robgreen

So I just finished converting my '92 LS 400 from air to standard shocks and struts using the Strutmasters kit. The fronts were pretty straight forward. The rear did not require removal of the rear axle but was a challenge as I had never done this on a Lexus. I'm handy but I'm no professional mechanic. For what it's worth here are a couple of things I learned: Definitely take a moment to align the opening of the shock absorber (bottom of the assembly) with one of the suspension bolts/rods (top of the assembly). Makes your life so much easier when you're trying to mount the rear coil over struts. You can use a spring compressor to do this, but I just put the shock opening (bottom of the strut) in my shop vise and used a pry bar leveraged against the uppper mounting rods/bolts to turn do the alignment. It turns very easily without the springs compressed and doesn't damage the upper bolts. The front strut alignment was easy: just loosely bolt in the upper mounts; use a screw driver to go through the shock mount hole; I used a section of lead pipe over the handle of the screw driver for leverage to align the shock with the shock mount on the lower control arm. You don't have the room to do this in rear. And you have a more difficult time trying to align the upper mounting bolts with the 3 holes (top mount) if the shock opening is not aligned with one of the upper bolts. So when you've done this you should be able to lay the strut on the floor and visualize a straight line running from one of the upper bolts, down the length of the strut, to the hole in the bottom mount (where the bolt slides through). Secondly, I too had a hard time getting the new strut in place (the old ones basically fell out quite easily). The trick I learned (again, not a professional mechanic so this may be common knowledge I didn't have)was to slide the shock absorber bottom through the lower control arms and down past (to one side of) the axle to get the upper assembly partial into place - then lift the suspension assembly (I was pushing down trying to get clearance) to get the clearance at the bottom necessary to tilt the upper part of the strut into place. If you don't lift the suspension, you can't clearance you need to tilt the top of the strut into its well. Once the top is in, you can lower the suspension and slide the bottom into the shock mount bracket on the lower control arm. With the car on jack stands I basically faced the car with my legs under the rear diff and had the suspension assembly in my lap. I used my legs to lift while I maneuvered the strut into place. I had my wife thread on the 3 top nuts while I held it. But you could also fix it in place with a jack (or a wedge of wood against the bottom of the shock, etc) if you're working alone, which would allow you to move to the top and install the upper 3 nuts. I like the Strutmasters kit. The ride is awesome. The directions left a little bit to be desired and their tech support line was unresponsive the times I called (they returned my message after I had finished the job). I found that there is little on the Web to help you along when dealing with the rear R and R process. The guy on the Lextreme site had some help full photos but they didn't document the full process. This site offered the best insights (though I was unsuccessful in finding the DIY archives referenced in one of the threads). For example, I don't think I could have removed the rear seat cushion successfully (undamaged) without finding the simple instruction to pull the tabs to release the cushion noted on this forum. Being a first time Lexus owner, this site has been a great resource. Hope this helps. Bob

I'm new to the forum. First post. I'm doing the Strutmaster conversion from air. I have a 92 LS400. The old shocks came out easy. I'm having a bit of a hard time getting the new shocks in the car. I know I'm missing something. I see the reference to the DIY archives in this thread. How do I find the DIY archives? Thanks, Bob