'94 Corolla Struts - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

wiccanferret · 08-06-2005, 04:03 AM

Was considering replacing these myself considering just about every shop wants around $200 for the LABOR ALONE...

Alldatadiy directions look extremely easy. I haven't gotten ahold of a chilton's or haynes (which is better for the '94 rolla?)...

I thought you had to have something to compress the spring and stuff? Am I way off base here? Only looking to tackle the fronts right at first...any suggestions would be helpful.

wiccanferret · 08-07-2005, 01:26 AM

Come on now...NO ONE has done their own struts?

4Aaron GE · 08-07-2005, 02:21 AM

They're not hard. Just make sure you've got the tools to do it.

wiccanferret · 08-07-2005, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4Aaron GE

They're not hard. Just make sure you've got the tools to do it.

Besides a socket wrench, what would that be?

tashirosgt · 08-24-2005, 06:23 PM

Besides ordinary tools, you need a breaker bar with a length of pipe to extend the handle (or an impact wrench) in order to remove the two bolts that hold the strut to the wheel assembly. It is much easier to unscrew the nuts than the bolt heads. Then tap the bolts out. You need a coil spring compressor. You can rent these at many autoparts stores. I haven't changed struts except on '90 and '89 Corollas and the front ones are a nuisance. The Corolla springs are rather short and there is an art to getting the typical shade tree mechanic's spring compressor on them and having everything out of the way so you can turn the bolts on these tools to compress the coil spring. One type of spring compressor has cast iron heads that lock around the springs with pins. But there is a suprising danger to these. They don't slip off the coil but they can suddently slide sideways on the spring and trap your fingers. It is easier to compress the spring with a wall mounted industrial type of struct compressor. But the front strut mounts never seem to get to be at the correct angle to the struct rod after the spring is compressed. The mounts seem to go out of level slightly as you compress the srping. The have a square hole that is supposed to fit over a squared section of the end of the strut rod. If the angle between the mount and the rod is wrong the rod will not go in the mount as far as it is supposed to. This is where you will be tempted to grab the strut mount with your hands and try push on it to level it - don't do that! It is extremely dangerous to have your hands near the compressed spring. Not knowing a better way to do things, I have resorted to putting the nut on the rod before the rod was completely seated, making sure it went on far enough not to pop off when the spring was uncompressed. Then I uncompressed the spring and put the strut back on the car. I put a 2x4 down in the drive way and drive back and forth over it until I hear a ka-chunk sound that indicates the mount has seated itself on the strut rod. Then I tighten the nut all the way down.

RedAE102 · 08-24-2005, 10:14 PM

Remove the entire strut/spring/mount assembly from the car before disassembling. A friend of mine has done it without a spring compressor, but we're talking an experienced shadetree here (not me though!)... of course, each time he replaced the stock springs with lowering springs (has done installs for other people), so that's a bit different. Stay safe though, and use the proper spring compressor! Make sure the bolts are torqued to spec, as they're not something you'd want to have come loose while travelling at 80-85 mph!