hafilax

I need to replace a front and a rear (so I am going to do all four corners). Question is how long should it take a mechanic to replace per corner?

How hard/easy is it to do if you are a beginner backyard mechanic? I would assume you need a spring compressor, which I don't have.

Any ideas would help.
Thanks,
S

coldy13

Rears are EASY, don't need a spring compressor. Fronts are a little harder, but you should be able to rent a spring compressor from a parts store. If you take it to a shop it should take about an hour or two.

hafilax

Is that per corner/side or for both fronts?

coldy13

I'd say less than 2 hours for all 4, 20-30mins per corner should be no problem if they know what they're doing. Took me about 3 hours in my driveway to change all 4 springs, struts, sway bar, and the rear end.

JKM

Yeah, it should take a shop no time to do the rears, maybe an hour or two for the fronts, they're a little harder.

As far as doing it yourself, it's not hard IF you have the right tools. By right tools, I mean air tools. When I did the suspension on my car earlier this year, I was quoted a few hundred bucks labor for installation from a shop, and instead I used the money to buy tools.

You need:

Spring compressor, cheapies will do the job, or you can lend/lease them from parts stores
Air compressor, impact wrench, and air ratchet. I think on this job, the impact wrench is absolutely essential in breaking those old bolts loose, especially if they've never been touched in 20 years.

With the proper tools, the actually work is straight forward. In the rear, if you are only doing the struts just jack up the car, place on jackstands, remove old struts, put new ones in. Seriously, this can be done in 5 minutes. If you are doing springs too, you have to drop the axle (not as difficult as you may think) and simply pull the springs out, and then put the new ones in, double check to make sure they are seated, then put the axle back on.

The fronts are more difficult, but still not THAT hard. Jack the car up in the front, put it on jackstands, remove the wheels and wheel hub, and the metal backing plate for the hub. Undo the bolts holding the strut assembly in the car, pull the whole thing out. I had to use the spring compressor on one side of mine to get the assembly to clear the wheel well.

On the strut assembly, you have to use your spring compressors to compress the springs, and loosen the large nut on the top. There is a special tool to help with this (I forget what it's called.) You're supposed to put the assembly in a vise, use the tool to keep the strut from spinning around, and then take the nut off with the impact wrench or breaker bar. I didn't have a vise handy, or the tool, so I made do with what I had. With the nut off, you can decompress the spring and take it out now. The strut cartridge pulls right out, but you will probably need to tap the assembly with a mallet a few times to get it loose. Installation of everything is the opposite of course, but remember to use a torque wrench to torque everything down properly. If you install aftermarket springs, you may not need to compress them, but I would anyway.

Some people will simply take the old strut assemblies and the new struts/springs into a shop and have them do it, shouldn't cost more than 30 bucks and you don't have to worry about possibly ruining the warranty on the new struts because you didn't use the proper tools during installation.

With everything assembled, enjoy your car a few days to allow the suspension to settle, then get it aligned. It took me two days, a total of about 6 labor hours to do everything, and I had no clue what I was doing. If doing it again, I could probably do it in 2 or 3.

*tips*
Since you are removing the brake calipers anyway, if you need brake pads go ahead and do them now. Even if you don't need brakes, it's a good time to lube those slider pins, do you know the last time someone lubed them?

The Victoria British (now Black Dragon) catalog has the single best suspension diagram out there. Better than the FSM, or the Haynes manual.

Bring a couple of cans of PB Blaster

Get some replacement shock boots for the front, chances are you need em. Generics work fine, but auto parts stores (at least around here) do not keep them in stock, they have to be ordered.

Dan_s_young

iTrader: (1)

Now let me start with saying this is not a very smart idea, but it can be done. When you have the front of the vehicle in the air (front suspension not compressed), and new springs in hand. But there is no spring compressor in sight, once again AT YOUR OWN RISK, you could cut the spring right in the middle with a angle grinder.

Im a service technician so yes I know this is not the way to do it properly. But sometimes you need to cut corners when the proper tools aren't handy.

The other suggestion I can give for suspension is to have a large pipe wrench to get the retainer nuts off the top of the front strut housings. And remember to put some oil in with the new strut in order to cool your new struts and increase their lifespan.

I forgot to mention the rears are extremely easy and if you know what you are doing they can be done in about 30-45 minutes for the whole rear. (struts and springs)

Viich

iTrader: (1)

I'm not a service tech, and have learned by doing. Rear suspension on the 1st gen is EASY to work on, other than trying to break loose siezed bolts. I've got air, but I've just used an electric impact for everything and it's done fine (the electric impact gun came free with my impact sockets at canadian tire!)

Whoops. Nevermind. Practicing thread necromancy again.

legokcen

iTrader: (8)

I've got a DIY somewhere here.....

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/suspension-diy-1st-gen-front-suspension-w-lots-pics-555693/

If you have any questions at all, let me know. I'll be glad to help.

74RX4

iTrader: (10)

Nice write up, but the thread is 4 years old.

Kentetsu

You don't need to go through all of that for the front strut replacement.

1. Remove the wheels.
2. Unbolt the swaybar end links.
3. Unbolt the other bar from the control arm (forget the name). It goes from the arm to the front of the car.
4. Unbolt the strut at the top, under the hood.
5. Pull then entire assembly downward until you can pull the top of the strut out of the wheel well.
6. Using borrowed (from autoparts store) spring compressor, remove spring and large bolt at the top of the strut.

No need to remove the hub, brakes, or anything else. You don't even need to remove the strut housing from the car. This also avoids having to loosen a lot of the bolts that would be rusted on and a bear to deal with, seeing as you live in Toronto.







.

Viich

iTrader: (1)

So's the write up. I think he put the link up for me, as I accidentally raised the thread from the dead.