The shock removal and install looks remarkable easy. No spring compressor needed? Hell, I can do that on the lift in my home garage without buying any tools!

- Patrick

 

All of the components are very accessible. There's no need for special tools for the rear shocks. The front struts can be a bit more challenging due to how short the threads are at the camber plate end. We ended up making a tool out of a flat bar for that. But in reality appropriate sized dog-leg wrench can do the job as well.

 

It should be noted that on awd models, the front shock and spring can NOT be removed upward through the hole in the camber plate. The only way to get the shock and spring out is to remove the brake disc, press out the half shaft, disconnect the steering arm, separate the lower ball joint with a tool such as the OTC 6297 and remove the entire hub carrier and spring assembly down through the wheel well as a unit. Don't try and cheat by using a pickle fork to separate the ball joint. If you rip the dust boot on the ball joint pin you will have to replace the entire lower trailing arm which is $400 (ask me how I know). Just get the ball joint separator that I listed and be sure to mark the positions on the camber plate before removing the 13mm nuts up top.

If you don't have a set of brass drifts or a good hub puller such as the OTC 7394 as well as the exact ball joint separator listed above (or very close) you simply will not get the spring and shock free from the wheel well. Also, a 21mm dog-leg wrench (or at least the one I bought from Sears) will not fit on the top nut for the front strut. If you don't want to fabricate a tool such as the one seen in this thread then it would be best to have a 21mm strut nut socket on hand. Just google it. I got mine from ECS Tuning. Additionally, the bolt for the driveshafts needs to be torqued to 340 lb-ft and is a 32mm socket. Luckily I already had that torque wrench for my centerlocks. I found that a spring compressor was not necessary however if your springs have the "tolerance adjuster" shims installed then there may be a bit of preload. It is free to rent the compressor at the parts store so just have it on hand and use it anyway.

Let's just say it took me four days to get the driver's side spring installed and 30 minutes to get the passenger side done. There were many overnight shipping charges involved as I discovered each day that I couldn't move forward without yet another special tool. That's what I get for saying "Hell, I can do that on the lift in my home garage without buying any tools!" All wheel drive is a whole different bag of worms...

So there you have it. Here's a list of specialty tools you will need for awd:

32mm socket
21mm strut nut socket
340 lb-ft torque wrench
Brass drift and 3lb sledge or OTC 7394 hub puller
OTC 6297 ball joint separator

- Patrick