Rear shock replacement

[jareddavidj]

Trying to replace my rear shocks, bit of a noob, but if I put my jackstands on the rear axle, will i be able to remove the shocks? I don't know if theyre supporting any weight. And does anybody have advise to get the PITA top shock bolt off?

 

[snivilous]

Yes. And use a pipe wrench on the shock body and then a wrench with maybe a cheater bar to get it going. A lot easier with two people.

When I installed the new rear shocks I used two nuts with a lock washer between them jamming them, and tightened them as much down as I could without grabbing the shaft and then used a ton of lock-tite since it was such a ***** to put it on as take it off. A body lift would probably help since you could reach between the body and frame. Good luck :cheers:

 

[mcaz5]

Trying to replace my rear shocks, bit of a noob, but if I put my jackstands on the rear axle, will i be able to remove the shocks? I don't know if theyre supporting any weight. And does anybody have advise to get the PITA top shock bolt off?

You can put them on the axle but then you'll have to move them to the frame. When I did mine I put them on the frame, jacked the rear up from the tow hitch, disconnected the bottom shock bolt so the axle hung, and then I ended up having to grind the top nut off.

 

[kernel.panik]

You shouldn't need jacks for replacing the shocks. They do not support any weight. They may be "charged" and may slowly expand, but no biggie. Depending on what condition your undercarriage is in will determine what you need to do. Mine was fairly clean and free of any rust (AZ Truck) so I got a small socket on the top nut with a small ratchet wedged up there and twisted my shock to remove the upper nut. If the upper nut is stuck or rusted on, most suggestions I've read here say to cut the shock off with a hack saw or sawzall just under the upper mount. Hope that helps.

 

[TheDurk]

If they are still the stock shocks, the fastest way is to take out the bottom bolt, put a deep 14mm socket and breaker bar on the top nut, and twist the steel boot with a big pair of ChannelLocks. Snaps right off. I can do it faster than you can plug in a SawzAll.

Pretty sure I did mine on the ground.

 

[4Runner4TW]

Mine were easy to get off. Just used a deep socket (14mm) and my regular wrench. Just laid on my back and reached up and slowly undid them. Of course I could see rust being a major factor. Mine was rust free (AZ). There is a tiny hole that I looked through to make sure the socket was going onto the nut. It will slip off a few times. I just held the shock body when removing them and when installing.