Strut Replacement?

CobraLS

CobraLS

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Anyone replaced their front struts themselves? I am pretty mechanically inclined, but wonder if there is any special tools required etc.
 
CobraLS said:
Anyone replaced their front struts themselves? I am pretty mechanically inclined, but wonder if there is any special tools required etc.
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Actually there are no struts on the LS. They have Shocks...

Not sure if one is harder to change than the other...
 
not too bad of a job, pretty typical. the whole front or rear of the car has to be in the air (not just one wheel at a time). you'll need to make sure you have an assortmant of metric sockects AND open ended wrenches. IIRC you need a 7 or 8 MM open ended wrench for the "hex holding feature" on the sway bar link studs. and you'll obviously need a spring compressor.
 
I heard they have shocks in front and struts in back.

That was told to me by a parts guy at ford

Soooo confused
 
JPsBored said:
I heard they have shocks in front and struts in back.

That was told to me by a parts guy at ford

Soooo confused
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The LS (all years, all variants) has coilover shocks on all four corners. The parts catalog calls them struts on the rear (or maybe it's the front), but the parts catalog is using incorrect terminology. Just order the parts in the catalog, regardless of what it calls them, and you'll get the correct parts.

As for the topic at hand, I recall hearing that a spring compressor is strongly recommended, if not required, for the job, but I haven't done it myself, so I'm not sure about that.

I know ls4me has done the job, so maybe he can chime in on what special tools would be required.
 
the spring compressor is required for the front unless you don't like your life. Rears are debateable but use one anyways.....
 
and you may need a prybar for the rears to drop the lower control arm enough to line up the lower shock bolt.
 
You'll need spring compressors all around. It's a 2hour 2person job or a 4 hour one person job using air tools, a bit longer wrenching by hand. Easiest performed with a lift, but you can do it with jackstands. The biggest pain is aligning the bolts on the strut cover with their mounting holes on the body, MUCH easier with 2 people. Make sure you mark the position of the spring/shock assembly before you remove it, otherwise the reinsertion is a real PITA.
 
402777LS said:
You'll need spring compressors all around. It's a 2hour 2person job or a 4 hour one person job using air tools, a bit longer wrenching by hand. Easiest performed with a lift, but you can do it with jackstands. The biggest pain is aligning the bolts on the strut cover with their mounting holes on the body, MUCH easier with 2 people. Make sure you mark the position of the spring/shock assembly before you remove it, otherwise the reinsertion is a real PITA.
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Mark it how? I am going to do my springs and was wondering the same as this title.
 
I did mine w/o a spring compressor at all, just use the cars weight, just loosen the top bolt and raise the car, it all comes out, then do the reverse to put it back in, use the cars weight, saves a ton of time.
 
I have some good write ups on how to do it with all the specs you need.. I posted the link on another thread here. Do a search on my past posts.. that'll give you a start.. I'm looking for the write ups on my computer now.
 
i installed new lowering springs on my 03 ls8. its basically a shock replacement job. use the spring compressors and be carefull.
 
And when you use a spring compressor.. DON'T OVER COMPRESS THEM!!! I stupidly did this one time. It was a wall mounted spring compressor, I had my father torque (or compress) the spring down and I was kneeling infront of the spring holding the strut/shock. Well I told him to keep going... keep going... keep going.. then all of a sudden there was a loud boom, and I felt a sharp pain on my cheek. The spring had shot out of the holder and grazed my face. It took A HUGE CHUNK out of a wall that was about 6 feet away from it. If I had been 3 inches to the left, it would have completely crushed my face. I came out 99% ok, just alittle tingle in the face.
 
NickLS said:
And when you use a spring compressor.. DON'T OVER COMPRESS THEM!!! I stupidly did this one time. It was a wall mounted spring compressor, I had my father torque (or compress) the spring down and I was kneeling infront of the spring holding the strut/shock. Well I told him to keep going... keep going... keep going.. then all of a sudden there was a loud boom, and I felt a sharp pain on my cheek. The spring had shot out of the holder and grazed my face. It took A HUGE CHUNK out of a wall that was about 6 feet away from it. If I had been 3 inches to the left, it would have completely crushed my face. I came out 99% ok, just alittle tingle in the face.
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You are one very luck son of a gun. That could have easily killed you.
 
