94 Sc400 Rear Strut: How To Remove

[rtd111]

I thought I should take this on because the one for LS400 looks straightforward enough... removal and replacement of rear struts but for a 94 SC400 (fyi, 158K miles).

I have the strut bolt at the bottom out, I also have the bolts out from the upper mount. All this took less than 30 mins. But now I am stuck.

Question: do I have to remove any control arms, etc? Or is there a trick to removing the strut?

The Lexus maint manual says (after removing the strut nuts/screws) to remove the caliper and the strut is supposed to come out. I don't see how.

Any ideas?

I am going to see if I can get the schematic uploaded here so have reference to various control arms, etc. (Edit: schematic attached: labels 1 thru 4 are my annotations on which ones might need removing. The #2 Lower Susp Arm -- which is what the strut is resting on. #2LSA is tightly integrated with #3 Strut Rod and #1LSA.)

Thanx in advance.

[rtd111]

Well, its easier than I was thinking....

Careful compress the sprin in place until there is enough play to push down the upper mount from its seat and then some, pull out towards you until it clears wheel well and lift. May require some movement to wriggle it free.

Once i starte down tis path, it took me less than 30 minutes -- most of the time because I was being careful to ensure the spring compression is even. Note that you wont (i wasnt) able grab more than 3 circles so it was some work to compress it down enough...

I am doing passenger side first and seems like driver side will go faster from these learnings. But one never can tell, right?

btw, the shocks are KYB.

Reply if you have questions.