screw doing suspension!

screw doing suspension!

oh man, i ordered my dropzone struts and coilovers on ebay and they came yesterday. today i set aside a couple of hours to do the front suspension.

oh, well, i should have set aside a full day for the front suspension. those two stupid bolts on the bottom of the strut took forever to get off. i went out and bought a 6point 19mm socket because i had a 12point and i didn't want the chance of rounding off the nut. so, after alot of sweat and yelling, i finally got the driver's side done. only to find out that my springs we sagging so bad that when i put the coil overs almost all the way dropped (about an inch is left on the sleeves to drop), it looks the same height as the other side of the car, which isn't all that impressive, it's still like 2 inches in between the fender and the top of the tire. whatever, it's a hell of a lot better when a press on that side of the car compared to the stock side.

so, i attempted the other side. oh yeah, that's not going to work. i busted 3 craftsman 3/8" socket wrenches and a 3/8" to 1/2" extender. i tried vice grips and all my might to get those bolts loose. but they aren't coming loose. so, i gave up.
i brought the broken tools to sears and they replaced them. then i bought a 145 pc mechanics tool kit, reason being, have of my tools are missing and all the sockets are 12points and i don't have half of them.and most of my tools are some wierd japanese brand. it was on sale for $150, so you can't pass it up.
it's got all the goodies. regular and metric deep and normal size sockets in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2" drive. and a bunch of wrenches.
only thing i don't like about the set is that all the sockets are 6points and i need a 19mm wrench, but they only include up to 18mm.

so, i guess i can finish the front end. i sprayed down the bolts with alot of PB blaster, so that should help loosen them up. i'll go out and buy a 19mm wrench tomorrow, craftsman wants like $11 for it, but i guess it'll be worth it.

i do not want to do the back suspension, main reason is because of the annoying design of the swaybar end links. i do not want to have that allen key round out and have to figure out a way to remove the end link. i have read vamps diy and it didn't look like fun. so, should i have a shop like conrad's do it for me? how much do you think it would cost for them to put my rear suspension on?

hehehe, I feel your pain! I just did mine recently, and I got one thing to tell you: 3 Foot Steel Pipe from home depot! lol Actually even with that pipe it still took me the whole day to do the whole suspension on mine. I actually went from dropped to stock. Another thing, don't use ratches to break the nuts loose, get a set of wrenches, and I guarantee you that with the combination of wrench and pipe then you will break those nuts like butter!

The back is not hard. Just get a screwdriver with an allen point that fits. You do not have to use the allen bolt to break anything loose, just to hold it once it is loose, so the pressure is minimun. Once again use wrenches to break all the nuts loose, and you'll feel way better! I know my bar made it a zip to break them loose, but it is indeed a hard job. One other thing for the back make sure you get a couple of stands and lift up the whole back. This makes it easier on the rear stabalizer bar off/on since there is no pressure on it fighting you.

GL

X

use a breaker bar for those bolts. save your wrenches

yeah man it was tough i did my suspension the other day...took all day but i got it done and i love it...good luck man

When I did my '93 DX it took me almost 2wks. & I really did take my time doing it. I installed new shocks, springs, & strut bar. I ended up buying a spring compressor from Autozone=$40 & some socket Craftsman wrenches I really saved up for the expenses on this job. Before putting those bolts back "put some all purpose grease on the threads" to avoid rusting or when removing them again it wouldn't be so hard.
I was driving the wife's 4RNR during the process.

suspension on the corolla is almost the easiest job i've ever done.. only the scion beats it..

Bruised/Bloodied knuckles and broken wrenches lead to breaker bar and Liquid Wrench

hehehehe, a fat tough breaker bar is indeed a good friend! but a wrench is definitely better than a ratchet, but breaker bar is better than all! I still need to get one, but man, the pipe is a must! And believe me when you do it by yourself in a dark garage, it is definitely hell and more than two hours! I think it took me like 4 to 5 to do mine by myself, and a lot of that time was compressing the stock springs to get them back on!

air tools are the answer

ok, i did the passenger side strut and spring, me, being a dumbass was tightening the nut instead of loosening it, so thats why i couldn't get it undone. it still took a half hour of pounding with a wrench and sledgehammer. i still couldn't get it loose, so i took and set up a stack of bricks and dropped the car down, with the wrench against the stack of bricks, risky, but it finally got it loose, getting everything back on was a breeze and my ride is so nice now! i'll attempt the back suspension soon, we'll see

a powerful impact should take any bolts in no time..

Electric impact

Hey all, I just did some suspension work today, installed cam bolts on my front struts and camber spacers on my rear wheels (I'll be posting a new thread with the info). I also rotated my tires. What my brother has, that I always use for my wheel lug nuts, and which worked beautifully for the strut bolts, is an electric impact wrench (Chicago Electric brand) that he got from harborfreight.com. It's extremely portable, you don't need an air compressor, and it makes enought torque (240 ft/lbs. I think) to easily loosen anything suspension related or whatever. It's about $80. I also have a cheapie 1/2" 150 ft/lb torque wrench from harborfreight that cost about $20 and works very well. Get what you need in advance, and you won't be cursing.

two words.....air tools

plus two more words...air compressor

and another two words...air tank

oh...can't forget the hose....oh yeah! and the couplings....hmmm...what else?

AIR TOOLS AND ACCESSIORIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Took me and my buddy only 30 mins to pull it off and another 30 mins to put it back on.

Lol...funny guy...

god, ive had my suspension droped for almost 2 yrs now, i had a friend help me out, took about 2 hrs to do, best part was when he droped the strut in a laundry basket full of rags, took the air wrench, let the bolt off and the thing exploded in there, lol. funny to watch 4 times in a row.

Its 2 am here and I have been up for the last 20 hrs. I am little weird when I am tired

the hardest part on ther rear for the 93-97 is getting to the top strut bolts you have to pull the rear seat peices off
that and rolling the fenders mine are chipping paint now super huh

i've done like 4 93-97's. its like an hour job now. the hardest part is the rear brake line
.