Just wondering if you guys could give me any tips before I get started? Like, where to place the jackstands, etc. It looks like a pretty straight forward job to me. I have coil springs in the front and the shocks are right inside them. I assume I just take the top nut off and bottom two nuts off and pull down through the hole at the bottom below the coil spring. I am concerned about trying to get those ancient rusty nuts off. Anyway, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

WD40 and ...
Haynes and Chilton manuals are always good to have if one would like to become a weekend shadetree mechanic

 

The correct size racheting wrench would be helpful also.

 

Agree with Greenpus on the Haynes manual and the WD40. I soaked mine the day before I did the job and had no problems removing the lower nuts. Do these first and then do the top nut. I bought new hardware for the reinstall: I didn't want to test fate at the next change.

When removing the top nut, I jammed the adjustable wrench I was using to hold the stem against the control arm mount while I loosened the nut. On one shock, I got overzealous and tried pulling the wrench with the stem when pulling the wrench with the nut. My mistake as the stem broke off! When that happened, I had to drill a hole through the shock casing and jam an old screwdriver through it and allowed that to come in contact with the coil spring. I got it out fine, but added about 20 minutes to the job. Also, you may have to jack up the lower control arm a bit to remove the old shock. Stands need to be set high enough to allow room to pull it through the opening at the bottom.

It's a pretty easy job, so you should be able to do it yourself in an hour or two.

Kevin

 

I strongly recommend JB Blaster to soak the bolts prior to removal. For the top nut as mentioned you need to hold the rod in place with an adjustable wrench at the top. I finally had to cut the top nuts off with a dremel tool with a cutting disc as they wouldn't budge. If you have to go that route be cautious on the driver's side as there are brake lines etc. in that region.

 

I actually already have a Haynes manual but it doesn't really tell me anything that I already didn't know just by looking. I figured I'd ask you guys in case there would be some issues I'd run into. I figured the biggest challenge would be getting that top nut off without the whole thing spinning. I already sprayed some PB Blaster on the nuts, and I'll do it a few more times before tackling it on Sunday. Thanks for your help guys. Much appreciated.

 

Forgot to mention I used a floor jack in middle of front end ( flat plate under engine frame area) to elevate front end to allow shock to be removed once unbolted. Also had an unusual occurrence when cutting one top bolt off. Between cutting the bolt and ratcheting the nut the shock blew apart like a missile at the bottom spewing fluid everywhere. I had loosened bottom bolts first (big mistake). It could have occurred from the heat generated by cutting the nut off but just a warning that it can happen.

 

Thanks for the extra tips. I'm already looking ahead to possibly having to cut off those top nuts just because this truck is so old and I live in an area where roads get salted a lot in the winter. I hope it doesn't come to that but there's probably a good chance that it will. One problem I will have it that I basically have to do this job in a parking lot. Don't have access to a garage. If I have to cut those off, I may have to try it with a hacksaw which will probably take forever. I had to cut a bolt off last year when replacing my leaf springs and had to do it with a hacksaw. That definitely took a while. We'll see what happens. I'll just keep spraying PB Blaster on them before Sunday and hope for the best. Thanks.

 

I think I remember seeing nut cutters that you put over nut and tighten till nut breaks.Sears, Harbor Freight or car part stores probably sell them. It is way too tight an area to try to cut with a hacksaw. Dremel took works well too but of course need a place to plug it in. I know all about the rust problem as I live in the salt belt! Good luck.

 

That's a great idea. I'll stop at Sears later today and see what they have. You're right, that would be a tight space for a hacksaw. A nut splitter would be easier and faster anyway. Thanks a lot.

 

Lets go back to your question about getting started. Jackstands/jack. Always on level concrete and with wheel chocks in front and behind to keep vehicle from rolling. When jacking up the truck be VERY careful, consider that it may drop at any moment, limit the time under the truck to putting in jack stands and always be in a position such that you can jump away from the truck if something goes wrong. Find something solid like the frame to put the jackstands under. Once you have lowered the jack so the truck is on the jack stands I will always leave the jack about a half an inch from contacting in the place that I just used to jack up the truck with. Now this is the fun part, give the truck a REALLY HARD SOLID SHOVE several times from several angles and prepare for it to fall. What you are testing is the stability of your jack stands and the surface you are working on. Once you have done this, if possible I will run the jack up to the point where it is "just touching" the jack point. Not to where it is lifting any weight.

Its too often that I read stuff in the paper where a car falls on someone and kills them.

 

Thanks for the safety tips. I'll keep all of that in mind. I had a cousin many years ago get killed from a truck falling on him, so I'm very aware of the risks and always make sure to take all precautions. Thanks again.

 

not a problem, we want you here to keep learning and teach the next generation!

 

Just to update you guys, I managed to get one shock on so far. That's all I had time for because I ran into some time consuming obstacles! Getting the nut off the top turned out to be incredibly hard. I used a Nut cutter and that took half the nut off. The other half was just frozen to the stem. Took forever to finally pry that off. Once I got that off, and got the bottom two nuts off (which were easy) I had a new dilemma! It wasn't pulling through the bottom. The upper washer was stuck to the stem as well keeping it from dropping through. When I finally got that off, I noticed that part of the stem had extra threads on it, if that makes any sense. So, that kept it from going through. Eventually, I was able to just break the stem off. Putting the new one on was the easy part! I still have one more to do, so I can imagine that one will put me through hell as well! lol Something that should be routine is turning out not to be. This is one time when I REALLY wish I had a garage to work in with some kind of saw to just cut through those stems. Anyway, I'll let you guys know how the other one goes whenever I get it done. Thanks.

 

Know what you are going through having done mine. Without my Dremel tool and cutting wheel it would have taken forever. Hate to say but it was easier than the rears. I fought with them with a breaker bar and the bolts wouldn't budge. Gave up and let my alignment guy handle it. Wish I had a compressor with an impact as the job would be easy.