Unfortunately this was far too involved for me to do a full DIY but I am happy to answer anyones questions in this thread. My car has 130k miles and even after the A-arm bushing swap I was unable to lose an annoying front-end vibration. Props again to JT aka HTownBlue for his input.

Part used:
- Monroe Sensetrack stuts, mounts, bearings and bellows
- Raybestos rotors and akebono pads
- Empire Axles

This job took 8 hours. We started in my friend's garage at 7pm Fri night and finished about 2pm on Sat.

Here are some high level points to consider:

- changing the axles completely solved my front end vibration
- LOVE the Monroe struts, smooth as can be...my rear struts were shot
- Love the akebono pads too. Quiet and low dust
- Axles were the biggest challenge. You need to hammer on the passenger side or use a wedge to free the carrier bearing from mount.
- Impact gun can be really helpful doing everything I did
- unbolting ball joint and swinging hub out of the way will help give room for the fronts (see pics)
- I took old strut assembly to a mechanic to swap out new struts. Be careful if you do yourself as this is really dangerous.

The order I did everything was basically this...

- remove wheels/tires
- remove rotors and hang calipers with zip ties
- remove strut/spring assembly
- remove driver axle
- remove passenger axle

This was late friday night. Saturday morning I went to a local shop and had them swap out the old struts for new struts in the assembly - much safer (see below) and only cost me $20/corner






rear pass side everything removed



rear drivers side everything removed


front drivers side everything removed


front pass side everything out


old strut on cage


new strut


Mechanic Carl needing a break in the morning for ice cream lol


old parts and new


again


mounting kit


mounting kit


new struts in


installed


assembled

 

How do you find the ride with the Monroe compared to OEM shocks....

 

Softer. With that said we bought the car with 70k miles so not really new oem shock comparison. I will say the rears were DONE

 

Damn! Big job, thanks for the write up!

 

Wow, that's a lot of work, congrats!

 

Great job.........why not paint the calipers and rotors while at it??

 

Great question as I had the paint and enamel ready and just did this on my GS:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...tors-pics.html

But I was under a tight deadline to finish by 3pm on Sat so I did not have time for it. I can do this anytime soI'll save it for another weekend.

 

Alchemist, Glad to hear it all worked out. You should be riding smooth for quite a while.

 

Alchemist,

Need your personal opinion on the new struts. How do you like ride of the Monroe struts?.
How are they holding up?. How many miles have you put on them?.

In terms of quality I tend to go with KYB struts but I have read many reviews that the ride is stiffer.
I have read many great reviews regarding Monroe's struts in terms of comfort. Reviewers are saying the ride is smooth, which is what I want, but I am concerned about the quality. I have read reviews indicating the quality is crappy.

 

I have had no problems whatsoever. They are soft and comfortable. My wife wanted a better ride/smoother overall. Kyb is a good brand but like you i was told they are stiff.

 

Great writeup ...will post it into the DIY nomination thread!

 

Alchemist,
Thanks for the write-up and pics. I have a couple questions: You installed new axles, but this thread looks like it's all about the struts. Do you have pictures of the axle replacement procedure? Also- did you replace the axle bearings? My wife's RX has a weird vibration in the front that only happens when turning left. Most obvious at 40mph. It feels to me like a bearing growling. Searching this forum is yielding bad axles and struts/brakes and steering racks, but this feels more like a bearing to me. No leaks on the CV boots. I plan on replacing the axles, but I don't see any reference to the axle bearings.
Car is a 2004 AWD.
Any help is appreciated!
Chris

 

axle replacement is ok. It does require banging out the old one from the carrier bearing. This took the longest time or felt like it a 11pm. I did not do bearings mine were in good shape but will be easy to do with everything else out. bearings generally go out quicker on AWD...so the growling are probably those.

 

Alchemist, how are the CV axle shafts holding up? These were the Empi ones and not the Empire ones, correct? I'll see if my vibration is still there but the CV shafts are my last resort. Just completed the front wheel bearings, ball joints and lower control arms.

Any further insight on the carrier bearing on the passenger side? I see a retainer clip there and a bolt. Is there more to the removal process?

Thanks!@

 

Holding up just fine. I used the Empire brand. Just get a hammer and bang it out! Spray the crap out of it with deep creep, or some other kind of lubricant.