Who's has experience replacing their shocks?
 

I ordered some Bilsteins- Yellow HD's for my stock height suspension, in my Screw. I plan on ditching the stockers when I have to replace the Brake pads
since the truck will be apart anyway. The rears look simple to replace! the Fronts look kinda involved with the springs. Anybody have advice who has done this before? Thanks in advance!........:confused:

If your going to have it all apart, id just take them out and run by a shop and have them switch them out. Shouldnt cost much since they are already off the truck id think. For certain things i just take them off the truck and have a local guy do them, its cheaper when i dont have the tools or time. I payed 40 bucks to have all 4 rotors turned cause i brought them in loose....

It can be done with basic hand tools, without the use of a spring compressor. I've used a spring comp before on these trucks, and frankly, I think it's easier and faster without it. Without can be very safe, as long as you take a few precautions.

1. Park on flat level area and block both rear wheels, loosen but do not remove front wheel lug nuts.
2. Open hood and remove the center nut on top of the front shocks.
3. Jack up front of truck and place jackstands under the frame (not under the front suspension) so the suspension hangs free and unloaded.
4. Remove the front wheels, seperate the outer tie rod end and upper ball joint.
5. Remove large bolt on bottom of shock assembly and pull out shock and spring. (you might want to remove the 3 nuts holding the upper shock mount and remove that also, it easier to reassemble with upper mount in hand)
6. If your new shocks do not have the lower shock seat, you need to remove them from your old shocks. Just use a hammer and a large flat screwdriver to knock the galvanized metal cap off the shock, then smack the seat from the bottom side to break it loose and it will come right off.
7. reverse procedure to reassemble making sure the shock stud is started in the center hole of the upper mount.
8. When the wheels are back on and the truck is sitting the ground supporting it's own weight you can reinstall the center nuts on top of the shock.

The ONLY way to do this safely and correctly is with a spring compressor. A coil spring contains an incredible amount of energy that if it isn't released in a controlled and properly CONTAINED manner, will result in injury. While the spring isn't likely to shoot out of the truck, all it takes is having your hand in the wrong place when it lets go and it's goodbye fingers. One more reason to use the compressor, you will never, ever get the right torque on the center nut by using the trucks weight to hold the spring.

Either invest in a good compressor or just take the strut assemblies to a qualified shop and pay them to swap the springs over.

There is a shoulder on top of the shock shaft that bottoms against the underside of the top mount. The nut on top does not have much torque on it, in fact it can be removed by hand with a 3/8 drive rachet and 15MM socket. The only reason that nut is there is to prevent the shock from dropping out of the top mount when the front suspension is unloaded.


I agree, if your not confident of your mechanical skills, take them somewhere and have them done. But if you know what you are doing, you can do it your self.

:eek:

Take them to a shop PLEASE. I've seen a coil spring shoot through a fender when someone took the center nut off. One wrong move and you're screwed

Jack the truck up. Jack it off the frame, I'd use the front cross member right there and support it

break the tie rod loose and move it out of the way.

take the 3 nuts off the top of the strut from under the hood. DON'T TOUCH THE CENTER ONE

take the bottum nut off. It's a 30 and 36mm i believe. Use a long breaker bar, pole,etc to push down ont he control arm to give you room to take it out.

Take the assembly to a shop and have them do it.


I'd have to look at a 4wd and see if you need to do anything else. not sure

As you stated, the rears are simple.. about 10 min per side.

The front is not too bad, just follow the detailed instructions for installing a leveling kit (do a search.)

I brought both coil spring assy's to PepBoys -- $20 each. Not bad, 1.5 hours later... Would have been quicker, but they had installed one of the level rings upside down on both.. Good thing I paid attention.

Overall, a moderate skill level project (due to removing major suspension components and re-torquing properly) but a great improvement in performance.

-- Kevin

umm to the guy that says you dont need a spring compressor... whaa? I just cant see, im sorry i dont think its possible..

to the OP, you can buy or rent for free "strut" compressors, not "spring" compressors, and do em yourself or take em to pep boys or suspension shop (best bet) now heres the thing, when you take them out.... run a double line with a paint marker from dead center on the bottom of the strut ( where it bolts to the lower control arm ) all the way to upper mount, that way the yahoo at the shop properly installs the new shocks correctly indexed, if they dont do it perfect, and you have to "nudge" the strut in the LCA mount back.. than you will may have popping when you turn or hit bumps...

ohhhh i see... step 3 releases the spring load.... but OMG dude i sure wouldnt do this... also reloading the spring... ill be its hard to get it all lined up

I did it and there is NO WAY I would do it without the compressor. I borrowed one from Autozone for free. I went in picked it up and they put a $40 hold on my card. They removed the hold when I brought the tool back. Why chance it when you can get the tools for nothing?