Replacing front shocks on Friday.

[xFatcatx]

99 Sport, 4WD, 4.0 SOHC, 86000miles. I have never done it. I have my Hanes and it looks pretty straight forward but any extra advice/tips on making the job easier would be greatly appreciated. I looked in the stickyd threads and searched but couldnt find anything really specific, and im a sucker for pictures. Just floor jacks under the carport. Money is tight so I am getting the 16.99 shocks from Autozone, I might just do them all around. Thanks

 

[JoeMahma]

99 Sport, 4WD, 4.0 SOHC, 86000miles. I have never done it. I have my Hanes and it looks pretty straight forward but any extra advice/tips on making the job easier would be greatly appreciated. I looked in the stickyd threads and searched but couldnt find anything really specific, and im a sucker for pictures. Just floor jacks under the carport. Money is tight so I am getting the 16.99 shocks from Autozone, I might just do them all around. Thanks

I really don't even remember having to jack up my truck to do the shocks. It's very straightforward.

 

[corkey]

i didn't jack mine up at all, and i did them the same way , at home,, on the ground,,

i didn't actually remove the top as much as i just broke them off,
do yourself a favor,, do it the easy way , undue the top first,, , and tighten it last,,

 

[chriswells78]

Yeah, I broke off the tops of the front too. Do yourself another favor, get every extension you own and if you have to, borrow some. Go at the fronts from the engine bay. If you do the rear, do yourself another favor, drop the spare.

 

[Joe Dirt]

The rears are a lot more time consuming than the fronts. The fronts on mine took about 10 minutes each. Three bolts each- the rears are a pain because of the tops- not much room in there to work, but not a hard job at all- perfect for the carport mechanic!

 

[00XLS]

Give them a shot of PB Blaster before you get started too, maybe an hour before. Makes things a little easier.

 

[gijoecam]

If you're going to do the fronts, do the rears too. They hit every bump the fronts did, and are therefore worn just as bad as the fronts.

-Joe

 

[Dan Whitaker]

I'll tell you right now a sawsall will come in handy on the front if you have one.

I had one side on mine that the nut refused to budge on. jtsmith & Techiman will attest to that.

 

[xFatcatx]

Thanks for all the replys, ill get at it tomorrow.

 

[xFatcatx]

Well I worked a 10 hour shift so I only got the front ones done. Very easy, thanks for the all the help. I bought the cheap 16.99 (start with a G?) ones from autozone and they look pretty small/weak compared to even the stock ones, I wish I would have spent a little more now but I can always change them again later.

You can definately tell a huge difference in the feel of the truck, but I still have a squeaking noise coming from the driver side front. Over any bump/curb i get a short squeaks/creaks from the car bouncing up and down. I can push down on the front driver side of the car on the hood and get the same noise (while parked). There has not been any other front end work done on the car that I know of, it has 84000 not 86k like i stated above. Would ball joints make that squeaking noise? I can't really think and dont know what else would make it squeak like that when hitting bumps. I just went for the shocks first cause the ride was pretty rough and they were cheap....Thanks

 

[Dan Whitaker]

I'd say upper and or lower control arm bushings.

 

[xFatcatx]

Thanks Dan. The squeaking is pretty bad, over every bump pretty much. If it is the control arms how ASAP would this be to get done? You know the bushings on the upper looked pretty squished/worn to me but then again i really dont have any experience and cant tell by looking. Ill look into $ now and refer to MountanieerGreens stickys and do the upper/lower arms/ball joints all at the same time i think. I'm pretty sure its due or will be soon for everything in there. Also things looked pretty rusty under there but with a little PB Blaster for about an hour all the front shock bolts easily came out. Im hoping things will be same when doing the rest of the work. Thanks Again.

 

[daffy]

Try having someone else 'bounce' the front end and start grabbing things, you'll likely feel the squeak.

That's how I diagnosed the lower ball joint on mine. Grab the castle nut, and bounce the front end.