who's done it themselves? i'm thinking about doing it myself, i know what i'm doing under the hood but i've never replaced a suspension before. I'd rather save money on labor and spend it on better spring/shocks/struts. my mechanic quoted me $400 for labor and i'd rather get the tokico setup and spend 500 and be done with it compared to 900. so how hard is it?

 

Not hard at all, all you need is spring compressors, some metric wrenches and a nice breaker bar..... And some time....

 

It's not that hard. I just did my own springs install a few months back using the How To on VQPower.com. It was the first time for me and it took about four hours to do. Really didn't run into any problems just take your time and definetly rent a spring compressor as mentioned above.

 

what about the control arm? do i need someone to hold it or can i just lay it down gently

 

That axle holds it up.

I charge people $100 to swap suspension, and I do it with hand tools. $400 is a total rip off.

 

Yeah, its really not too hard. Once you start to disasseble everything its really easy to figure out.
Just be patient. Compressing the springs is probably the most time consuming part.

 

on the vq power it doesnt have what to torque the rear bottom bolt to, what torque do i set it to?


"Tighten the new center bolts to spec (80 ft-lbs) and reinstall into the car. Torque the top strut tower bolts to spec (12-14 ft-lbs) and torque the lower bolts."

 

Lower bolts are around 100 I think...

I just do all the top bolts "pretty tight" and the bottom two "real damn tight"

 

I paid my firest stime and tehn realized how easy it is and did it myslef.

You need basic tools and wrenches , breaker bar will help and a spring compresser will to . But i did it 3rd time by just having my buddie hold the springs down lol.

O any if you can get some air tools then it will just be cake

 

its not to bad just have the right tools and sum tyme and u can do it -im 17 and i did it just took a few hours and it came out great

 

I changed for my buddy's 97 I30 and it took 1 and half hour to do the front ones and less than and hour to do the rear ones. We installed KYB AGX struts and used the stock spring because my buddy didn't wanted to get better springs.

You can get spring compression tools from Harbor Freight Tools for $10 for a set of two compressors. Get two boxes (total 4 compressors) because it make job easier. Follow the instructions given in the manual comes with that box.

You will need to torque lower two bolts at 110 ft/lbs and middle upper at 80 ft/lbs and 3 upper tower bolts at 30 ft/lbs.


After driving for few days, just retorque all the top bolts one more time. I have seen on some cars that after some driving especially rear ones needs to be torqued again.

 

i would just take this to a shop to do because you're gonna need an alignment afterwards, wouldn't you?

of course, there's the firestone lifetime alignment thing... i would do it myself if i had that...

 

I need to replace my front strut mounts, my question is can I loosen the center nut (1-2 threads) on the strut while they are still on the car coz I am thinking it might not be that easy to loosen that nut after u take the strut out without holding it firmly with a vise. I probably would'nt do until summer too cold to do anything outside these days.

 

Installing suspension was the first major thing I did on my car. I was proud back then. I really was a novice too. Be careful though; that is the install that got me addicted.

 

I've done all the work myself.

 

do you need an alignment after it's in?

 

Yes. Without a doubt.

 

ya i did the suspension install w/ all the basic tools i have, plus spring compressors which if you don't have you can rent for free @ autozone. compressing the springs is probably the most time consuming part.

 

I really have no experience doing any installs (other than my sound system), nor do I have any torque wrenches or even a car jack. Seeing as how my mechanic quoted me at least $400, I'd really like to find a cheaper option and spend a bit more money on getting good springs and shocks. Do y'all know of anyone in the Rochester, NY area that could do the suspension swap?

(BTW: I'm not thinking about doing it until the summer, I'm just trying to get an idea of the availability of someone).

Thanks a lot y'all,
jh

 

I had gc's w/blues and installed them with friends, but botched up the install. Later went with Progress w/agx's and had them done at gf's uncle's shop. Took 10 mins and lunch

 

Most performance shops dont do alighment anyways.

and if they do why pay 200 for install when you can just instal lyourslef and pay 30$ for alighment?

 

I did it myself, bought the cool tools with the money I saved. Never got an alignment though. Didn't seem like it needed one. I would be prepared to use a hacksaw on the old shock/strut. I used it on the pathfinder and nearly had to use it on the maxima strut. Don't know about renting tools. If I was going to rent anything it would be some air tools.

 

I would just buy the tools you need, like a jack, a torque wrench and jackstands. They will cost you much less than the $400 you were quoted for the install, and then you will always have the tools. The install's not too hard, I did it with almost no experience, it just takes some time.

 

Can someone give me the torque numbers for: the 2 bolts that connect the strut to the steering knuckle, the 3 nuts from the top of the strut, the 1 strut nut that is removed after compressring the spring.

And the axle nut is 173 right?

 

read back in the thread.

110 ft-lbs
30 ft-lbs
80 ft-lbs