Quote:
Originally Posted by I Drive A Jag
Hello,
My buddy wants me to replace the struts on his '91. I have vast experience with older cars but nothing this new. I'm would defiantly benefit from doing this but I don't want to get into something to big.
So how hard would this be? Any Safety Concerns? Time? any idea on Charge?
Sorry for using you guys but the help would be appreciated  |
Changing the front struts and rear shocks on a '91 Corolla is a relatively simple but admittedly time-consuming repair job. I just replaced my mom's struts and shocks on her '90 Corolla with the aid of my father and it took us about 6 hours to complete the job. We used this brief write-up as a tutorial:
**Replace the Front Struts in a Corolla**
Lift the front end of the Corolla with a floor jack and support it by the frame with jack stands. Loosen and remove the nuts on the front wheels with a tire iron and set the wheels aside. Find the struts under the front of the car. They are coiled springs with hardware running through them and onto both ends.
Locate the stabilizer bar link nut midway down the strut and disconnect it. Remove any brackets holding hoses or wires from the strut assembly. Remove the two bolts on the lower end of the strut. Disconnect the three nuts holding the top of the strut to the body. Pull the strut out and repeat this step on the other side of the Corolla.
Compress the spring, and remove the center nut from the top of the strut. Remove the mounting bracket, dust cover, upper spring seat, upper spring insulator, coil spring, bumper and lower spring insulator. Replace any worn parts, and reassemble the strut. Set the dial on the torque wrench to 35 foot lb. and tighten the center nut until the wrench slips. Decompress the spring and repeat this step on the other strut.
Position the strut in the suspension and install the upper nuts. Torque them to 29 foot lb. Install the lower bolts and torque them to 113 foot lb. Position the brake hose and anti-lock brake brackets back on the strut and torque their connections to 21 foot lb. Install the stabilizer bar link and torque it to 55 foot lb. Repeat this step on the other side of the Corolla.
Mount the front wheels and lower the front end of the car. Have a professional align the front wheels.
**Replace the Rear Shocks in a Corolla**
Lift the rear end of the Corolla and support it by the frame with jack stands. Remove the rear wheels and set them aside. Pop the trunk and remove the spare wheel cover. Pop out the access panel in the trunk for the shocks and support the rear axle with a jack stand.
Locate the shocks directly behind the wheel hub and remove the nuts connecting the shock to the frame and the one attaching it to the control arm. Repeat this step on the other side of the Corolla.
Position the new shock, bolt it in and torque the bolts to 56 foot lb. Repeat this step on the other side of the Corolla.
Pop the access panels in the trunk back in and put the spare wheel cover back. Close the trunk. Mount the rear wheels and lower the rear end of the car.
**As far as the cost of the job is concerned, we bought our struts for $88 and the rear shocks for $38 at toyotapartszone.com (
http://www.toyotapartszone.com/Page_...onentsIndex=52) so all in all the parts total ran approximately $260. I'm not sure how much a local suspension shop would charge for the job but I'm sure that so long as you go to an independently-owned Toyota garage then the labour shouldn't be too excessive
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