strut
#11
09-03-2012 | 10:08 PM
There are some things that you'd be doing twice, but you could break the whole project down into those segments. The lower control arm removal and bushing replacement is (in my opinion) the hardest part. If the bolts are so seized that you can't break them free, you'll need to cut them out (see my thread on doing that), or burn them out (this is a messy proposition and you could light the truck on fire if you aren't careful). When the control arm is removed, you'll need a press to remove the old and install the new bushings, then it's a fairly easy process to reinstall the control arms. If your leveling kit is the type that bolts onto the top of the strut, you can go ahead and install this and put everything back together, but if you have the type that needs to fit inside the strut, then you're doing over 90% of the strut replacement work without replacing the strut, and ALL this labor will need to be paid for again if you're having a mechanic do it.
Once the lower control arm is repaired and re-installed, all the nuts & bolts will be easy for you to work with, so you could do some of the work yourself later if you feel up to it.
When you change the bushings, don't forget that you'll need to re-align the truck, so ensure that's in your budget.
Before you or your mechanic throw away the cut lower control arm bolts, remember to keep the special nuts that go onto those bolts - the dealerships here were unable to get those nuts for me & I had to re-use the old ones (this is all explained with pictures in my thread).
Once the lower control arm is repaired and re-installed, all the nuts & bolts will be easy for you to work with, so you could do some of the work yourself later if you feel up to it.
When you change the bushings, don't forget that you'll need to re-align the truck, so ensure that's in your budget.
Before you or your mechanic throw away the cut lower control arm bolts, remember to keep the special nuts that go onto those bolts - the dealerships here were unable to get those nuts for me & I had to re-use the old ones (this is all explained with pictures in my thread).
breaking things down in to segments is what i was thinking, if i can get the shop to do all the hard labor parts of that bushing problem, they will have already broken everything free, and done essentially everything for me to just buy the quick struts and put them in, and ill save all the markup on them, which would save me lots of money and the alignment is $70 even if i have them do that twice im still at cheaper than them doing all of it
#12
09-04-2012 | 07:02 AM
Record Breaker
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 1,013
Likes: 2
From: Ontario, Canada
breaking things down in to segments is what i was thinking, if i can get the shop to do all the hard labor parts of that bushing problem, they will have already broken everything free, and done essentially everything for me to just buy the quick struts and put them in, and ill save all the markup on them, which would save me lots of money and the alignment is $70 even if i have them do that twice im still at cheaper than them doing all of it