Got new shocks in hand. I jacked up the 4Runner and am attempting to remove the nut off the top of the shock on the drivers side. Holy cow, there is not much space to work up there. I can only get a 3/8 socket wrench with a deep well 14mm up there. I can only just grab the wrench with my fingertips. Not near enough strength to turn it.

Any tricks to this? I am reaching up and over the axle. Does anyone remove anything to help access? The shop manual just says 'remove it.' Duh.

I have the axle jacked up which compresses the shock a bit, not sure if this helps or hurts.

Geez! Seems like such a stupid-simple job but 2 hours later I am stuck.

Sawzall! Is what I used to remove mine. I tried removing but to much rust. Get a Sawzall or borrow one and it will be removed in 2 minutes per side!

New guy here. I know, I am working on a proper intro.

Seems like the last time I replaced the rear shocks on my '97 Limited, I had to put a wrench on the nut and then get some big pliers and twist the upper shock body to get them loose.

I didn't own a Sawzall then, But I do now.

I tried but there is no room to get my Sawzall up near the top of the shock on the left side. Gas tank and other obstacles. This could work on the right side, though.

I will try spinning the shock as suggested.

I can't believe this is beating me.

Your 1st post says the rear suspension is compressed, try putting jackstands under the frame and letting the rear suspension droop, you might find you have more room to work that way.

Get the socket to sit up top with the ratchet and use some vise grips to turn the shock shaft. It will mess up the shock but will get er done.

BINGO!

TN_Soljah808: Thanks for giving me the balls to use a saw!

IanB: Thanks for giving me the brains to use the saw correctly! The extra space did it.

Now I will have a beer while the burned rubber smell dissipates in the garage. Cough! Cough!

If you ever come across this problem again, another easy solution is to drill a hole in the outer casing, shove a screwdriver in there and twist off.

Glad I could help, I just spent some quality time under there this past weekend, lol. Now that the strut is out, how do you get the new one in? You don't want to score the new strut by holding it in place with visegrips right? Or is the new strut stiff enough to resist the shaft spinning, and the new nut threads on easier than the old rusty one?

Hehe, lots of complaints about trying to do that. I used an angle grinder with cutoff wheel. It's a PITA. Wasn't nearly as bad as getting the fronts off mine though. I had to take a dremel to the frame-side stud and just slit the thing until I could break the nut off. I probably blew through 10-15 cutting wheels on it.

The new strut popped in pretty easily and tightened right up. I only hope I got the configuration of washers and bushings correct. The top seemed odd, but looks like (from the bottom) washer, bushing, washer, frame mount, bushing, washer, nut.

I can tighten the shock as much as I want. Just not sure what is too tight. I have the bushings pretty mushroomed, but not totally squeezed down. And that's not with much pressure on my 3/8 wrench.

I went with Sensatracs since my truck is just a grocery getter and supposed to be my 'cheap' ride. I know Bilsteins and other shocks seem preferred but with a 40% off coupon from Advance Auto the Monroes were a deal.

I was hoping the oem shocks, surely original, would feel really weak but they don't feel all that bad. I hope I feel improvement with the new ones. No turning back!

Oh great. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm doing the fronts later this week. I'm sure you'll hear from me!

I had to cut one of the studs off my tophats when I did my fronts as well as the stud came loose and just spun with the nut, ended up using an angle grinder on it, luckily it was the middle one, and not the rearmost, that would have gotten ugly. Be very careful not to round the nut on that rear one, it's tight getting in there.

I thought the Audi was the grocery getter?

You should have thrown some new springs in while you were in there.

Your 4runner looks to have zero rust on the undercarriage. Looks nice.

You sound like my wife! Shhh. Or she will take it away from me.

I know. Budget restraints. Get to that later. And need to research what to get.

It's pretty amazing how good of condition this is inside and out. Looks two years old! It was garaged and babied all it's life.