Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum; my browser won't take me anywhere else, and "search" won't work!

Sears Auto wants like $200 to replace the front shocks alone. They LOOK like a piece of cake to replace, but the rear upper shock mounts look kind of buried. Are they accessable to a guy with hand tools? I mean, they're just truck shocks, right?

 

When I did my 98 and 01, which have the same setup, I found the rear uppers to be the worst as there is little room to get tools into that small area. Fronts for me were a piece of cake. Easiest way to do it, though you don't have to is remove the front tire. Plenty of room to work.

 

So what did you do for the rear uppers? Just get a wrench on the nut and back it off 1/4 turn at a time? Was there any special tools or procedures?

 

Yep when I replaced mine i my 97, Use the little cutout in the frame to access the nut wrenching it off a 1/4 turn at a time

 

Get yourself a ratcheting box end wrench. When I did mine, these weren't out there so I did mine at least part way like fordguy21 stated. On my 98, there was enough rust that I could not get the bolt off, so I ended up hack sawing it off. Make sure before you start the you use lots of something like PB Blaster and clean the visible threads with a wire brush as much as possible. Also when you install the new ones, use anti-sieze on the upper mount threads. Never did have problems with the lower mounts.

 

I just replaced my front shocks on my 98 4x2. Make sure you can jack up the truck at least 8-10 inches to get then in and out.

Rick