something i just noticed: stock sr5 rear suspension

[toyotaspeed90]

so when i was at my parents place for thanksgiving i figured i would finally take my stock springs and struts from their place (since they were just sitting in my fathers garage for 4 years). I mainly took them because i figured i could cut the stock spring 1 coil, throw on the stock front strut and maybe the car (ae92) wouldn't have that stupid front/rear rake that it does.

well, originally i had thought that only the GTS had full serviceable struts in the front and rear. So when I ordered the parts, i ordered non-servicable struts (ie, not the inserts). That may have been my mistake from day 1 (over 4 years ago!).

In any case, the other day i was staring at the struts and realized that the rear strut housings (stock) have a gland nut on the top.... meaning? they're servicable

i'm starting to think that the coupes all got serviceable struts.... which leads me to wonder if the perch location for the spring is different on the coupe struts versus the sedan struts....

[toyotaspeed90]

strange that nobody seems to care even though there are a lot of ae92 sr5 guys

[emiliorescigno]

That is unexpected, it's always been something of a given the only serviceable struts were the fronts of the GTS. Are there any other SR5 modders to back this up?

strange that nobody seems to care even though there are a lot of ae92 sr5 guys

I think the main reason is that the majority of the SR5-ers are not totally knowledgable, and mostly poor, (myself included), and they're still on the "fix all the rust" step, and not the "rebuild the suspension" step of modding their cars.

[TwinCamGuy]

My sr5 front struts was also serviceable but not the rear.

[REN69]

I have my old GTS rears at my dad's, I'll check them to see if they are serviceable.. I don't think they are though as I got the part number that KYB shows for the GTS and SR5 and it wasn't serviceable.

[toyotaspeed90]

i checked the struts to compare the front and rear..... they have different brake tabs and noticed that the serviceable struts are the same as what's on the rear of my car (who knows, maybe the shop that put them on 4 years ago put them on backwards..... how dumb would i feel, lol)

in any case, i would have never noticed that they were servicable had i never played around with my mr2's setup.... the gland nuts are about a 35mm or so nut and only about 1/4" thick (if that), so they aren't all that easy to identify.

i'll get some pics up soon

[White89SR5]

I took a look at my at my old SR5 struts and they don't seem to e servicable, but I may not be looking for the right areas to check. toyotaspeed90 can u post some pictures just so I can double check?

[Flashmn]

There might be model differences, lets say like 90 had serviceable and 89 non serviceable, then somehow the manufacteurer put the struts on the other car. Wouldnt surprise me.
Then again, I'd just go ahead and get new struts, the casings rust and deteriorate too you know.

I think the main reason is that the majority of the SR5-ers are not totally knowledgable, and mostly poor, (myself included), and they're still on the "fix all the rust" step, and not the "rebuild the suspension" step of modding their cars.

Hahah,but the fix all the rust step is a never ending one!

[BLUEMEANIE]

Originally Posted by Flashmn

There might be model differences, lets say like 90 had serviceable and 89 non serviceable, then somehow the manufacteurer put the struts on the other car. Wouldnt surprise me.
Then again, I'd just go ahead and get new struts, the casings rust and deteriorate too you know.

gen3 Camrys are the same ... 92-93 had servicable, 95-96 had non-servicable and 94 had either at random.

[toyotaspeed90]

toyota actually tends to do that a lot. I could see them doing that for 1991 model years.... mainly because what happens is that if they know they're going to change something on the car then they just add the parts until they are depleted then do the change.

1987 mr2's are exactly like that.... think of it this way... all 1987 ae86's had the early model bigport 4age and had to use a 200mm flywheel. It was in the middle of 87 that they started to use the later model bigport and 212mm flywheels in the fwd/mr2 cars..... not to mention that toyota was getting rid of the rear sway bars in the mr2's as well..... so for instance, my 87 mr2 had a late model bigport (but had early model bigport injectors and electronics), a 212mm flywheel setup, and rear struts that have the swaybar tabs but no swaybars (and there are some people who have found their mr2's have one side with a swaybar tab and one without.... strange, huh?)

In these pics, one is a front and one is a rear. At first glance they look almost the same. The one on the left is a front, one on the right is a rear (nonservicable and serviceable).





these aren't the best pictures.... but if you look, the one in the back (2nd picture) has more of a round top of the casing, and the front has a hex-style head on it.... and if you look in the first picture, you can tell that the gland nut top (right where the silver rod goes into the casing) isn't actually perfectly flush with the casing, and the nonserviceable strut is sealed there.

i don't have to worry about rust, my ae92 is 100% rust free (other than light rust on the exhaust welds :p)

[toyotaspeed90]

something i forgot to say...... now that i'm really curious about this.... since i'm done with finals as of thursday around noon, i will have a few weeks of only work (ie, no school). The 2nd gen mr2 owner (whose car is at my house) isn't getting his engine until the 15th, so i'll have some time to play around with my cars...... i'm really tempted to pull the rear suspension out and compare strut lengths on the rear of the aftermarket sealed strut and the stock casing rear strut..... ie, check for length..... see if that is the reason my car sits at slight rear rake.

if they're the same, then i'll just pull my aftermarket stuff out of the front and throw cut stock springs on the front just for driving around......

[Flashmn]

Those both look like serviceable struts imho.

[toyotaspeed90]

nope..... bad pictures, but the fronts are sealed there...... there's no gland nut whatsoever

[aaron7]

Hmm, I'll have to go check. What... exactly am I looking for again?