canatto

I did the strut replacement to my 2006 GS300 AWD and would like to share a little finding that made the process a bit more enjoyable.

Front struts in AWD are different from those in RWD. In an AWD the front struts sit on top of a C-shaped bracket that serves two purposed, 1) a structural member between the lower control arm and the strut, and 2) stay out of the way of the CV axle, while in a RWD the struts get mounted straight to the lower control arm, as there is not a CV axle to stay away from.

I found separating the C-bracket and the strut on-vehicle greatly helped the job. I have not seen an AWD strut job on the internet done that way, although I may have not searched hard enough.

The strut and the C-bracket are joined together with a 19mm hex head bolt (sorry not shown in the pictures, but you'd never miss it when you are at it). At the bottom end of the C-bracket there is a built-in mounting pin that goes into a bushing in the lower control arm and the pin is then held in place by a 22mm hex nut. (By the way it shocked me when I took out the C-bracket and saw the spotless, new as day one mounting pin after it has experienced 14 Canadian salty winters.)

In order to take out and put back in the strut we would need to disconnect upper ball joint and the outer tie rod end from the steering knuckle. But prior to doing that, we would want to crack loose the above mentioned 19mm bolt and the 22mm nut, when the rigidity of the suspension hasn’t been compromised by disconnecting the ball joint and the tie rod end.

There is not enough room for a socket and a breaker bar to get at the 19mm bolt. That can be fixed with a 19mm combo wrench and a second wrench working as a cheater bar if longer leverage is needed.

After removing the 19mm bolt, disconnecting the upper ball joint and the outer tie rod end, it’s very easy to separate the strut and the C-bracket then take them out one at a time.

One of the pictures shows I disconnected the sway bar link from the lower control arm as well. I later realized that was not necessary




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Victormax

Thank you for your tips! I am in need of help! My car is 2007 Lexus Is250 AWD. I am changing all 4 struts on the car right now. I am running into a problem right now which I have not been able to REMOVE the C Bracket out from the front Drive side.

I removed the Outer Tie Rod end and Upper Ball Jont already. Plus I removed 3 nuts of the struts and the nut joining the C bracket with the strut.

​​​​​​I used all kind of hammers to knock on the pin of the C bracket hoping it will come out! But no luck for couple hours!
I am at the point of no turning back now... need to replace this strut. This is also the first one I try to replace it.

Would you help me by telling how you were able to remove the C bracket out?

Thank you so much

Victor
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canatto

p.s. .......Oops, I spoke too quickly and did not realize you were trying to take out the C-bracket from the loser control arm.... by bad. I did not have any problems removing it after taking out the nut and a lock washer that secure it, just a gentle tap with a plastic hammer was all it took. In fact I was shocked by the appearance of the part of the pin that sit inside the bushing that looked brand new.

Nonetheless separating the C-bracket and the strut seems to be a must before you could remove the strut. In fact in a worst case scenario where the C-bracket is to stubborn to remove, I think you can still have a chance to remove the strut as long as you could pivot the C-bracket out of the way.

p.s. ...It seems in your case the C-bracket pin got rusted on inside the bushing. I'd try re-attache the strut to the car , without tightening the three nuts all the way, but just a few turns. Then extend the suspension by pushing downwards the lower control arm trying to separate the strut from the C-bracket. I'm hoping the loosely attached strut will allow you to swing it out of the way when you have release the lower control arm. If that is successful, you could try hammering the C-bracket trying to make it pivot around its pin instead of hammering on the pin itself.