Replace Rear Shocks on 02 Explorer??

Ronin8002 · April 1, 2012

JoePieper said:
Oh I decided against that idea hours ago. Im very safety concious so I don't know why I ever came up with that idea lol. Going to get a compressor. they are cheap compared to the price of a lost body part...or worse. But any pointers on getting it off and on would help. Im going to use a coplete assembly. Im only thinking about the compressor because the spring is broken at the bottom.

If you are just swapping out the assembly then the compressor is unnecessary. The strut has an internal bumpstop and cannot extend beyond a certain point, regardless of the tension on the spring.

Hardest part will be loosening the nuts on top of the strut mount...it's pretty tight in there.

One thread that will give you a good idea of what's involved with removing the rear strut is the "BTF Fabrication Spacer Lift Install" sticky at the top of the Modified 2002-2005 forum. Just ignore the spacer parts and read/look at the pics where he removes the rear struts.

JoePieper · April 8, 2012

Just an update. I called the stealership where I got the truck and told them of the issue. I dropped it off today to be fixed tomorrow. Cost to me......ZERO. But thanks for all the info. I'm gonna love it here.

JoePieper · April 10, 2012

UPDATE

I picked it up today and they replaced both rear strut assemblies. So I got new struts AND shiny new springs.

ToqirM · April 17, 2012

My trucks Rear driver side strut is leaking and I'm in need of changing it. I'm pretty handy with working on cars. I just need to know where I can go and get decently priced struts as well as a reliable brand of struts.
I'm going to be changing both back struts just to keep it balanced. Any help is appreciated.

JoePieper · April 18, 2012

http://www.primechoiceautoparts.com/c-38-strut-assembly.aspx

laurentg · October 16, 2013

The 3 top bolts were pretty rusted on mine and rounded right off with a wrench. Having a 13mm bolt-out saved me a lot of pain.

If this happens to you, I'm sure you can find something similar at your local tool store, just make sure the bolt-out sockets have outer hex sides to grab onto with a wrench because you won't have clearance for a rachet.

something like this in a 13mm format is ideal:

rocco123 · October 17, 2013

Changed mine with struttek. Was no big deal at all. They are inexpensive and you then have piece of mond as the old springs are known to break on this generation explorer.

BigRondo · October 19, 2013

I agree with rocco.

Welcome aboard cannon!! :salute:

Both my rear springs were broken & my front struts were leaking when I bought my Ex in Feb 2010.

Now I'm running the StrutTEK's on all four corners and have nothing but good things to say about them! The ride is awesome and the price is right. I can't compare them to the original struts since they were FUBAR when I bought my Ex.

The rears were installed on 11/29/2010 & the fronts were installed on 2/20/2012.

I love them. The ride is great.

Click here to find out more about the StrutTEK Struts.

aneal000 · January 23, 2014

Newbe here, but I had a couple of things I wanted to pass along. I picked up a 2002 Explorer a couple of weeks ago and it failed safety inspection due to broken spring in rear. I'm still trying to comprehend this failure. Anyway, being a cheap @$$ I found a deal on all 4 shock/spring (complete assembled) struts (like the quick strut) on ebay for $238 shipped. I tackled the rears last night. The first one took about 2 hours, the second one about 30 minutes!

Tip #1 - with a standard 13mm box wrench try and get 2 or three good turns on each of the nuts on the top of the strut mount. Once I was able to get each one slightly loose I was able to with no issue get a hack saw in there and just cut the bolts off with very minimal effort. This saved me a huge amount of time as I did not have a ratcheting 13mm box wrench and the bolts were rusted and the nuts were not coming off very easy.

Tip #2 - I had a horribly difficult time removing the strut assembly from the truck. Once everything was unbolted I couldn't get the lower control arm pushed down far enough to get the assembly out. I DID have the knuckle unbolted from the hub and I also had removed the torsion bar from the control arm but it still felt like it was spring loaded and wouldn't push down far enough to give me enough clearance to remove the strut. Solution: spray WD-40 on the two rubber bushings where the control arm mounts to the frame. These were so tight they wouldn't let it move down. Once the lube was in there good I was able to step on the lower control arm a couple of times and it finally went all the way to the floor and I had plenty of room to remove the strut assembly.

Hope those two things help someone! Thanks for the things I've already taken from this site!

esclamada · January 23, 2014

WD-40 and rubber don't mix, doing so will destroy your rubber bushings over time. It's best to use silicone/synthetic grease on rubber.

-----------------------------------------------------------
MY MOUNTY
http://www.facebook.com/diyfordexplorer/photos_albums

Explorer0204 · January 23, 2014

esclamada said:
WD-40 and rubber don't mix, doing so will destroy your rubber bushings over time. It's best to use silicone/synthetic grease on rubber.

-----------------------------------------------------------
MY MOUNTY
http://www.facebook.com/diyfordexplorer/photos_albums

I'm not going to say it can't because I have never looked to see but I have never heard that it DOES hurt runner either...

Broken Springs in any vehicle are decently common. The springs are stressed thousands and thousands of times when you drive. So really... It makes sense that they can break. Especially if you stress them out a lot

jpoprock · July 31, 2014

Ok, so I have new springs on the rear of my explorer and I think I need new front struts. If I already have new springs on the rear can I just remove the inner shock part of the the rear strut? Or do I have to replace everything again?

And regarding the front strut, do I have to replace the entire assembly if the springs are intact? Or can I just replaced the shock part of it?

Either way I definitely need to replace my front struts and I'm debating on doing it myself. I also think that after you replace the struts you need to have the vehicle aligned. Correct?

I'm considering the Prime Choice struts or the Monroe quick struts for the front. I don't plan on driving this vehicle for much longer because it has 225,000 miles on it, and I'm concerned something major will happen to it. I've replaced so many things tho, so it will make a great spare vehicle.

Besides, it's probably not worth much even though it's in average condition and the top of the line Limited for that year.

Thanks guys! Yer help has been unbelievable to me over the years!

Jason

extra-medium · July 31, 2014

It is a coilover design, so you need a spring compressor if you are going to keep the springs and change the strut. I just installed the Rancho loaded quicklifts on all 4 corners of mine, and even with them pre-assembled it was a pain. If you are debating on if you are gonna keep it much longer, I wouldn't go with the Monroe since they run about 100 bucks, I would go with the cheapest option just to get you by until it's time to retire it.

After you redo the struts you need to have an alignment done since you have to dis-assemble the upper ball joint and the outer tie rod end from knuckle, and possibly the sway bar end link from the lower control arm depending on how much you need to drop the lower control arm.

Replace Rear Shocks on 02 Explorer??

Ronin8002

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JoePieper

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JoePieper

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ToqirM

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JoePieper

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laurentg

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rocco123

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BigRondo

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aneal000

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esclamada

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Explorer0204

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jpoprock

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extra-medium

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