mark95 Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 I have a 1995 Lexus LS 400 with a broken rear spring. I checked the ALLDATA website last night regarding the replacement procedure for rear springs and shocks. The procedure looks fairly involved, including removal of rear seat and trim to get to shock tower bolts, removal of rear wheel axel nut (253 FT-LB.s), as well as removal of rear drive shaft. Has anyone actually done a replacement of rear shocks? Just wondering if it is as involved as shown. Thanks so much for your help. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurschel Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 I would sure like to see a reply to your post, I'm attempting to replace the rear struts on my '97 and haven't figured how to remove the rear seat yet, still searching the net for the procedure. If it involves removing the rear axle, may have to farm it out since I have a bad shoulder, waiting to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicol-ini Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 hello, you DONT have to remove the rear axle to take out the rear strut assembly, it will just slide out, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VMF Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 i did change them on my 96 LS myself and didnt have to do driveshaft removal or any other "removals" except the backseat. its pretty straight forward and should not take you longer then 2 hrs for both. but just to clarify, is the spring really broken? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blake918 Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Hurschel, the seat is easy to remove. The bottom seat cushion is just snapped in place. Give it a firm tug on the driver and passenger's side to release the snaps, and then, lift it up (to release the 2 big hooks that hold it to the seat back.) and out. After you remove the bottom seat cushion, you'll see 4 bolts along the bottom of the seat back that you'll need to remove. Removing the bottom seat cushion will also reveal the 3 bolts you need to remove to release the seat belts. Lastly, there are 3 bolts along the top of the seat back that need to come out-1 behind each headrest and 1 in the armrest cavity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark95 Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Yes, the rear drivers side coil spring broke about a week ago. Car has about 170,000 miles. I replaced the timing belt and waterpump on this car last July. Just a little surprised there is not more detailed information regarding removal/replacement of shocks on this site based on what I found here regarding the timing belt. The ALLDATA procedure for the timing belt work was fairly accurate as well which is why I became a little concerned with what I found yesterday for the shock/spring replacement. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VMF Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 i got too lazy to make pix and write a howto on the shock replacement. did it over a year ago when my car had around 150k. procedure is rather time consuming, especially when you have to compress the spring but relatively straight forward. i also changed rotors, shims and pads, all OEM, that and suspension work gave the car a brand new ride feel, i cant really feel the difference beetwen the 96 and 04 cars when you drive around 30 mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurschel Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thanks Blake, got the seat out and got to the shock tower bolts, got the bottom bolt out of the strut and the bottom of the shock is resting on the top of the axle, that's as far as I got. The top of the strut is still sorta stuck in position, probably just the rubber stuck to the mounting surface, I ran out of steam, gotta let the shoulder rest and then try to maneuver the bottom of the strut around the axle and drop it down to get the top of the strut out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark95 Posted February 29, 2008 Author Share Posted February 29, 2008 Just wondering how Hurschel's repair is going ? I'm picking up parts my parts in about an hour. Best of luck and I hope you are already done!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurschel Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Got the back seat out, didn't have to remove the package shelf, the shock mounts are right under the front edge of the shelf cover, just lift it up. Took the bottom strut bolt out, and by then, my shoulder was hurting pretty bad so I stopped on it. Today, I decided that it was more than I wanted to try to do, just having surgery last Dec for the third time on my shoulder, decided I don't want to chance wrecking it again. I have a call in to a guy that does work on Lexus' and see when he can get to it, better than going through a messed up shoulder again. Still would like to hear how Mark comes out with his though, hope it's not too tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurschel Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Just wondering how Hurschel's repair is going ? I'm picking up parts my parts in about an hour. Best of luck and I hope you are already done!! :D What brand struts did you get? I really wanted to get all Monroe Sensa-Trac, but I couldn't get them for the rear so I got the Monroe for the front and KYB for the rear. Sure hope I didn't screw up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 There's lots of info at lexls.com if you haven't checked that place out! