Yeah, I like the sporty, plus the OEM parts are out of my price range.
Have fun on the van.

 

Well a lot has happened since I last posted here.
I re&re’d the entire rear strut assembly’s which now rides great and that’s when I found the bearing carrier/ control arm bushings were worn out and making noises after a full tear down to press in new bushings it rides smoothly with no issues. While I was removing the bearing assemblies I replaced the old ones. The old ones had 180k mi and showed some wear but it’s just as well doing all at the same time.
I can say the Sachs match the cars ride characteristics and feel pretty planted. The handling is greatly improved over the rolly polly mall rat it showed up as

 

Glad to see another person enjoying Sachs on their ride! I'm still loving mine a year later

 

Finally got around to change the struts today.
I bought OEM Toyota parts.
Took me all day, compressing springs takes the longest. The challenge with the front ones is that the coils are different diameter and my compression tools don’t clear the larger diameter coils. I ended up using 2 pairs of compression tools on both front springs.
The rear ones looked ok, functional , just torn bellows,






but I decided to change them since they might be not far behind. I did an experiment - old rear strut next to new OEM, pushed the strut stems all the way in and waited to see what the time difference would be to fully come out. Old strut was 4-5 seconds slower.

 

Rear ones was 3 times easier than the fronts, you don’t have to compress them much.

Changed the suspension links too.

Small cracks in control arm bushing, but it’s not a pressing issue, rides well!

 

Great work. Were the new OEM struts still made by Tokico, or where they from a different MFR?

 

KYB, I think

 

FWIW;
The rear struts sets, I ordered the separate insulators and boots to get them in timely fashion. So even though the two piece style aftermarket insulators were top notch the boots were a fail. I sent them back and ordered the single piece units. Much better fit and long term reliability.

 

I had similar experience with an LS400 I had and knew that I should just get a one piece OEM insulators for front and one piece mounts for rear ( since the bellows are integrated into strut mount).
My right front strut was completely shot, all oily. I thought the rear ones were ok, but today I pressed the stem of the old rear strut in and it never retracted. So I had one rear and one front in semi-working condition.
What a difference all new OEM ones made! I just went for a short test drive yesterday and could appreciate the nice soft ride today when I got it on the highway.