need help changing shocks on 04 explorer

[Tommylee1282]

trying to replace the front shocks and struts. cant seem to get the bottom part of the shock to line up with the holes in the lower control arm. i tried using the jack to raise it into place but only half of the hole can be seen before the jack starts raising the whole truck. i managed to get a smaller piece of metal to keep the strut in place. i tried to using a spring compressor but it didnt seem to make any difference. any hlep would be appreciated

 

[apenland01]

Did you release the ball joint from the knuckle? That was the only way I could get the KYB coilover strut in place. Some people on here have been able to get other brands on without releasing the ball joint, but I had to do it on my front struts.

I had to get my son to take me to autozone to get the little pitman arm puller, which worked like a charm. Made the whole project much easier, wish I had gotten it BEFORE I started the work.......

Good luck with your project!

 

[lincolnshibuya]

push the lower control arm down.

 

[Tommylee1282]

I tried lowering the control arm, put all my weight on it but it won't go down any further. I didn't undo the upper ball joint. I watched the 1a auto video on doing the shocks and they didn't undo it. But after reading a couple posts yesterday I saw about taking it out so the upper control arm can be moved. I took the bolt off and hammered away on different spots but the ball joint didn't budge. I guess I'm gonna have to go to autozone or advanced and get the arm puller like you did. So just to be clear do you bolt in the top 3 or the bottoms one first? Cuz I have the top three in ready to be torqued down but I'm starting to think the bottom needs to be done first. I also have the strut spring compressor tool but they didn't make much of a difference and i couldn't get the shock in place with them on it

 

[lincolnshibuya]

there's really no need to remove the ball joint on the upper control arm. you are probably jacking it up on the wrong spot or the shock absorber is misaligned. what brand of shock are you using?
the service manual has the top 3 bolts first, then the sway bar end links and finally the the shock absorber mounting bolt last for removal, install is the reverse (so top 3 bolts last)
i don't recall it being that complicated when I did mine, with the exception of the seize bolt on the driver side.

 

[96firephoenix]

when you can see one side of the hole, slip something in there like a pin punch, then use it to lever the shock around until you can slip the bolt in the other side, and use a hammer and the bolt to drive your punch back out.

worked for me, but ymmv

 

[apenland01]

Because of the length of the assembly, I had to drop the bottom of the strut through the lower arm, then push up into the top. I had to drop the ball joint so I could raise the upper arm for the top of the strut to clear. It's about a 1/4" longer than you can drop the lower arm.

When I tried to install top side first, I couldn't compress the strut, so I couldn't get it into place on the bottom. The only way to install the KYB strut was to drop it through the lower arm, raise it to mount the top first, then align the bottom and stick the bolt once it got into place.

I tried every different angle and pried every arm I could. Dropping the ball joint to free the upper arm was the only way I saw to do it. It was easy once I popped the ball joint loose.

I put the nuts on the top first, but didn't tighten them down until I got the bottom of the strut in and bolted. Once I had all the nuts/bolts in place, I torqued everything after I put it back on the ground.

 

[Number4]

Did you undo the sway bar?

 

[Tommylee1282]

I bought the Monroe quick struts, and I didn't undo the sway bar link on the passenger side but the driver side link is beyond broken and only attached to the lower control arm. I'm gonna give it another go tomorrow with the Pittman tool hopefully that gives me enough room to bolt it in on the bottom. I was able to get a thinner bolt threw the hole in the control arm and the strut but still can't get the actual bolt through. for the upper ball joint do I just have to hammer it back in and put the nut back on or will I need to press it in?

 

[apenland01]

Its just the nut. Remove the nut from ball joint stud and then use the puller to get the ball joint stud to release from knuckle. You'll need to support the knuckle so it doesn't move around, because if you released the sway bar end link and ball joint, there isn't anything to support it. look at the posts talking about replacing the ball joint and you'll see pictures.

I'll see if I can post a picture of my project in a minute.

 

[apenland01]

It will look like this

Leave the nut on the bottom of the stud, so it will keep the knuckle from dropping. It may also be just enough room to get the strut to clear the UCA.

If anyone knows how to correctly post pictures from the gallery, I'm open to suggestions.......