christophe

Ok, so i just ordered the monroe quickstruts from summit for 116.00 a piece, seems like a great deal to me since they are complete, and i need to know what the procedure is for replacing a complete strut assembly.
Do i simply jack the truck up, remove the wheel, unbolt the old assembly, and install the new one. Or, do i need to take pressure off the spring before unbolting the strut?

Thanks

NwRunner

You will need to seperate the Upper balljoint from the A-arm, that should take the pressure off the springs. Unbolt the lower bolt and the 3 top studs and it should wiggle out.

brian2sun

Don't mess with the upper ball joints! You need a press for those and you will damage them if you try to separate them with a pickle fork. Instead, all you have to do is take out the (4) 14mm bolts that connect each lower ball joint to the hub and you'll have all the room you need and it only takes seconds. However, with stock sized struts, you probably won't even need to do all that - they may just slide right in.

Another technique (if you need more room to get the struts in), is to wedge your stock bottle jack between the UCA and the top of the inside fender. Then just use the jack to push the suspension down enough to get the strut in.

EDIT: Also, whatever you do, DO NOT LOOSEN THE MIDDLE NUT ON THE TOP OF THE STRUTS!!! You don't need to take pressure off the springs for any reason with your "Quickstruts" and it can be quite dangerous if you do. When the struts are not on the truck, the only thing holding that strut from coming apart at 300 mph is that one nut.

scuba

Don't listen to any of the above advice. Yes, you can simply remove the wheel, unbolt the struts, and pull them out. When the suspension is drooped out, there isn't any pressure on things.

brian2sun

None of it, huh? I don't know how long those Monroe struts are. That's why I said "with stock sized struts, you probably won't even need to do all that - they may just slide right in".

Elton

its not a hard job dont for get the blue thread lock on the lower bj bolts and tq them to 64ft lbs

team_gforce

i agree with scuba, no need to separate the BJ's just be sure to jack up the truck from the frame and not the the suspension. Once you have it jacked up high enough to remove the tire, then the tension is off the coil spring. Even when doing a lift there is enough play in the control arms to be able to get the springs in/out without being compressed.

christophe

Thanks for the replies, i really appreciate it. I've had a few springs fly at my face before, so i am overly cautious now when removing springs and struts.

Thanks again. Struts should be here Tuesday. Ill update you all on how it goes and how they work.

02SE

I agree with this. I have changed out quite a few front spring and shock assemblies. Stock length, as long as the weight is off the suspension Ie: the truck is supported by the frame, and the front suspension is hanging free, they will come out and the new ones will go into position, with minimal effort.

As previously stated, do not disassemble the spring/shock assembly, unless you have a coil spring compressor holding the spring compressed. With those Monroe assemblies, there shouldn't be any need to anyway.

dallison

I replaced the front struts with the monroe strut/spring combo. They were $100 each with a coupon at advance auto. I also replaced the rear shocks with the monroe sensatrack.

Removal is easy in the front as you need to just loosen the top three nuts and loosen the bottom one and remove the bolt.

I tried to just slide the new one in place but after trting several things, i thought i might have to complress the spring to get it in place, wrong.

I was going to remove the upper a-arm and then the lower but realized i would have issues trying to disconnect, so i removed the sway bar link.

Of course since it was an original peice the top of the one broke right off on the passenger side and the allen wrench hole got spripped out on the driver side. I had to buy new sway bar links.


The rear i had to use the saw zaw to remove the shock. That process was more or less dirty and had to unbutton a wire or two to make room for the tool.

All in all the entire process wasn't bad at all. The final cost for two front struts with springs, two sway bar links, and two rear shocks was about $310 plus i should get a $47 rebate back from monroe.


My wife drives this and these peices are more than sufficient for her driving.

christophe

UPDATE:

The Monroe Quickstruts were pretty easy to install. The only problem i had was getting the lower strut compressed enough to get the lower bolt in place. That took a little while and involved some minor cussing.

The Struts fixed the shaking problem i had in the steering after i would hit a bump. THe car rides like new now. I also ended up replacing the rear shocks and the rear springs. I replaced the rear springs with stock toyota springs for about 160 a pair. I used Monroe shocks for the rear. It took me about an hour to change out the rear suspension and about 3-4 hours total to replace the front struts. If i were to do it again, i would probably use a rear shock that is slightly stiffer. Overall though, i am extremely happy. For 500.00, i have an SUV with all new suspension that rides like new.