My father-in-law and I just replaced them this last saturday. It is definitely a 2 person job... I have no clue how one person could do it and get the shock to find the 5 holes and put at least some of the nuts on.

Don't skimp on the spring compressor by going to like Harbour Freight or somewhere like that, picked up a beefy one at O'Reilly's and used that.

about 1.5hrs per shock should be allotted for 2 people that know what they are doing.

The question of it is worth it, is yes, 70K miles and replaced them and it is 'like' a new car.
 
johntomferg said:
My father-in-law and I just replaced them this last saturday. It is definitely a 2 person job... I have no clue how one person could do it and get the shock to find the 5 holes and put at least some of the nuts on.
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Thats why when you use the weight of the car, you slowly lower the car down with a hydraulic jack and align the holes as you bring the car back down. Its easily a 1 man job.
 
02V8Sport said:
Thats why when you use the weight of the car, you slowly lower the car down with a hydraulic jack and align the holes as you bring the car back down. Its easily a 1 man job.
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But how are you able to see up into the holes from the underneath side well enough to guide it? The boot pretty much blocks your way. Or are you jiggling it, then running around to check to see if you got it on the top 7 or 8 times? Then if you do get it in the top, how are you able to hold it there, verify, and then run back and let it down. You don't want the car's weight pushing up on that if you aren't sure you have the holes lined up - that is for sure. Not saying it isn't possible (to thread the needle) but man, say "hey buddy come help me with this for 5 minutes" is a lot better :)
 
I used a long 7/8 or 3/4 socket on top of the shock, this made it "easier" to insert into the hole. I then rested the shock (very carefully) on the rear control arm so it didn't fall. Then get in the trunk with a pair of vice grips, very carefully remove the socket and use the vice grips to pull the shock up in to position so you can attack the bolts. Be careful not to tighten the first bolt to tightly, or else you might "unalign" the rest of the holes. That is how I did mine. It took a little patience, but it is defiantly doable.
 
I used a seperate jack to hold up the shock until I got the bolts in place.;) :D
 
With regard to using the car to compress the spring/remove the strut--
I know people are against it and say not to do it. I'd never done it before and always used a spring compressor. And it was also a sh** show. Took a long time. Felt unsafe because the compressor was trying to slip around to the other side of the coil. Hard to get the spacing right. Things like that.

Anyway, even after reading this thread I chose to do it without the compressor, using th ecar weight.

Frankly, it was pretty easy, and I don't see much likelyhood of the assembly unloading on you and injuring someone.

I'm sure others will disagree. The primary reason for posting isn't so much to argue, but to provide pictures if folks want to see what it looks like (you may have to click through, there is other work in the photos as well):
https://goo.gl/photos/3e6kv9WZi7BEAwaa6
 
Looks good. In reality, if one knows what they are doing, aware of the potential dangers and takes the correct necessary steps while exercising extreme caution, I would agree it's very doable as you just demonstrated. +1

Noted that you put fresh OEM shocks on the front but Bilstein's on the rear. Springs remained same.
How's that working(riding) for you? Was it Special Suspension requirement due to Sports model or just Base?
 
Ah, it is a manual transmission, so has the 'sport package' by default I believe.

Went with the OEM fronts because they're on sale for 12 bucks each on rockauto (although oddly enough, the packaging says something like 'OEM gm replacement part repackaged for the aftermarket', ha!). Couldn't source sport rear shocks, but it seems folks feel the bilsteins are the closest to the oem sport.

That, along with new(er) ball joints, all new wheel bearings, and a fresh alignment makes it nice. But its hard for me to compare.. haven't driven it much since i finished the work, it is on loan to my mom.
 
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