It seemed like an easy enough job. A random guy on Facebook Marketplace named Florentin seemed to be in dire straits, and came to me for a helping hand. “I was able to do front shocks, swap the torsion bars, and got stuck on the rear shocks,” he messaged me. “I took the AHC lines off but couldn’t get the rear shocks off myself…Would you have any interest to come see if you finish this for me?” I said sure. I figured it couldn’t be that hard to remove some shocks, so I decided to swing by Florentin’s place last night. Things didn’t go well.
Upon reading my story on Monday about how a random person had hit me up on Facebook to see if I could help fix his car, a lot of you seemed concerned. Reader “MiniDave” wrote that fixing a random person’s vehicle is too much of a liability concern, writing:
Send the car to a shop, the potential liability on this is huge. What if something (that you never touched) breaks/falls apart/comes off and he hits a busload of kids and nuns on their way to school?
I used to be happy to help folks with their stuff, now I only work on my own…..it’s a sad thing, but I just can’t do it anymore….too many crazies with guns and lawyers out there now.
Gulf3xplorer joked that the whole thing seemed fishy, saying:
You have considered this sounds like a trap, right?
I can see a meeting among several sinister types set in a dark smoky lounge…”we have the perfect bait! He won’t be able to resist!” Cue evil laughter all around
My mom even called me after reading the article, saying it seemed risky, and advising me not to do it. Plus I got this message from my dad:
Dave, read your article about repairing Florian’s [sic] car. I think it is a kind act, but you have to careful being overtrusting with strangers. It does sound odd
but I know you want to always help others in dire straits.
I appreciate everyone’s concern, of course. And maybe you’re all right — I am a bit too trusting, and that has bitten me hard in the arse a few times. But I’ll gladly take a few tooth-scars in the buttocks over a belief that this world is filled with untrustworthy people out to take advantage of one another. Rejecting that idea is a key part of who I am, and I hope that, as I get older and I receive new “scars,” I can remember that this way of seeing the world is worth it.
It has been for me so far, at least. Florentin, a guy I’d never met, ended up being an absolute mensch. Born and raised in Romania, a beautiful country I’d visited a few years ago, he also lived in Germany (where I grew up) and spoke solid German. We bonded over that, and we enjoyed some excellent pizza with his wife and hilarious young daughter.
We also commiserated over what has to be the most difficult shock replacement in history — even worse than the dreaded Jeep Cherokee XJ rear shock replacement, which requires hammering weld nuts out with an air chisel.
Look at this crap:
Check out rear upper shock nut above. Notice how it’s actually recessed inside a bracket. This means a regular box wrench won’t work, since it’d only be able to grab the top millimeter or so of the nut that sits above the bracket. That might make you think a socket would work; nope, that stud is too long, so the socket wouldn’t reach. What about a deep-well? Sadly, there’s just no room above the shocks to get a deep well socket in there; the socket wrench would hit the underbody/floor.
What about an offset wrench like this?
Unfortunately, the ones we bought from Harbor Freight had too big of an offset, so they didn’t fit above the shock, either. That led us to buy a pass-through socket wrench like this one:
This was, without question, the perfect tool for the job. It allowed us to reach down into the recess to grab the nut without adding a bunch of length above the shock that would hit the body/floor. Plus, it could ratchet, making the extraction much quicker in theory.
To give a bit of spacial context, the shocks on a 100 Series Land Cruiser span from brackets hanging low off the rear axle up into spring mounts that span two frame crossmembers — one ahead of the rear axle and one behind. The crossmembers sit right up against the body, so there’s really very little room between where the shocks mount and the bottom of the cargo area floor. You can see the lower mounts on the axle and the rearmost crossmember here:
AnHere’s a look at just the frame — you can see that the spring mount connects two crossmembers. Notice the nuts threaded onto the shock studs poking through:
Here’s a look from in front of the axle on the passenger’s side of the car. You can see the shock reaching up past the frame rail, where it meets the spring mount spanning the crossmembers:
Looking from underneath, just ahead of the rear axle on the right side of the car, you can see how bad access to these nuts is. Here you can see the wrench behind the driveshaft and muffler, right up against the floor of the vehicle, just above that front crossmember:
Here’s a look down the barrel of the wrench:
Here’s what the shock mount looks like from underneath:
On the plus side, we managed to get the driver’s side shock out, since access there was much better:
But no matter what we tried on the passenger’s side, that nut wouldn’t budge. Part of the problem was rust, part of the problem was that the shock body kept spinning no matter how hard we tried holding onto it via an oil filter wrench or pipe wrench (you can’t loosen a nut if the stud it’s threaded onto just spins), and part of the problem was that access was so bad it was borderline impossible to get enough force/rotation angle on that pass-through socket wrench.
