I have an 01 Supercrew 4x4 w 154k that I'm getting ready to replace shocks on. The left rear looks almost impossible to get to the top nut. Any suggestions on how to replace?

Thanx - Dean

 

First thing is to spray the top nuts/bolts with penetrating oil multiple times for a couple of days before hand. Also wire brush off all the excess rust you can get. And have a hacksaw ready just in case. If you have a small hacksaw, it is the best. It is easiest if you have a ratchet type close end wrench. Just not enough room to get a deep well socket and ratchet in there.

When I did mine, they had only been on for a couple of years and it was a pain. If you have the OE shocks on now, you will find that they have been gone for quite a while and new shocks will make a world of difference.

 

There should be a square shaped access hole to et a wrench into to hold the top nut. I just changed mine and after a few minutes noticed this square hole which is probably there for that reason.

 

Not on OE shocks. I think you will find that on replacement shocks, but like I found on mine, not on OE.

 

I should of been specific. I was talking about accessing the top nut. The square shaped hole is in the frame to access this nut, but it was still pretty tuff to get it off.

 

Gotcha, I was thinking of the Bilsteins, which have a hole on the top to fit an allen wrench to hold the shock from turning while tightening the nut. Unfortunately the OE does not have that. As far as the hole in the frame, that is how I used the hacksaw. Blade through the hole while the main hacksaw frame over the top of the frame.

 

I just replaced all 4 of mine with Bilstein HD's. Since my truck has been in FL its whole life I didn't have an issue with rust thank god because I seen plenty of horror stories about having to cut the rear shocks off. As someone stated above, there's a square shaped hole in the frame. I put a wrench through there and over the nut and then grabbed the top of the shock and twisted it with my hands. Took lots of twisting but it came off no problem. A guy in another thread did the same thing but used a pipe wrench or even a strap wrench to twist the top of the shock rather than trying to ratchet the nut off the top. You will only be able to move the ratchet maybe one or two clicks at a time and it will take forever.

Good luck!