replacing front strut on XREAS?

[4RBob]

My front passenger strut sounds like pigeons when driving down the road. I believe it is an internal bushing. There are no leaks in the system. Can I just buy that strut and replace it? I read something in a pdf on this site that said an individual component can be replaced for the first time if there is no leakage. It said to replace the system on the second repair. Is there a valve that prevents leakage where I disconnect the hose? Any pics of where to disconnect would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[YOLO]

i too would like an answer on this?

 

[2000t4r4wd]

I would assume that you have to treat this the same way you do when you lift your truck with the Xreas suspension.

You need to lift the entire truck on 4 jack stands or a lift with the suspension hanging (no pressue on any shocks) so you can remove the shocks.

Read up on lifting the truck with Xreas, it should give you a good idea on how to do it.

 

[4RBob]

I would assume that you have to treat this the same way you do when you lift your truck with the Xreas suspension.

You need to lift the entire truck on 4 jack stands or a lift with the suspension hanging (no pressue on any shocks) so you can remove the shocks.

Read up on lifting the truck with Xreas, it should give you a good idea on how to do it.

Except, I don't think you typically disconnect any of the XREAS components when lifting it. I did a 1" front / 3/4" rear Cornfed spacer lift, by the way.

 

[2000t4r4wd]

I lifted my 06 SE with the older Daystar spacer kit from Wheelers and because of the preload spacer I had to make sure all the pressure was off the shocks.

 

[BlairB]

Except, I don't think you typically disconnect any of the XREAS components when lifting it. I did a 1" front / 3/4" rear Cornfed spacer lift, by the way.

You dont typically, but you can.


The OP can try to get an XREAS shock from someone who has replaced their XREAS w/ aftermarket coilovers and just replace it with no pressure on the shocks.

 

[4RBob]

sorry, I'm a little slow today (and most days). what do you mean by taking the pressure off the shocks? are you just talking about jacking the vehicle up off the ground? if I do that, can i just disconnect the shock from the tube assembly without it leaking?

 

[BlairB]

sorry, I'm a little slow today (and most days). what do you mean by taking the pressure off the shocks? are you just talking about jacking the vehicle up off the ground? if I do that, can i just disconnect the shock from the tube assembly without it leaking?

The reason you need to take pressure off the shock is that your shocks are cross-pressurized (front left linked to rear right and vice versa), so if you disconnected the front strut while the pressure on the rear still, it would push the fluid out the line, so to remove these safely the shocks have to have no pressure in them, not just the one you are working with, but also the one it is linked with.

 

[4RBob]

The reason you need to take pressure off the shock is that your shocks are cross-pressurized (front left linked to rear right and vice versa), so if you disconnected the front strut while the pressure on the rear still, it would push the fluid out the line, so to remove these safely the shocks have to have no pressure in them, not just the one you are working with, but also the one it is linked with.

ok, if i have the entire vehicle jacked up, is that sufficient? or do i need to do something with the check valve at the center control?

 

[BlairB]

ok, if i have the entire vehicle jacked up, is that sufficient? or do i need to do something with the check valve at the center control?

Yeah jacking up the vehicle will be sufficient, technically you only need to take pressure off the shock that the one you are working on is cross linked to, but everytime I have done work on mine the entire vehicle was off the ground.

There is no check valve or anything.

 

[4RBob]

ok, thanks for the replies.

the more i think about it, the more i think upgrading to Bilstein 5100's all around would be a better idea. my XREAS has about 154k miles on it, so if i replace this one shock now, chances are other shocks are going to go and i would need to do the whole system eventually.

 

[4RBob]

re: check valves

I was referring to 1st pic in this write-up: (I guess this applies if you are removing the entire system)

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29801