Florentin and I tried grabbing the wrench from as close to the frame rail as we could, outboard of the muffler, but that meant we could only use our forearm and wrist to try to spin that ratchet. What I did was put my arm between the driveshaft and muffler, and then pull that ratchet as hard as I could. But as you can see in the image above, that’s a pretty tight gap, and it limited my range of motion to just how many degrees my elbow could swing, which wasn’t enough.
Florentin and I tried removing this rusty shock for hours. He slid a wrench through a gap in the wheel-well between the body and frame, and then slid that wrench onto the socket wrench we were using to try to remove the nut. Then he hammered the wrench, applying a force to the socket wrench, torquing the socket — but no dice. The nut wouldn’t move.
We put our arms in different orientations to get more force on the ratchet, we used a small breaker bar, we traded places between holding the shock from spinning and cranking on that rusty nut. None of it worked. I drove home defeated last night, upset at only having helped Florentin remove a single shock.
I think if we’d removed the driveshaft we’d have gained ourselves a bit more force on that ratchet, and if we’d cut the outside of that shock or drilled into it we could have better held it from spinning with a screwdriver or vice grip. I just asked Florentin to buy a big vice grip to hold the outer shock housing. This thing:
I think between that big vice grip and the removal of the rear driveshaft from the pinion flange, we’ll be able to finally extract this dastardly damper. But my god what a horrible design from Toyota.
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kind of looks like the bolt was supposed to originally be installed with the chamfer down.
Would placing the rear jack stands under the rear frame (and not the axle) allow the axle to hang just a little lower and give better access to the nut? You know, in case the owner doesn’t want to cut holes in the floor?
I would like to give Mercedes some credit. In a previous life with a previous employer on a previous site, she had some excellent articles on a variety of tools. I believe she discussed offset and/or pass-through wrenches in those articles. I learned all about interesting tools from her.
You can pull the carpet in the rear and drill through the floor. There is a measurement in Ih8mud forum. I put rubber plugs just like factory drain holes in mine. Was fast and easy. I can measure my hole location for you if you can’t find it. I lifted mine in my garage in a day.
The R. J. Maneuver would have been to destructively remove the shock absorber. To your point, saw it in half and then grip it with the pliers. That would have held it still.
Why did I not know that this “Pass-through socket set” existed? Looks like something for the Christmas list. It looks super handy for a few tough situations.
I got one for Christmas several years ago, and I can’t believe how much I’ve used it since then. Saves a ton of time, especially when you have to walk a stiff fastener through a lot of threads.
I got a set years ago. It’s not used often. When it is, nothing else will do.
Your title is pure click-bait. When I read it, I fully expected the car in question to be completely destroyed in the process. So you toiled for hours and achieved only the easier half of your goal, with a solid plan of attack for the harder half for next time? That’s almost the ideal scenario in my book.
“Disaster” is a very high bar to clear when viewed through David’s rust colored lenses.
your avatar looks exactly like a person who would call this click bait.
The title is a representation of how I felt.
This was a nightmare, not unlike my HHR situation.
(Not saying you’re wrong. I wrote it so you’d give me those sweet, sweet supple clickidy-doodahs).
After reading countless tragic David Tracy stories I had almost given up all hope.
Until you spelt ‘ass’ correctly…..”has bitten me hard in the arse a few times”.
Maybe that time in Australia wasn’t a total waste of time after all.
It finally occurs to me that even though I have 20+ years on DT, and I’ve done my own maintenance/repair on all 21 cars and trucks I’ve owned since I was 16, I have spent far, far less time than he has lying on my back in the middle of the night busting my knuckles on seized suspension parts. In fact, I think the only car that I’ve bothered fiddling with shocks, springs, control arms, sway bars, bushings, ball joints, and tie rod ends was my Cougar… and only because I thought it’d be fun to upgrade them, not because they were busted or rusty. Man, I have been spoiled by a rustfree life without snow and salt!