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurschel Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 Got a response from the repair man, wants $200 to replace all four struts and $90 for four wheel alignment, I haven't had work done in quite a while or maybe I'm just cheap, but that sounds high, I suppose it is time consuming to take them out and then compress the springs to get them apart, and then put them back together and get them back on the car. Any progress on yours Mark? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilkoot Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 from what I've read the key to getting the rear shocks out is to rotate them about 90 degrees after you have all of the bolts out, if done right they should almost fall out under their own weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark95 Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 Well guys in a nut shell I crashed and burned. Removed back seat and top bolts, no problem. Getting the nut off the shock bolt was a pain. Took heat and a breaker bar with a 19mm 1/2" drive short socket. However the bottom bolt was rusted in place in the shock. Heated it, beat it, and was about to cut it out when I noticed the bolt had a shoulder that fit inside the wheel assembly. Nothing standard about this bolt, and on a Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM not likely to get replacements by Sunday night. I backed off and chaulked it up to knowing when to hold them and when to fold them. Guys it took me two hours to get the back seat and misc. trim out, and yes the back deck can remain in place to remove upper shock bolts. I would buy replacement bolts from Lexus next time and simply cut the existing bolts out. Again my car had 170,000 miles on it and 12 winters in Chicago. With a broken coil my shock sure looked as though it would come out without removing the drive shaft. I still do not know if a new coil and shock would go back in. Hurschel your estimate for labor looks pretty fair to me. I purchased shocks and coils from Lexus. I was not able to locate replacement coils from any other source I tried. I would be interested to know if anyone has another source. My costs were $500 for 2 shocks and coil springs (OEM) and $440 for labor at McGrath Lexus in Westmont. All in all a humbling experience, but you've got to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurschel Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Mark I found the Monroe Sensa-Trac, front struts at Shock Warehouse at what I thought is a good price. 2 71317 Monroe Sensatrac Lexus LS400 Item: 71317 $95.44 $190.88 Sub Total $190.88 Discount Code (FIVE) - $9.54 Shipping (Ground) $0.00 Invoice Total $181.34 and the rears are KYB I found at advanceautoparts.com , they were Part #341269 $191.88 plus tax for the pair. I also purchased the four TRW strut bellows there which were $68.40 plus tax for the four. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark95 Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 Here's a follow up of what I found after repair work was done by dealer. During the work I did on the car before I took it to the dealer to be done, I had straightened out a cotter pin next to the drivers side axel nut. The cotter pin would have to come out if the axel were to be removed. I forgot about turning back up the end of the cotter pin and put the cover back on the wheel nuts. After the dealer work was done the cotter pin was as I left it. Sure appears as though the shocks can be replaced without the axel being removed. Also, the same shock bolts were replaced, so apparently the dealership had better luck getting them out. I was using MAPP gas to heat the bolts. Late in the day I remembered to try an air chissel on the stuck bolts and my guess is that if I had not run out of energy and time, I would have had luck getting them out. Probably a combination of the impact chissel and heat. Has anyone had experience with rusted shock bolt removals? Thanks. Hurschel, thanks for the parts information. The coil springs were $99 / EA and the shocks were $153 / EA from Lexus, plus tax. I picked them up. Total was $537. Did you replace coil springs? Not quite sure what bellows are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurschel Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Glad to hear you got it all finished, I took mine and dropped it at the guy's house, sure has a nice shop. He works at the Toyota dealership and at home after hours, he called and said he got the rears on ok, but had to modify the bellows, that's the rubber boots that go over the tube that comes out of the top of the strut to keep the dirt and stuff off the piston rod. The Monroes that go on the front were wrong, they were both in identical boxes with the same part #, but one had an eye on the bottom, and the other had a forked mount, obviously the wrong shock for the part # on the box. To keep from tying up his rack, I let him pick up a set of KYBs for the front and now I have to deal with Shock Warehouse and hope it won't be a fight to keep from paying a restocking fee, bad enough I'm afraid they'll expect me to pay for return shipping even though it is their mistake. I could pick up the car today, but it is about 70 miles away and we just got a foot of snow last night, bummer.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedcraft Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Just wanted to add a note...I am doing all four corners on my '90 ls400 (140k). NAPA has their branded version of the Monroe sensatrac front and back at a good price. My first impression of the fronts (doing the backs today)...is that the car is a little better on washboard roads in the corners than it ever was....yet it has lost none of the highway comfort. rdl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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