Changing Struts

[hospitalbuilder]

I changed the struts out on my 99 QX4 over the weekend. What a chore, but what a difference it made in my ride quality. The old shocks were completely worn out, they had no rebound if I pushed them all the way in or pulled them all the way out, the stayed where I left them.

Anyway, some advice, this job is a wrestling match. Don't be fooled by the light weight of the replacement struts, adding the weight of the spring makes them one heavy mutha! Compressing the spring was probably the hardest part. I could never tell if I had gone far enough so, I went ahead and removed the top nut anyway. On the second strut I had to further compress the spring some to get the cap back on. I did however compress it enough so that the bearing plate did not spring off once the nut was removed.

Also, I had real difficulty removing that top nut. With the strut out I could not figure out how to get any leverage on it. So, I decompressed the spring, put the strut back in and loosely secured the top three nuts to allow me to make one turn on that nut. Someone may have advice on other ways to do that and my method could possibly be dangerous, but I only made one turn, once the bind was cracked the nut came off quite easily. I made that same turn on the second strut before I removed it at all. The second was much easier.

All in all I would say a fairly doable job, except I had to compress the first spring twice. If you can have someone available to help, guiding the strut back into place with the spring on is a chore, as it is heavy.

Gives me great satisfaction riding down the highway with out any bouncing after hitting a bump.

I read several posts on here about this process which was quite helpful and encouraged me to just do it! Thanks

[SnowSurfLax]

Yeah, they're a *****! I'm supposed to post up a write up, but I haven't had time to downlod and format the pics off my camera. Sounds like you had a slightly easier time than I did.

If you can, post up a pic of the spring compressor you used. I had trouble with mine, as I'd get the compressors nuts blocked by the tower mount after compressing it a bit.

[jimmyzzer]

when i changed mine i put 2 inch springs from ac.i took of the struts and took them to a garage around the corner that had the strut compressor mounted to the wall.they had a hard time pushing the new springs down.i paid $30 for the labor but it was alot easier.
Modified by jimmyzzer at 4:10 PM 4/4/2008

[hospitalbuilder]

Sorry no pictures. But the compresser seemed simple enough. Two pieces one for each side of the spring, each had one long threaded rod through two "hooks." One of the hooks was also threaded and the other rested on the end of the rod with a large nut (or it could slide up and down, which made hooking it in easier). I had to compress a little at a time on each side or the rod would rack the spring so that the rod was jamming into the bearing plate or strut mount. The damn thing also had a tendancy to slide around the spring if you were not careful when tightening, which became more and more difficult.

All in all, not too bad, but physically demanding.