Don’t ever change, David… well, change ZIP codes, already… the rust is an unnecessary torture, automotive work is SO much more pleasant out west! But don’t change your kindness, generosity, openness, curiosity, and fearlessness. You’re absolutely right to think that most people are pretty decent, and at any rate it’s totally worth it to live as if they all are. Never let fear, distrust, or paranoia dictate the furniture of your landscape. Keep living as if life’s worth living and people are worth knowing, and in my experience it’ll turn out to be true.
I literally gave away a Ford Explorer rather than bothering trying to replace the rear shocks. The bolt heads were too rusted and buried too far up. I just took one look and knew it was beyond my skills. I’ve changed a transmission, hubs, brakes, bearings, camshafts, etc. but those shocks were an instant fuck no, not even gonna try.
Cut through the floor, just like when a fuel pump goes out, there’s a full tank and no handy access door. For the shocks you’re not even making sparks right over the opening to gallons of flammable liquid so that’s a plus. It would take some careful figuring to make the holes only as large as necessary. Then tack weld some sheet on top of it and urethane caulk it so it can be removed again if necessary but hopefully won’t leak.
Volvo had a handy access door on the 850. Thank you Swedes.
“I’ll gladly take a few tooth-scars in the buttocks over a belief that this world is filled with untrustworthy people out to take advantage of one another. Rejecting that idea is a key part of who I am, and I hope that, as I get older and I receive new “scars,” I can remember that this way of seeing the world is worth it.”
I just had a rough day man. Got home with a few tooth marks on my own backside from helping someone take advantage of my kindness. Was in a funk when I got home, the type of somber frustrated mood I don’t like to bring inside to share with my family.
Parked in the driveway to read some Autopian to snap out of it before going inside.
Thank you. This article did the trick.
It reminded me of my grandma who lived next door when I was growing up.
I hadn’t thought about her in too long, remembering her brought a smile to my face.
She always used to catch me as I was on the way to play with friends or ride my bike or leave my house for any reason and ask “Nicholas, have you done your good deed today?”
Shoulders slump, annoyed sigh, “No grandma”.
Next thing you know I’m digging up potatoes from her garden for two hours.
Gardening scars, wrenching scars, helping scars don’t hurt. They just teach you how to do it better. Like em or not.
Thanks DT.
Don’t let the supposed meanness of the world around you ever stop you from doing what you know in your heart is right.
Do you not have a pipe wrench for the damper body?
I’m sorry to hear that. I only had to replace the driver side shock. The customer came in because those LXs stay in the lowered position and won’t pump fluid if it senses a drop in pressure. I had to cut into the shock housing and use the 21 22 mm collared box end wrench. Wish I had a collared, flex head ratcheting double box end though. Best of luck!
And yeah, Toyota is usually pretty great about fasteners and ease of service, but there’s got to be a compromise somewhere. Like the compressor bracket bolt on the 4.7. I always forget to change the oil when replacing the timing belt so the oil filter is outta the way. IYKYK.
Hole saw on the floor.
Impact the nut off.
Pop a rubber or steel cap in it when done and you’re done in an hour.
Plus next time it’s easy.
Not having done shocks before, I’m ignorant and therefore curious about your comment Rootwyrm. What is there to be careful of? I’m not aware of anything dangerous in there…
Shocks are pressurized to prevent cavitation and compensate for the volume of the shaft.
To clarify, cavitation is when low pressure on the backside of the piston causes the fluid to boil.
Also, as the shaft enters and exits the sick body it takes up more/less volume so something needs to be compressible too compensate
As a Toyota truck owner of over 40 years, the answer is ALWAYS Vise Grips. Sometimes more than 1 pair is needed. It feels like some of their shit was designed/engineered by GM, FORD, or MOPAR folks trying to pick up a few extra bucks on the side. In 1979 I completely destroyed a fine 1971 Corolla 2 door wagon with a baseball bat and the help of a couple Qualudes. All over trying to change a frickin’ alternator, and some dumb ass sized bullshit tiny metric nut that held one of the wires to the back. Of course NONE of the 4 auto parts stores visited has the correct socket size. Sometimes Toyota can really fuck up. Been there done that. I wish you both luck. And keep the sense of trust David, it’s well worth an ass bite every now and then…
Damn! I expected better design for service from Toyota.
Is there a manual that Toyota has to show and tell techs how to do it?
Shop manuals never account for rust.
Can the entire rear subframe/axle be lowered?Would that help?
Yeah, clutching at straws here.
