jwigley

Pretty sure I have a blown strut and my suspension has never been replaced. I'm currently at 155,000 miles.

Can you guys help me with what I need to do the job myself?

I have a friend that has tools and has experience as a mechanic. I guess I'm looking for advice on parts and instructions.

Someone told me that they did the suspension on their RX330 a few months ago and went to rockauto.com for the parts.

Do I just need to get struts and the compression tool or is there more to get? On a side note, the sway bar end links were replaced in early 2016.

salimshah

Just make sure the struts are bad before replacing them. Aftermarket do not match the OEM and OEM are pretty expensive. So tread carefully.

Other than shocks, the suspension has rubber bushings and they need to examined that they are not torn or ripped. Again aftermarket stuff is not as great as OEM.

Nuts and bolts are under lot more torque and without a lift one tends to slide on the floor. You would need 100-200 lb-Ft torque wrench.

On assembly, most of the time, you have to have the vehicle off the jacks and bounce it a few times to get to normal position. Novice make the mistake of torquing things down and when they take the jacks off, the suspension bushings get under stress.

Be careful with the spring compressor. They pack lock of energy when you compress them.

Salim

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

You'll need to replace the strut mounts, also.

JAB

Do not use aftermarket mounts - especially KYB. Stick with OEM.

jwigley

I'm assuming that my front passenger side strut is bad. I had a thread on this site previously and I discussed how I had taken my RX in to a Lexus dealership because of a loud clunking noise. They then determined (or claimed) that I had a bad strut mount. I've also been told that the sound may be from the strut going bad. The thing is that my ride is very bad now- very bumpy and not smooth. It sounds like the ground is uppercutting my front end. Going over certain bumps sounds gives a loud "WHACK" noise and gives the impression that there is nothing holding the front end up.

If it is only the strut mount then I would still choose to replace the strut since I have to take all that crap apart anyway and because I'm at 150,000 miles now.


So on my list I'm getting:

struts
strut mounts
spring compressor

I need to find the part number for the bushings. Little help?


I was looking at these struts from rock auto .com: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo....373879&jsn=330

Do you guys think I really should do OEM on the struts? I'm guessing I'll be keeping this car going for another 2 years at this point.

lexina

I would recommend to buy the whole complete ready to mount struts, and all you have to do is removing the old ones and put in the new ones. There is no need to buy parts separately on your list if they have such complete ready to install set.

salimshah

Loan the spring compressor.

Have a suspension shop do the examination as to which bushing is bad. There is skill, access, leverage and mechanism to stress/release-stress to find problems. Hearing clunking noise is sign of some rubber padding/bushing gone bad. Most likely the bushings cant be replaced.

Salim

jwigley

What does this mean? I still have to compress the spring and replace the strut mount separately don't I?

In regard to the bushings, Salimshah said that they might not be replaceable. Does your suggestion of a complete unit automatically replace the bushings?

Sorry, I'm not a mechanic, I'm just doing the preliminary task of finding out what I need and then I'm relying on my buddies with mechanic experience (and tools).

lexina

It is a complete ready to install, like i said. it comes with springs, top hat, top bushings. you don't need compressor, nor top hat bushings. i think all you need is just floor jack, and socket set. unbolt a few nuts, take the old complete strut out, put the new complete strut in. I have done it on my camry, and i would do the same for RX.

salimshah

First determine what needs to be replaced. Dont rush and replace the items that are already good. See my firs reply that most of the replacement will be substandard (new but in a very short time, you will see a down-grade).
Suspension is more than springs and shock. There are links with rubber/poly-bushings. Clunk is when you have metal to metal contact without the insulation in between. Once the insulation is gone or worn-out. there is usually a play between the members and that its what a suspension shop can determine and even show it to you. Once you know which bushing is worn out, you may find that the bushing replacement is not available. If they are available the cost of having the bush removed and installed (at times need a press) is more than the aftermarket member price.

My best advice is to slow down and pay some one to diagnose the problem. Then decide if you can tackle it yourself. Keep in mind once you are done, you would need alignment, so cant do a half finished job. Lot of suspension places do the inspection for free. You can pay them for their time.

Salim

jwigley

Thanks for the input.

Just so that it's known, the Lexus dealership already diagnosed that my front passenger strut mount is bad and that it is the component that is making the noise. If I am to replace that part then I should replace the strut according to them since they'll already have it dismantled and also because I'm at 150K miles. If I am to do that then I need to replace the strut on the front driver side as well. Therefore they said it makes sense to replace the front suspension at that point due to the age of the components and according to the Lexus manual.

I also took it in to a Big O once after that to ask about replacing the bad strut mount, after they did an "inspection" they said that I should do a complete suspension overhaul.

Are you saying that I should take it in again? I feel that I will continue getting the same advice which is to replace the "suspension".

I was quote at Big O a while ago for $1200 for the front and back and I am pretty sure I can get it done with help for less.

thomas1

I have replaced the struts and mounts on two RX's, the RX300 and the RX400h. In both cases I used KYG Struts, but from my last replacement, the KYB mounts are not great. Just replaced the right side with OE Toyota mount, and will do left when I feel like it. The KYB literally lasted a week and made the obnoxious nocking and rattle noises. As for the KYB GR2 struts, they are fine.....

trhs75

I like Lexina's idea -- I've compressed springs on another car before, and I was extremely worried that the compressors would let go and the spring would shoot across the garage or through my face! I haven't seen any strut assemblies for the RX300, but someone here may know of a source.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

On a car with 150,000 miles, I wouldn't just replace one strut - that will give some really weird (and perhaps unsafe) left/right handling characteristics. You can even make the case that at this mileage, you should replace all 4 as the front/rear balance will be all out of whack with just 2 new. Of course, on our cars approaching 18 years old, its hard to justify spending $1200 for new struts.

salimshah

If you know the parts that need replacement then it is a matter of purchasing the parts and installing them.
Removing and installing the parts needs some skill. Keep in mind there is a question of skill. If you look through my posts, a few years ago, I refused to work on tensioned springs [I had witnessed how the spring got free and I valued my digits]. After gaining experience and courage, I did work on the struts but had a chain that I kept adjusting to keep the spring in check]. I dont want to discourage you, but just take good precautions. If the shocks are still good, I would just replace the broken part [it is your labor and not the shops]. If the diagnosis was bad shocks then go ahead and replace them in pairs.

Salim