Cant get my rear struts out!
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I am installing my teins and i have alreayd completed the fronts, they were cake. the rears however, are giving me an amazing amount of trouble.
This is where im at on the rear section:
ive unbolted the botton strut bolt
unbolted the top 3 bolt on top of the strut
i tryed to get the sway bar end link undone, but couldent fit my breaker bar in there, and i dont have enough strength to use a regular ratchet.Is undoing the sway bar end link 100% necassary? also, it seems very hard to pry down on the cailipar and slide the strut out, theres alot of resistance! i had my 160lb friend jump up and down on the caliper but still cant get it to move down far enough to slide the strut out. what am i missing?
any/all help is great as i am at a standstill with this.
ps. ive search and found all the coilover how to's.
thanks guys
This is where im at on the rear section:
ive unbolted the botton strut bolt
unbolted the top 3 bolt on top of the strut
i tryed to get the sway bar end link undone, but couldent fit my breaker bar in there, and i dont have enough strength to use a regular ratchet.Is undoing the sway bar end link 100% necassary? also, it seems very hard to pry down on the cailipar and slide the strut out, theres alot of resistance! i had my 160lb friend jump up and down on the caliper but still cant get it to move down far enough to slide the strut out. what am i missing?
any/all help is great as i am at a standstill with this.
ps. ive search and found all the coilover how to's.
thanks guys
#2
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Wow so the front was "Cake" huh? When I was lowering my car for the first time I thought the front was the hardest. What I did to lower that rear was use a jackstand and a scizzor jack on top of each other. I dont suggest that this is the correct way of doing it nor the safest but this is how I did it..
Since my heavy friend wasnt able to lower the caliper to where I could get the strut out I got desperate and used my own little method. After I unbolted the top 3 nuts and loosened the center nut ( I left it on there at about halfway screwed in for safety. Shocks can pop out and hit you in the face) I used two spring compressors and I compressed the shock and spring together so I can get more clearance from the bottom of the shock. I then took the jackstand and placed it firmly on top of the brake caliper. Then I put the Toyota Scizzor jack on top of the jackstand and started turning it until the top of the scizzor jack touched the ceiling of the wheel base. Or you can place the jack stand on top of the scizzor jack. Which ever way you find to be easier. Once everything is nice and stable to the point where nothing is going to pop out, I turned the scizzor jack somemore. It lowered the brake caliper a couple inches more and I was able to carefully wiggle the strut and spring out with no problem.
As for the swaybar endlink, I didnt bother taking it off on the other side because it was too hard to put back on the other side.
Since my heavy friend wasnt able to lower the caliper to where I could get the strut out I got desperate and used my own little method. After I unbolted the top 3 nuts and loosened the center nut ( I left it on there at about halfway screwed in for safety. Shocks can pop out and hit you in the face) I used two spring compressors and I compressed the shock and spring together so I can get more clearance from the bottom of the shock. I then took the jackstand and placed it firmly on top of the brake caliper. Then I put the Toyota Scizzor jack on top of the jackstand and started turning it until the top of the scizzor jack touched the ceiling of the wheel base. Or you can place the jack stand on top of the scizzor jack. Which ever way you find to be easier. Once everything is nice and stable to the point where nothing is going to pop out, I turned the scizzor jack somemore. It lowered the brake caliper a couple inches more and I was able to carefully wiggle the strut and spring out with no problem.
As for the swaybar endlink, I didnt bother taking it off on the other side because it was too hard to put back on the other side.
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After unbolting the 3 bolts on top, and the one big bolt on the bottom of the strut... shove a crowbar in there and pry free. That's what I did last weekend when I installed my TT Supra Eibach springs & KYB supra struts. Worked like a charm
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Originally Posted by onlylexus8
...
i tryed to get the sway bar end link undone, but couldent fit my breaker bar in there, and i dont have enough strength to use a regular ratchet.Is undoing the sway bar end link 100% necassary? also, it seems very hard to pry down on the cailipar and slide the strut out, theres alot of resistance! i had my 160lb friend jump up and down on the caliper but still cant get it to move down far enough to slide the strut out. what am i missing?
...
i tryed to get the sway bar end link undone, but couldent fit my breaker bar in there, and i dont have enough strength to use a regular ratchet.Is undoing the sway bar end link 100% necassary? also, it seems very hard to pry down on the cailipar and slide the strut out, theres alot of resistance! i had my 160lb friend jump up and down on the caliper but still cant get it to move down far enough to slide the strut out. what am i missing?
...
Make sure the rear end is jacked up high enough for youto use a breaker bar.
As a side note these helped me out:
http://www.discountramps.com/plastic_car_ramps.htm
I could get a 4x4 block on top of my jack to get the car up higher.
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The front are a piece of cake to do if you have a ball joint seperator. The rears are even easier, but u need a friend to push down on the axle cause it likes to spring up.
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Originally Posted by JspecSC3
What I did to lower that rear was use a jackstand and a scizzor jack on top of each other.
As for the swaybar endlink, I didnt bother taking it off on the other side because it was too hard to put back on the other side.
As for the swaybar endlink, I didnt bother taking it off on the other side because it was too hard to put back on the other side.
I did not compress springs, not needed in my case. I also agree that the end links can stay on. Seemed safe enough,
Last edited by SCoupe; 02-28-06 at 02:41 AM.
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