Top hat stuck to shock mount (3 Viewers)

[AmericanKing]

What I thought would be a 6 hour job turn into all day and will continue tomorrow. The passenger shock mount it stuck to the shock top mount. I tried rust penetrate, heat and it won’t come out. I was fight if it for awhile, so I thought I would remove the top hat bolt and remove the spring and stock. After the top hat bolt removed spring and shock removed easily. I’m still fight the top hat any suggestions would be great thank you.

 

[aztoytec]

What I thought would be a 6 hour job turn into all day and will continue tomorrow. The passenger shock mount it stuck to the shock top mount. I tried rust penetrate, heat and it won’t come out. I was fight if it for awhile, so I thought I would remove the top hat bolt and remove the spring and stock. After the top hat bolt removed spring and shock removed easily. I’m still fight the top hat any suggestions would be great thank you.

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[HomersCanyonero]

Oh this happened to me too. Two weeks ago, I went to a tire shop to install my new Bilstein 6112s and they struggled for at least an hour to remove the driver's side top hat. It was stuck to the body shock mount.

A couple of guys started pounding it with a hammer, a crowbar, and then penetrating fluid. They didn't remove the coil though, they eventually got off the coilover and top hat together. The passenger side was easy peasy.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to video or see all their work from the waiting area. I only saw them struggle and pound it with the hammer and crowbar.

 

[aztoytec]

I had the same thing happen when I did my lift kit. I hit the top of the strut mount while prying down with a breaker bar. It took me awhile to break it loose. I thought it was very strange. Glad I’m not the only one it’s happened too!

 

[aztoytec]

I had the same thing happen when I did my lift kit. I hit the top of the strut mount while prying down with a breaker bar. It took me awhile to break it loose. I thought it was very strange. Glad I’m not the only one it’s happened too!

That’s exactly what happened. Drivers side was a pain the … , but passenger fell right out!

 

[AmericanKing]

Hopefully the penetrating oil soak over night will make my life easier. Might try and bolt the shock back in without the spring to help get more leverage

 

[binaryaudax]

I'd try putting the nuts on back on the top for a good number of threads and giving them a few smacks from above with heavy rubber mallet.

 

[Rednexus]

I would recommend putting the shock back in it. It will give you a nice lever to be able to break it loose. This is also why it's generally preferable to pull the strut off the vehicle whole and this disassemble it on the bench/floor. I usually use an impact to zip off the top not with the strut lying on the floor - it will shoot 6 ft across the floor when it pops off as the spring is released but it's a really quick way to do it. Or you can use a coil spring compressor in a bench vice instead.

 

[jiggletits]

That happened to me. You need a sledgehammer and a steel chisel with a tip that can get in the crack between them. Banged on it a few times, couldn't get it... then I was about to reconstruct my struts in-place because I couldn't get those damn things off... tried one more time and then they just came out easily. I may have turned the sledge sideways and tried to hit the lugs from the topside, but I don't remember.

 

[AmericanKing]

I managed to remove the Right top hat this morning in about ten minutes. I wedge a tie rod fork in between the mount and top hat with the he help on my BAH (big ass hammer) torched the top hat for about a minute. pried on the fork and boom out like nothing. The right side was so much easier. I did the same mention but i didn’t remove the spring and shock. Thanks for all the help.

 

[sshevela]

Be sure to paint the strut tower so it wont corrode and get stuck again.

 

[se7enine]

Slide hammer would take care of that.

 

[AmericanKing]

Be sure to paint the strut tower so it wont corrode and get stuck again.

I’m in the southwest and surprisingly there was no rust. I guess 18 years of
wear and tear just glued it self to the mount.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

I’m in the southwest and surprisingly there was no rust. I guess 18 years of
wear and tear just glued it self to the mount.

Good point. Mine has been a California rig all of its life and the stuck driver-side Bilstein 6112 front coilover was only 5 to 6 years old. It was not the original oem front coilover. No rust either. So, I suppose some get stuck within a few years...maybe mine due to some offroading stress on those front coilovers, but who knows.

 

[aztoytec]

I’ve replaced a lot of shocks on 4Runners and Gx’s and it only happened doing my own. Never fails!

 

[Sixto Lezcano]

My gx has a good amount of rust, been in New England since 2008. I did a full front end rebuild and faced many difficult, rusty parts. Got original front shocks out in 30 seconds. Air hammer. It was so easy. I highly recommend if you have access. Easiest part of entire job and I was thinking it’d be awful.

 

[sshevela]

My gx has a good amount of rust, been in New England since 2008. I did a full front end rebuild and faced many difficult, rusty parts. Got original front shocks out in 30 seconds. Air hammer. It was so easy. I highly recommend if you have access. Easiest part of entire job and I was thinking it’d be awful.

I hated this part. I literally had to Sawzall everything off above the strut tower. Air tools would have defiantly helped.

 

[Rednexus]

I hated this part. I literally had to Sawzall everything off above the strut tower. Air tools would have defiantly helped.

I did that and nicked the AC hard line directly behind the passenger side strut tower with the tip of the sawzall blade. At first I thought I had punctured the shock. Had no idea the AC line was there as it has the corrugated plastic covering on it. It promptly drained my entire AC system (sorry, environment!) through a tiny pinhole.

The hard line runs all the way from the AC condenser at the front of the GX to the rear AC unit. At first I though I was going to have to find a junkyard replacement - as the line is not available from Lexus - but was able to find some aluminum-infused epoxy on Amazon for this exact purpose. It sealed the leak right up after some surface prep and a day of drying, after which I replaced the drier bag, put a vacuum on the AC system to remove any moisture, and refilled it with new freon, and it's been totally fine ever since. $15 in epoxy vs. hundreds of dollars in a new line and hours of frustration in trying to swap it out.

Moral of the story: be very careful running any kind of tools near the PS strut tower.

 

[Siberia2Desert]

Same struggle but resolution was simple - slide hammer. Don't even bother trying any other way and head out to parts store to rent one.

 

[dteo827]

My solution to this problem was to create a slide hammer with the old shock itself. After soaking it in PB Blaster, I reinstalled the shock with no spring using just the washer + screw on top (no bushing) and put a screw through the LCA. Stomped on the LCA about a dozen times and the top hat came right out.

Shock is going in the bin so I didn’t care about subjecting it to expansion forces

I’m reusing the top hat for a Stage 1 Eibach lift, so it didn’t want to mess it up by hammering on it.