Fantastic job on the pictures. They were so good I felt claustrophobic. I’m ready to heave any wrench sized object across the room in your honor. Good luck!
I’ve never done the shocks on a hundo, but I feel like there is something missing here. Like a bracket that should come off or something. On my 80 I can do both shocks in about 30 minutes because the upper shock mount is a separate plate with 2 bolts. Remove the lower eye bolt, remove the 2 upper plates, and boom. off. Did you consult IH8MUD on the process? It could be that they had to change it and made it much worse.
I agree -absolutely check ih8mud first, there’s roughly 100 posts about every possible issue a land cruiser can have. And probably someone took the time to do a step by step writeup with pictures and video that puts the FSM to shame.
Source: I own a JDM 1987 HJ61, and there’s STILL plenty of content about my 1-year-only submodel of truck.
Memory lane…I forgot all about that forum but used to consult it regularly to keep my 97lx450 running. The only things I couldn’t do myself were remove a frozen and dead starter (forum helpfully suggested buying the replacement from a Toyota dealer at half the price), deal with the dreaded head gasket failure, and make the damn thing stop better (why I sold it after we had kids…emergency stops were not a thing for those trucks…if someone cuts you off, you’re hitting them).
The brakes are fine, but the booster sucks. I would love to find an aftermarket booster than can actually deliver.
How about cutting a pair of small access panels in the cargo area floor to get at it from above? No idea what the inside of these things looks like, but that’s what I’d be looking at if its at all possible. Especially if I knew I ever might have to do this job again. It’s a common modification for 5th gen camaros to get at the fuel pump.
My first thought as well.
If at all possible it’s a decent workaround
This is the correct answer. Access to the top of the rear shocks on the 100 series is a known PITA. A hole saw from the cargo area will let you get an impact on this. Just take up the carpet first.
Alternatively, try and chain wrench on the body of the shock, or cut away the outer housing so you can get to the rod and stop it from spinning.
My thought as well Sir. Some careful measuring, remove whatever interior pieces are in the way, and have at it with a metal cutting hole saw.
It was a common fix for the 1970s GM H body cars (Monza, Skyhawk, Sunfire, Starfire) with the V8 – it was impossible to remove the spark plugs without lifting the engine, so the answer was to cut an opening in the inner fender and then cover it up with a piece of heavy rubber. It probably didn’t help the rust situation but back then cars rusted out in 5 years anyway.
Instances like this are why technicians sometimes hate engineers. Best of luck.
As an engineer, this isn’t our fault. We’d love to make it so that everything is accessible; hell, many of us are car guys that have felt this pain. This is on the designers and the bean counters, they give us an area to work in, or hard points that we can’t deviate from and then the design has to fit in that space. Been addressed multiple times on this site from various writers.
You are correct. I was painting with too broad of a brush, and you have my apologies. I should have said that this is why technicians sometimes hate those back upstream. I say this as a technician that spent an awful lot of years figuring out how to work around, through or in spite of someone else’s decision.
In this particular instance, it looks like an access of some type could have been added to the floor pan to address future maintenance.
Don’t blame designers for your mechanical BS.
In this case, I’d blame the bean counters. That needs an access port to get in and out. An access port will cost money and time on the assembly line, therefore is unacceptable
However, designers have plenty of blame for all sorts of stuff. As I said earlier, its been documented in many stories from DT and other engineers on here when they’ve been hamstrung from design decisions.
You need to use Teddy the Torch (oxy acetylene) for jobs like this, trying to undo rust belt corroded fasteners with hand tools is as futile as the monkey trying to fxxk a football.
And not near as entertaining
Sadly, there are too many plastic/rubber lines near that shock mount. The Torch was out of the question.
If the shock’s already lost the fluid, Sawzall through the body and rod (CAREFULLY) at the accumulator area, then section body till you get the rod. The rod’s almost certainly spinning internally so gripping the body won’t help. And, well, you see on the other one where the only place you can grab externally is.
My first thought was somewhat similar: drill sideways through the shock body and rod, then the rod won’t be spinning anymore
Yup, drill through it and jam a screwdriver through the hole to stop it from spinning internally.
Then use the vice grips to open a celebratory beer.
Your second photo in the article clearly outlined where you went wrong: you simply have to remove the entire body from the frame.
I understand, asking Torch to drive from NC to help with a shock is excessive.
Plus Jason is in Sweden now anyway. Even further.