Front AHC shock bushing and cushion replacement (9 Viewers)

[Travis Bickle]

I tackled this job yesterday, figured the shocks/rams were not leaking so why not refresh them? Maybe they'll last another 300k Rears are not as bad and I'll wait a little bit, lower ball joints are next.

New VS Old

Painted up

 

[SlowBuild]

I tackled this job yesterday, figured the shocks/rams were not leaking so why not refresh them? Maybe they'll last another 300k Rears are not as bad and I'll wait a little bit, lower ball joints are next.

New VS Old

Painted up

I’m inspired to tackle mine now too. And maybe control arm bushings as well if I can muster up the ambition.

 

[knewstance]

Nice work! I'm sure that will help your ride out a little bit.

What made you decide to replace the bushings rather than just do the whole shocks? I understand not leaking, but they definitely get worn with that many miles. The cost of new Toyota shocks is not much different than what I assume you paid for the bushings alone.

 

[Travis Bickle]

Nice work! I'm sure that will help your ride out a little bit.

What made you decide to replace the bushings rather than just do the whole shocks? I understand not leaking, but they definitely get worn with that many miles. The cost of new Toyota shocks is not much different than what I assume you paid for the bushings alone.

AHC

 

[danielharro]

Nice work, how hard is it to bleed the shocks after you install them? I was under my car yesterday and noticed my bushings were looking very sad...

 

[TerponTank]

Wait those things aren't supposed to look like pancakes??

 

[riffman12]

Nice work, how hard is it to bleed the shocks after you install them? I was under my car yesterday and noticed my bushings were looking very sad...

Also curious about this

How difficult is it to actually get the shocks out to do this? Is it necessary to disconnect the hydraulic lines?

 

[Travis Bickle]

Nice work, how hard is it to bleed the shocks after you install them? I was under my car yesterday and noticed my bushings were looking very sad...

Also curious about this

How difficult is it to actually get the shocks out to do this? Is it necessary to disconnect the hydraulic lines?

So... Here is my method.

Lift the vehicle, crack the front bleeders SLOWLY and try not to get blasted with oil. Let that drain out.

Remove the two 12mm bolts holding the line on, gently pry on it on two sides to pop it off, tuck it out of the way.
Plug the hole on the top of the shock with something, i used a red plastic plug.

Remove the lower bolt

Remove the 19mm nut on the top of the shock and it should drop out, drain the oil out of it, you don't need to compress it but you can.

Press out the old and press in the new bushing on the bottom, I basically had to rig up some stuff for this.

The top cushions just get pried off, pb blaster/wd40 help a lot.

Put it all back together, put the wheels on and lower it down most of the way but not fully, then just fill up the reservoir, start up the truck and then I switch it to High mode, the truck will start to raise up and keep an eye on the fluid level. Now lower the truck completely. I think I added in 2 quarts total. Go back to Normal height and check the fluid level That's pretty much it as far as I can tell, rides good and goes from L to H as it should.

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

Nicely done, and thanks for sharing. If you get around to the rears, I'd appreciate your experience there as well!

 

[greasem0nkey86]

@Travis Bickle Can you comment on the change in ride quality?

 

[Travis Bickle]

@Travis Bickle Can you comment on the change in ride quality?

Kind of hard to tell since my lower ball joints are trashed, but I know it helped, the lower bushings were destroyed. I expect it to feel a lot better with new LBJs, currently I have a good steering wheel shimmy from 55-75mph, all my tires are balanced out so I know it isn't that.

Little by little I'm getting things refreshed, it's just really hard to do with a toddler in your life

 

[greasem0nkey86]

Little by little I'm getting things refreshed, it's just really hard to do with a toddler in your life

Tell me about it

 

[Ramathorn15]

So... Here is my method.

Lift the vehicle, crack the front bleeders SLOWLY and try not to get blasted with oil. Let that drain out.

Remove the two 12mm bolts holding the line on, gently pry on it on two sides to pop it off, tuck it out of the way.
Plug the hole on the top of the shock with something, i used a red plastic plug.

Remove the lower bolt

Remove the 19mm nut on the top of the shock and it should drop out, drain the oil out of it, you don't need to compress it but you can.

Press out the old and press in the new bushing on the bottom, I basically had to rig up some stuff for this.

The top cushions just get pried off, pb blaster/wd40 help a lot.

Put it all back together, put the wheels on and lower it down most of the way but not fully, then just fill up the reservoir, start up the truck and then I switch it to High mode, the truck will start to raise up and keep an eye on the fluid level. Now lower the truck completely. I think I added in 2 quarts total. Go back to Normal height and check the fluid level That's pretty much it as far as I can tell, rides good and goes from L to H as it should.

Nice write up! Did you bleed the air out of the system after reinstalling everything? If not, you might want to. Also, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone with a non-southwest truck. After 300k miles the rusty hydraulic lines would surely break imo

 

[Travis Bickle]

Nice write up! Did you bleed the air out of the system after reinstalling everything? If not, you might want to. Also, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone with a non-southwest truck. After 300k miles the rusty hydraulic lines would surely break imo

Just filled it back up with fluid, everything seems good, rides great. When I do my ball joints i’ll crack the bleeders again.

100% agree do not do this with a truck that has rust issues, you need to have good judgement. I also sprayed everything down with pb blaster a couple months ago to prepare.

 

[Beto Cruiser]

Nice write up. Planning to do mine in a few weeks with the LCAs and UCAs.

What did you paint them with?

 

[Travis Bickle]

Nice write up. Planning to do mine in a few weeks with the LCAs and UCAs.

What did you paint them with?

VHT roll bar and chassis

 

[harshjay]

Wait those things aren't supposed to look like pancakes??

I just said the exact same thing seeing the new ones......I thought they came UFO shaped....ordering more parts now!

 

[harshjay]

did you do the rear as well? I saw you bought four of the same lower bushing, but I have a different part number / diagram noting a different rear lower bushing.

 

[Travis Bickle]

did you do the rear as well? I saw you bought four of the same lower bushing, but I have a different part number / diagram noting a different rear lower bushing.

View attachment 3100775

It's been a while but I think I just did the fronts, the rears are still decent.

I've got 330k on the truck now and the AHC still works great.

 

[Travis Bickle]

Nicely done, and thanks for sharing. If you get around to the rears, I'd appreciate your experience there as well!

One thing I've done to help gain access to the top bolts is bend the body (right above the frame rail in the wheel well) out of the way, it'll give you an inch or so that you can reach through with a long wrench, instead of trying to do it from underneath. A little flat rate trick learned at the dealership