Guest SteveK Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 I'm a new user and quite new to Supras as well. Some years back I could handle most maintenance jobs on a car but 20 years of companies cars (someone else doing the work) has left me rusty. Having said that I'm gradually regaining my confidence - I replaced the rear speakers last wekend! My suspension is very noisy. I've read a lot of articles/news groups and had a few mechanics check it over and it seems like the best course of action in my case is to start by replacing the shock absorbers. The last time I did this on an MGB in 1985 it was pretty straight forward - jack the car up, remove the wheel, compress the spring, remove the shock absorber, fix the new one, decompress the spring, replace the wheel and bob's your uncle. Sounds simple? Is there any reason I should not do this myself? I assume that I'm going to need a socket set, spring compressors, a torque wrench and a couple of good jacks - taking it one wheel at a time. Am I way off track here? Any advise or warnings would be greatly appreciated. Also - any recommendations for Shock Absorbers - I don't want to break the bank - I just need them to be good quality and realiable - maybe a little better than Toyota would use as stock. Thanks in anticipation Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soonto_HAS_soop Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 No, you're pretty much there dude, but you don't have to compress the spring till you get the leg out. Do a search for KYB shocks on here as they can be cheap replacements. For reference I can get the rears swapped fully in 60 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelG Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 I just did this job today, and while taking a pathetic 4 hours to get it all out, and only 1.5 to get it all back in lol, it is indeed a straight forward job. I have a set of suspension for sale if you need. I have 4 shocks and springs from a 1994 Supra N/A, two of the shocks are KYB and Two toyota. The springs may be lowering springs as the car sat really well when they were on, but i am not 100% sure on this. Let me know if you need any of it. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zed Posted April 6, 2005 Share Posted April 6, 2005 Hi mate, can you post up some pics of the springs and poss a pic of your car with the old setup to get an idea of how low it was. I've currently got some KYB on their way to me and am planning to do the swap myself. How difficult was it to remove the fronts, do you need to undo many suspension bits to remove the shock and was it easy to remove the top mounts to remove the spring. Cheers mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SteveK Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 I just did this job today, and while taking a pathetic 4 hours to get it all out, and only 1.5 to get it all back in lol, it is indeed a straight forward job. I have a set of suspension for sale if you need. I have 4 shocks and springs from a 1994 Supra N/A, two of the shocks are KYB and Two toyota. The springs may be lowering springs as the car sat really well when they were on, but i am not 100% sure on this. Let me know if you need any of it. Michael Thanks all the same Michael. I want ot put new shocks on and I don't plan to use non-stock Springs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 I'm thinking of having done this myself too. I always change shocks on my vehicles, it's not pretty see how their oil degrades inside just after 20-30K miles. So what's a good price for a set of stock replacement KYBs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SteveK Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Thanks to all for reassurance and advice. I've been looking at prices on the internet and they seem to range from £200 up to £800 (for a set of 4) depending on what you're looking for. If anyone has any other input I'd be pleased to hear as I'm planning to buy these in the next week or so. SteveK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SteveK Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 I just saw KYB Gas filled shocks for £85.08 front pair and £82.46 rear pair on http://www.buypartsby.co.uk. This is without VAT I'd guess. SteveK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelG Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Zed - Theres pics of my car before the teins went on on the forum somewhere, do a search for posts by me and u will see them. Dont have any new pics yet with the Teins on, as the wheels and brakes arent back on yet. Will have soon tho ! Its relatively easy............theres a full shock replacement guide on MKIV.COM for you to follow in the FAQ section. Word of warning, if doing it without an air line, spray all the nuts and bolts and suspension points etc in wd40 the night before, some of them are a Barsteward to get off they are that tight. Piece of cake tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Bilstein work well with the stock springs. I am not a fan of KYB, the OE ones they sell to the makers of cars seem different to those you can buy as aftermarket shocks. You DEFINITELY get just what you pay for with shocks, it's easy to wreck a MKIV's handling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Which Bilsteins Chris? Do they sell stock replacements or do they have to be with their own 'lowered' coils? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminator Posted April 8, 2005 Share Posted April 8, 2005 Yellow Billies are the ones to go for. Try Envy I think they carry a stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SteveK Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 For prosterity: I completed the shock replacement over the weekend. No real problems encountered except that I chewed up the hex drive slot on one of the stabliser bar end links so I couldn't fully remove it or tighten it back up again. I managed to change the shock without fully removing it so maybe the procedure I used was incorrect? I have a new link coming tomorrow so that will be a job for Saturday morning. I'll have to hack saw the old one off - any recommendations? I throught of using a nut cracker but I don't think I have enough room to get one in there. The rear links have an arm that stops the joint from rotating so there is no need to use the hex drive slot - a much better design. I used KYB gas filled shocks that I bought from A.R.E Ltd for £145.98 and £127.96 (inc. VAT) for front and rear pairs respectively. I know that they are close to stock but for now that's how I want it to be. The first wheel took 4 hours, the second 3 the third 2 and the last wheel less than an hour! The improvement in handling is dramatic (due to the fact that my old shocks were well past their retirement date) but most importantly the suspension is now much much quieter - just the way I would expect it to be. Thanks to all who contributed. SteveK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Toyota have historically always gone a bit OTT with Loctite, the hatch rubber bolts, for example. They also Loctite the ARB link nuts, you MUST kill the Loctite with heat from a welding gun or blow lamp, and wire brush the protruding threads clean before attempting to undo the nuts. Use a quality Allen key and make sure it enters fully in a riddled out hole. Using all this I have never had a Toyoat link that didn't come undoe easily and eas re suable afterwards. i get loads of MR2's in with the links buggered through wrongly formatted attempts to undo them, and new ones are NOT cheap! Glad it all works well Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 ...They also Loctite the ARB link nuts, you MUST kill the Loctite with heat from a welding gun or blow lamp, and wire brush the protruding threads clean before attempting to undo the nuts.... interesting tip, Chris Any tips on seized alignment nuts? I haven't looked at them yet, but I understand that they can be a major issue if they are uncooperative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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