In garage now and need help removing front shock absorber

burninator

burninator

New member
2006 4Runner w/o XREAS. Swapping stock shocks to Bilsteins. Just finished rears with no problems. I am following the guides contained in the PDF repair manual.



I cannot get the front shock/coil assembly off the vehicle. I have unbolted and removed the large bottom bolt, and I have removed the 3 nuts at the top. It seems like the assembly is not fully stretched out, and I cannot compress it by hand to remove.



Please help because I'm stuck.

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I don't have the repair manual procedure to look at, but I definitely had to use spring compressors to compress the coil before I was able to remove the front shocks. I think there's another method around the forum involving separating the lower ball joints to flop the lower control arm down and out of the way, no spring compressor needed (found it here).

Hope that helps!
 
Unbolt the two bolts that hold the the lower control arm to the spindle. You can pry down on the lower control arm to get the strut out
 
Go to homedepot and buy a prybar. With any suspension work a prybar is needed and makes this easier.

If you cannot still remove it. You need to remove the upper control arm bolt from the steering knuckle. But you will need a large hammer to unwedge the UCA from the knuckle.
 
BFH lol. In all seriousness though, you won't be able to compress it without a compressor. I'd consider how you plan on installing the new one in order to determine how to get that one out. If you're going to install a new one without getting a compressor, then you'll have to take those two bolts to get it to fit back in. That's how I did mine. You should get an alignment anytime you do shock work anyways.
 
Thanks for the replies so far. Why the EFF does the repair guide not mention this massive step? It just says "remove the assembly."

I rented this for the install. I tried to use it to compress the stock coil, but this guy is designed to be place inside the coil and obviously the shock is still in there.

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Definitely unbolt the spindle from the lower ball joint (2 bolts). It will give you a lot more room and play. I separated the tie rod end and sway bar end too. That left the spindle hanging from the upper ball joint. You can just push it to the side and tie it to the frame or bumper with a bungie to keep it out of the way. It'll make the job so much easier.
 
As was stated, unbolt the two bolts that hold the LCA onto the spindle. (around the ball joint), use a strap of some sort to hold the knuckle/hub assembly out of your way, then use a prybar to pry that sucker out of there as you push down on the LCA. You think she's tight now, wait till you go to cram that Billy in there!! To put the new assembly in you WILL need to pry down like crazy on the LCA, push the top of the shock assembly in first, then pry the bottom into place. Then you will have to pry it up a little to line the hole up to put the bolt in too! It's a tough job, leverage and an extra set of hands will help you tremendously!!
 
fdbyrne said:
Definitely unbolt the spindle from the lower ball joint (2 bolts). It will give you a lot more room and play. I separated the tie rod end and sway bar end too. That left the spindle hanging from the upper ball joint. You can just push it to the side and tie it to the frame or bumper with a bungie to keep it out of the way. It'll make the job so much easier.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I did, and I still needed a pry bar to pugh lower arm down enough for everything to slide out.
 
Forgot to take the shop mechanic the Bilstein perches/caps/whatevers, so he used the stock ones. Got it all back together and drove the truck tonight.

Not sure if it's much different than the 150K stock springs. Whatever. It's done.

Thanks for y'all's help. I'd still be stuck in the garage without you.
 
It took the dude 15 minutes to do the work for $50, while I listened to his chicken dance music in the background. Sounds like a good hourly rate to me.

Here she is.

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