ok everyone, my last tune up question (i think ). i'm gonna replace the shocks while i'm doing all of this and i'm a total do it yourselfer and plus i just don't wanna pay the labor rates. so i'm wondering if ya'll could explain in detail on how to replace the front and rear shocks? thanks guys.

 

My son just replaced his. Took about 15 minutes per side. Take the three top tower bolts out, take the bottom bolt out, remove the shock, install the tower top on the new shock, install the shock, install the lower bolt, install the three upper tower bolts, viola, new shocks.

 

so do you not even have to pull the coils to do this? i've got it in my head that you do.
and what about the rears, just unbolt, and bolt in?

 

anyone else?

 

That's about it.

I ran into a problem where my new front shocks wouldn't fit in the bottom channel, it was too narrow by a few millimeters, so I gave up and took it to a mechanic, figured he'd have the tools and the talent to make it fit.

Rears were put on by the same gorrilla that puts the oil filters on, and I didn't have a breaker bar to free them up, so I let the mechanic tackle those as well.


phox

 

Nope and yep.

 

If you have a rear swaybar, you may have to disconnect it to get the bottom shock bolts out, I had to on my 01.

 

I just paid my mechanic $50 and let him get dirty and bust his knuckles...

 

ok, thanks guys, i think i'll get around to this MASSIVE tune up next weekend. hope all goes well!

and sluggo42, i would but i'm going to school to become a mechanic myself, so i'll need the experience

 

I just did mine last night.

For the rears you will need a 21mm with a 3" extension and air/wrench. Remove and replace using the original equipment.

For the fronts, I prefer to remove the inner fender liners.
Remove all 3 nuts on the shock towers.
Remove the 21mm bolt from the bottom.
In my truck I had so many things attached or in the way, I needed to remove the battery on the driver side to clear the tower.
Remove the old shock from the tower, replace with new shock and parts.
Reinstall and hit the road!

 

I'm not sure why you would remove the inner fenders? The inner fenders are not even remotely in the way of removing the shocks.....must be a 3rd gen thing!

 

that's funny, no offense to him by the way, we're all friends here!

thanks for the great post though shakinred! i'm doin mine this weekend, i'll have to let ya'll know how it goes!

 

I just replaced mine last weekend. The Bilstein's crush sleeve was a little wider than 3 of the 4 bottom brackets. I used a bench grinder to take a little off the sleeve and they went right in.

For a 4x4:
Shock tower nuts are 55 foot lbs. (3 per tower)
Top nut on front shocks is 35 foot lbs.
Bottom bolt on front shocks and top and bottom bolt on rears is 100 foot lbs.

For a 4x2:
Front shock upper nuts are 40 foot lbs.
Front shock lower bolts are 105 foot lbs.
Rear shock lower and upper bolts are 100 foot lbs.

Those are from the 2001 FSM, that's what I used


Has I bothered to ask before I did it, I wouldn't have gone through this last weekend:
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=142273

~Rob

 

Very simple and straightforward job. Yes beware of left front tower, it's a pain to get to it.

 

Make sure you tighten up the lower bolt on the fronts good & tight or you can have a knocking sound over every bump.