i would like new shocks...i would not consider myself a very skilled mechanic...the biggest thing i have done to my yota is change the thermostat...is changing the shocks something you would reccomend having a mehcanic do ? or is it generally a simple procedure ? any info is appreciated

 

Depends on what we are working on here....

Older trucks, easy. Newer trucks('96 & newer?), a bit more time consuming...

 

Very simple. A bolt on the top and a bolt on the bottom. Easy peasy. It should take about a half an hour. You'll probably spend more time rooting through the toolbox trying to find the right sockets than actually installing them. That's assuming you have a older pickup or 4runner. I've never worked on the front suspension of newer 4Runners and Tacomas to know how long it takes. I know they have coil over shocks but I don't know about the process of removing and disassembling those.

EDIT: rokblok beat me to it.

 

^^we seem to have this problem often with our posts...

 

sorry guys its a 92' pickup...im gonna add the signature thing...thanks

 

Soak all 4 bolts with penetrating oil well in advance and do it often. I recently changed mine and snapped both lower bolts (had to heat up the sleeve and use an easy-out). But let's hope yours has less rust than mine did.

 

I would never say changing shocks is easy to someone who has never done it before.

Like saying merging the wire harness on a 3.4 swap is easy to someone who can`t read a EWD

If your lucky and all goes well sure it is not bad.

Do you have a air tools or will you be doing it all with hand tools.

I have had the Top bolts break on the rear shocks that I needed to replace the Top mounts.

Front shocks the upper stud the nut was so rounded by who ever worked on it before they needed to be cut off.

Granted pretty much all my vehicles spent their life in the great brine belt.

 

so far i am thinking i would like to do the job myself...the closest mechanic is no more than a 3 minute drive away on very sparsley populated roads...if something goes wrong to the extent i dont feel i could fix it...would it be horrible to limp my truck to the shop at that short of a distance...say with a shock not attached ?...i wouldnt want to make matters worse

 

So long as it's not dragging the ground or somehow loose and could damage something else. I wouldn't recommend it, but I would prob do it if I couldn't complete it.

But I'm sure you'll do fine. It's pretty easy to accomplish shocks replacement on your truck. Maybe include your location in case someone is nearby that could lend a hand.

 

You'll definitely want a torque wrench and breaker bar for this one. With those two items, it'll be pretty easy. Spray some PB blaster on the bolts each day a couple days before to help too. And consider anti-seize if you live in the salt belt (some say reduce torque to 60-80% of FSM, others say to not change, your call).

If you have a 4x4, you you should be able to do this with the truck on the ground and without removing tires if you have decent upper body/hand strength -- requires compressing the shock by hand which isn't too difficult... Think I installed top and then bottom first. 2wd and 4wd rears should be the same, and this video is a good help: (I didn't remove tires or raise w/ my 4wd truck.)
And some spray silicone really helps with getting those rear shocks onto their posts.

The way the 2wd front shocks are mounted, you'll have to raise and put on jackstands to have room. 4wd drive front shocks connect to the top of the lower A arm. 2wd connect through the bottom, and you have to feed the whole shock through lower a arm to install.

Good youtube on 2wd: Here's another:
And think he covers the 4wd front shock disconnect here on in one of his other videos: But real quick: for top, you may need to use vice grips to hold the piston in place while you unscrew the nut from top of you shock if it's rusted -- some have hex keys that go in top too that make this a lot easier (Bilstein's being one that does this). Once top nut is unscrewed, go to the bottom bolt and use your breaker bar to break free (bolt shouldn't spin, but if it does use a rachet against the rim to hold bolt in place while wrenching on the nut). And then just push up to compress the shock and remove.
To install, I put the top post w/ rubber bushings in first, and for the lower I used a screwdriver to line up the lower shock hole and then pushed the bolt through from the back (so nuts on front). Install nuts and torque, and then install top. Top mount I didn't have room for the torque wrench, so I just installed with a wrench by hand until the bushings were appropriately compacted...