2004 LC 100 OEM Shock Replacement

[ncjeep]

Purchased a full set of OEM shocks for the LC 100 and....
Jacked the truck up
Pulled off the wheels
Spend 2 hours attempting to get shocks removed from the rear and another hour + on the fronts with absolutely no luck
Looked at many Youtube videos and it looks relatively easy
Have every tool I need
Just couldn't get the rear nuts off (rear & front). 10mm top w/ 22mm underneath that and no luck
Soaked the nuts w/break free and nooooo luck
What am I doing wrong
Trying to avoid the $1,000 visit to the dealer
Any suggestions

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Heat and penetrating oil. Some have cut a hole in the cargo area to get to the rear top nut, seems excessive to me, but it's worked.

 

[hoser]

If not saving the old shocks, cut a section of the dust cover off and grip the shaft with a vise-grip.

 

[kbfj621989]

I had the same struggle with the fronts as well. Used heat gun and PB blaster on the top nut. Used a vice grip attached to upper shock tube and rotated the 22 mm until the vice grip found something to keep from rotating. Be sure you are protecting the ABS sensors from damage.

 

[Marshmallow]

Have you cursed lots on the rears? They suck big time. Even with flatsfora wrench for the easy side (Bilstein) and a ratcheting box wrench for the top nut, pulling the passenger shock upper nut was very frustrating. I basically got 3 clicks at a time with the box wrench and had to add a second wrench for leverage to even get it to turn.

 

[donco]

No problems with the fronts. I used a 7/8" ratcheting box end wrench on the rears with a pipe wrench on the upper shock tube.

 

[Zuberg]

Just did the rear OEM shocks on the 07 today. 22mm ratcheting wrench and a big pipe wrench on the shock body like @donco mentioned.

Driver side was easy enough. Passenger side sucks big time. Don't want to ever do those again.

 

[Marshmallow]

I’ve done the passenger rear three times now - once to replace the stocks with bilsteins, once to reattach the mount that unthreaded from the shaft and this last time two weeks ago to install a warranty replacement after the shaft broke at the threaded mount. The first two times sucked, this last time it was a rusty mess to unthread the locknut, even with no shock in the way.

 

[scubadoober]

Did the rears today and they were significantly worse than the fronts. Got the rear in the air, and dropped the spare to give me a place to sit. I use a strap wrench to hold them, but there are brake lines and wheel speed sensors everywhere. Both nuts backed out until about 3-4 threads left. I ended up running a recip blade between the nut and washer, then turned the seized nut until the shaft sheared off. Not a hard job it is just so tight back there. You definitely need a 22mm ratcheting flex head and use the double up wrench for leverage. I couldn’t bring myself to cut a hole in the floor.

 

[FamilyCamper]

Just did mine today. Tried big wrench and 22mm and it was still spinning once some rust caught. Released the plastic tabs to get the ABS sensor out of the way and then sawzalled right under each nut. Worked like a charm and there was room to get a decent angle without getting to sketchy. Tiny daughter approves

 

[excessive]

i also used a sawzall on my rears, took 5 minutes per side.