Now I feel used and abused by California markups.:(

As far as I'm concerned, 85 dollars an hour for shop labor is nuts as well. MD motors who I usually trust for my automotive servicing until this strut incident charges 59.99 an hour, which is more reasonable, but still quite a bit.

(I like to live economically.)

The Lexus dealership here in socal I used to work for charged $85/hour 3 years ago. I think they are up to at least $100 an hour now. It took me 4 hours to install my coilovers by myself. Never again will I attempt to do that. :banghead:

mine took 3 hours for all four corners with a breaker bar, torque wrench, rachet and sockets. No spring compressor for me. no help. stopped to have dinner. It was loads of fun.
Took the calipers off...Makes it a whole lot easier. The hardest part was moving the washer fluid tank so i could get the long bolt out that held on the upper control arm. A pretty invaluable trick is to put that bolt in from the otherside so if ever you have to do anymore work, you dont have to move the tank again.

Finally a resolution
 

MD motors wont budge an inch on the cost of $425 to install the 4 struts. My mom realizes her boyfriend has a gfarage with a hydraulic lift in it. So him (he's VERy good with cars or anything mechanical) his son (also good) my friend chris (also good) and myself (ok) are going to take next saturday morning to install together and thus save me an assload of money.

So, just a few questions, anything I need to know while im doing this? To access the rear strut mounts I need to remove the rearward mouled carpeting in the trunk, do I have to remove some of the trunk mouldings on the sides to get off the back piece?

Any other thoughts before I do this?

best thing to do would be to go to mkiv.com and find the page out of the supra manual regarding pulling and replacing the struts. It has all the torque specs and blow by blow directions. You dont really need a spring compressor. When you put the new springs on, just press down on the upper perch while you get the nut on. Get that nut on just enough to hold it, install the strut and then tighten it. DO NOT take the nut in the middle off before they are off the car. Just loosen it. Be careful when you pull it off of the strut after you have it off the car, the shock will go flying. aside from that, dont be afraid to get dirty and have fun.

I installed my espelir springs on my SC400 yesterday (which is the same as replacing struts) and I started @ 12:00 and finished @ 5:00. The front took about 3.5 hours and the back took about 1.5 hours. I have a super gas drag car and am a very good mechanic but the fronts are a *****, I had too remove the upper control arm to get the strut out. hope this helps

I noticed that E-Bay has a complete set of Tokico struts and shocks for the SC400. After mentioning this to a Lexus mechanic, he mentioned that the kit doesn't come with the necessary "bushings". Without the bushings, the car will sit uneven. He wants to sell me a used OEM set complete with springs and bushings for $400. I'm about to replace my front lower control arms, shocks and struts all in one day but haven't looked into the details yet. Can anybody who's replaced their shocks and struts verify this "bushing" business or his he just blowing smoke?

Regards,
David
REALRIDE.COM RACING
http://www.RealRide.com

bushings for the struts ?? I don't know what he is talking about, there are MANY bushings in that area but I don't know that any are associated with the struts or springs. Of course I haven't changed mine yet so I could be wrong.

Perhaps he means something else- If you have a lot of miles on your car, our bushings are known to wear out and cause camber probs. Dropping your car will exacerbate this issue.

It's funny, I've owned my car for over 10 years (since new) and I don't think I've been underneath it in the past 2 years! Such is the quality of these fine cars.
One of the mechanics in my race team is going to replace the shocks and control arms in a couple of weeks and we'll align it on our setup pad. For those who have replaced the control arms with Supra ones, what year Supra arms do I order? Does anybody have part #'s?
In regards to the shocks, I haven't even looked at the shocksl ately but I don't recall ever seeing any bushings directly related to the shock/strut mounts as well, That;s why I posted the inquiry unless there;s something I missed. Oh well, I'll post an update once it;s all done.

Hey there,

My new shocks/springs arrive next week and I would like to do the work myself.

It sounds like maybe one of you may have detailed instructions for doing the suspension on the SC400 with exploded diagrams, by chance?

Plus, if anyone has done this work before and may have some comments or cautions I may face (with suggested workarounds), I would appreciate it?

I am not replacing my bushing, is this going to come back and haunt me?

Thanks in advance for helping me out

Anyone can do this in an afternoon using common tools.
 

Silverback,
It's really not as difficult as it may seem. The rears are easy. You'll need to remove the trunk lining that covers the gas tank, it pulls right out. You'll now be able to access the upper mounts. On the bottom there is one big bolt in each shock end. Remove it. Muster up some strength and press down on the top of the brake disc. As you do this, tip the top of the spring/shock assembly out to remove it.
The fronts are a bit more difficult. The upper mounts are accessed under the hood. Again you have a single large bolt at the bottom end of each shock. The front assemblies run through the upper control arms. Therefore, you'll need to remove the long bolts that attach the upper arms to the subframe. Loosen the small clamps on the upper arm that secure the ABS sensor wire, and move it out of the way Remove the plastic linings at the front of the wheelwell that bend under the front bumper. On the driver's side, you'll need to loosen a couple of the bolts on the windshield washer reservoir. This will allow you to slide the upper arm bolts out. Swing the upper arms out of the way, and tip the hub upright assembly to remove the shocks.
Now you have all four complete assemblies off the car. Shops such as Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, Kragen, etc. have simple spring compressors which will accomplish the next task. If you want, you can buy a set. Otherwise, these shops usually lend them out. They are essentially two giant screw-type clamps. First, loosen the top nut just slightly. Now place the clamps on either side of the spring and begin tightening to compress the spring. Go back and forth between each clamp as you tighten to ensure that it is compressing evenly. Once you begin to see a gap between the top of the spring and the upper mount (no tension left on the mount), you can stop tightening and remove the nut and disassemble. Once you've done that for all four, you simply reverse the process using your new springs and shocks using the old hardware (with the exception of the nut at the top of the shock shaft, your new shocks will come with those.)
As far as bushings go, there are two bushings on the front assemblies and one on the rears. The first on the fronts is at the bottom where it mounts to the lower control arm. Your new shocks have a fresh bushing installed already. The comparable bushing in the rear, is located in the lower control arm, but shouldn't be worn enough to necessitate replacement. The remaining bushings are the ones that install between the top of the spring and upper mount and have the integrated accordian shock boot. These will have grooves pressed into them by the old springs. As long as you line up your new springs with these grooves, you'll be fine. That bushing will also settle into the new spring after the car's been driven awhile.

Your timing could not be more perfect, as I plan to do this job (as well as others) over the weekend and possibly into the next week depending on the wife.

· Full Shock and Struts
· Transmission gasket and fluids
· Brake system flush
· Oil Change while I’m down there

I appreciate you taking the time to help a relatively new CL member

This site has been an amazing source of information and pass time at work

Cheers Silverback

Going to order the KYB GR-2 shocks/struts from tirerack.com, not sure if these come with the rubber strut boots, definitely need them the old ones are falling apart.

Where is the best place to buy the control arm bushings? Might as well replace them as well.

Anything else I should be looking at replacing since I will have off the road for a couple of days?