exerted that if I try tapping it off (towards the center of the car), it's going to scrape along and permanently damage the threads.

Fblonk, you mentioned jacking the bottom of the strut, I think - how does that work? Even if I do, will I be able to exert any lateral force to slide it off (and upon installation back on) the spindle? It seems like it would just pop off the top of the jack, maybe violently, and I'd be back at square one. I can take pictures if my rambling doesn't make sense - any help at all is deeply appreciated! I've run out of rope with my wife and I've been told I have to fix this myself or take it to a shop before next weekend because she needs to take the other car out of town...

Thanks everyone!

skablaw

skablaw

I've made a little bit more progress, but, again, would love any insight or advice at this point - each step I take I feel like I'm flirting with disaster and just barely inch the project forward without permanently damaging anything...

So, with a couple of wood blocks, I've been able to get a small bottle jack inside the wheel well extended far enough that the spindle for the lower part of the strut is at least level with where it needs to be. The problem now, is that with the strut in place (but not bolted in at the upper mount so I have some play in it and can move it around) I can't get the strut far enough inwards towards the center-line of the car to slip over the spindle. I really don't want to push too hard against it because I'm worried I'll deform the strut (or worse). In fblonk's tutorial I don't see anything about detaching control arms from the wheel assembly, but honestly at this point I don't know how else this is going to work. I probably should have started that way, but I'm curious to know what others think - maybe there's an angle of approach I haven't worked out yet or something like that.

Two steps forward and one step backwards with every bit of this job, unfortunately! So far I'm still ready to believe this was worth the effort to not drop a couple grand at a shop for someone else to do the work, though.

JLAWS

I've completed the rear shock replacement !! Took me a total of 6 hours over 2 days for removal and install. I spent some of the time detailing (vacuum and clean trim parts) while the rear seats were out. Also greasing exterior suspension parts.

I would advise to have on a hand a service jack, mini jack and at least 2 jack stands, I used these to move the rear axle up and down to get the strut into the spindle mount. I used one jack stand under the strut and lowered the vehicle to compress the strut so it can fit into the lower mounting hole of the strut. I highly recommend having someone step down on the rear rotor or lugs to get the spindle to move down far enough to mount the strut.
I was able to contort myself to step on the rotor (not the dust shield) and with one hand line up the strut into the mounting area. Use a rubber mallet or small sledge hammer to gently tap in the strut. don't worry about the threads getting stripped. It is actually designed to slide in without threads getting damaged once you start hammering it in. My rear sway bar links were only a year old so they were easy to take off. I would advise to start with that part first before dismantling the interior. Get a new set of high quality rear link like Moog or Mevotech that are rust resistant. You might as well change them if they are the original ones.

I have rear recline seats so extra steps were needed remove the rear seats. I found videos in this forum which were extremely helpful. I recommend buying a set of trim panel pry tools (Amazon) and a set of Toyota/Lexus trim clips for the ones you break.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...removal-2.html

I can say that I probably did the install better than a Lexus mechanic would have done it. I put back every screw, trim clip, bolt etc. Vacuumed out and wipes down the area under the seats. Greased the seat tracks and motor. Greased the sway bar links, cleaned up the brake rotors and recoated them with rust prevent treatment. Torqued the strut nuts all to spec. Drove 5 miles and re torqued them. Total labor cost was $60 total to have my indy mechanic remove the strut from spring and replace it! I used KYB gas a just struts which are improvement over stock. The original strut mounts had no sign of wear so I kept them and returned the KYB mount.

End result. Definitely improved comfort and better reaction time over bumps. My car used to wobble left to right with just the only the front struts replaced. Now it is more planted with all of them done. I recommend changing them if you are nearing 100K miles.

dcnaser201

Do you have a picture of how you placed the small bottle jack? I need to push the whole knuckle down few inches to insert the new strut.