jwigley

Since I have a clunking strut mount on my front passenger side I've been told that I might as well replace the strut since I'm at 140K and my struts have never been replaced.

I have also been told that I shouldn't do just one strut and that I should do the front driver side strut as well to keep it even. Otherwise the car will sit wonky.

My question is, should I replace all 4 struts or just the front 2?

I am just trying to do the bare minimum until next September and then sell it or trade it in.

Suggestions please?

carguy07

Just the fronts is fine, Make sure it's really the strut mount and not a sway bar end link.

fastnoypi

if you are doing the work yourself, you can confirm the strut mount by removing the strut and compressing the spring. If there is slop with the strut mount without load from the top spring seat..then it is the strut mount. If you remove the strut mount and spring completely AND you are able to push the strut rod down easily..then the strut is blown...which can cause the clunk on bumps. Another possibility, is the spring was possibly not compressed enough when torquing down the top strut mount. If it were the case, the top strut mount nut backed out and is giving room for the strut mount to clunk.

As cargu07 mentioned..check the swaybar end links, it would be the easiest to check first before pulling the struts.

jwigley

I took it to a Lexus dealership and they diagnosed that it's the strut mount. Should I not trust that diagnoses? It's a deep sounding clunk that sounds like it's coming from the top of my car on the passenger side. I usually hear it when I am going over small bumps at lower speed. Especially speed bumps in parking lots.

After looking up info on the sway bar links, it looks like this could be the cause of the clunks as well.

Do we have a how to guide on replacing the sway bar links? Then I would have to get an alignment again, right?

JAB

Realignment is unnecessary if all you are replacing is the sway bar links. Do the sway bar bushings at the same time; still no realignment is necessary.

thaeleelyr

I'm not sure I'd bother with the sway bar bushings if you are getting rid of it next Sept. I had my struts/mounts replaced at somewhere in the 180k range and didn't bother with the bushings. They seemed fine and I didn't notice anything untoward afterwards. They were replaced when the front end was apart at 200k to do the control arm, ball joint, etc.

I couldn't find after market bushings. I had to use dealer at a cost of $15 a pop (if I remember correctly). If you aren't noticing drift on the highway, you may be able to get away with not replacing them. All you would have to do is pop the tire off and loosen the lower link bolt to get at the bushing bracket/bushing, so it isn't too much work if you want to try to pass it on to the next owner.

If you do them, spray the bolts with lubricant so they loosen up. The bushings have a slit in them, so they just pop off. The rearmost bolt is a pain to get to. A 1/4" drive with a short knuckle extension did the trick. It wasn't solidly on the head, but enough to get it out and tightened.

fastnoypi

Jack the whole front of your RX up to relieve swaybar tension. Work with the top of the endlink first (connecting to the strut). Spray PB blaster or other penetrating spray before you begin.
If i recall, use a 14mm open end wrench and a 5mm hex key to keep the endlink from spinning. repeat for the other end of the endlink connected to the swaybar. When installing, torque to 29 ft/lb per FSM.

As mentioned, non alignment necessary.

salimshah

Maybe some one can post how to put things together too. Suspension parts usually require loaded (laden) position before parts are tightened. Lot of shade tree mechanics and DIYers dont know this and once the vehicle is taken of jacks the things are under stress and the component life is shortened.

Buy the service manual if you are serious about DIYing

Salim

thaeleelyr

If you don't have PB Blaster, you can use a 50/50 mix of acetone (nail polish remover) and ATF fluid. That's my new favorite rusty bolt stuff. It works very well and is cheap.

jwigley

This is a quick reply to say thanks for the suggestions. I'll check out all the info/suggestions when I get home from work tonight.

thaeleelyr

I could be wrong but I don't think anyone needs to worry about that on this vehicle. None of the mounting bolts go through a bushing, with the exception of one on the control arm and it wouldn't matter if it was tightened with or without load. The rest are ball joints. I don't have anything in my manual detailing such a procedure but if someone else does, we would all appreciate that information.

salimshah

Been a while, struts are secured in place with the weight of the vehicle.

Salim

thaeleelyr

You can easily access the retaining nut once installed to check the torque but that's different from what you're saying, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're talking about.. Everything bolts onto another piece of metal. Having suspension parts flexed into their relative working position before completing the tightening is to prevent excessive shearing forces on a bushing. For example, if the control arm has the two mounting bolts go through the bushing, you would need to install the bolt but not tighten, so that the inner sleeve can rotate around the bolt into it's proper position once you take the jack out. Final tightening to torque will keep it there, otherwise you'll have the excessive shearing force on the bushing that you refer to and it will fail early.

It's not weight that is so important but position. Using the vehicle's weight to get these parts into a "starting" position is the goal. I just can't think of any suspension part on this model RX for which that would apply. They either mount metal to metal or are a ball joint. In these scenarios & depending on the part, putting weight on before torquing would quite possibly result in an under-torqued/loose suspension part, as the weight against a bolt would give a false reading.

JAB

I think this would apply to sway bar bushings.

fastnoypi

i outlined the basics of how to diy front swaybar bushings on post #7 Here is a link with more visual pictures if needed from toyota nation.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/10...end-links.html

If you have access to an impact wrench, you can often get lucky zipping off the old endlink nut if it is soaked in pb blaster.
There are flats on the backside of the endlink to be able to fit a cone wrench if necessary to keep the center of the endlink from spinning as an alternative to using a hex key.

To replace the swaybar bushings, i would consider unbolting the swaybar links from their strut mounting points then loosen/remove the swaybar mounts and replace the bushings. Then tighten everything in reverse order.
.....

On strut installation, Lexmex has a pretty good comprehensive write up in the stickys.