Shock Replacement
Submitted by dandunham
1. First jack the SUV up at the proper jack point and make sure you use jack stands in case the Jack fails. Remove the wheel and take a look at the condition of the bolts holding on the shock. if badly rusted, you might need some loosening oil...I did not for this shock replacement.
2. This is the old shock (top picture). I have shown a close-up of both the upper (middle picture) and lower (bottom picture) mount. To remove the old shock, I used a 14 mm socket on the top mount and an 18 mm socket on the lower mount.
3. When installing the new shock start by placing the shock in the top mount and when you get that in place then you can cut the retaining strap on the shock. If you don't do this you run the risk of having the shock expand. If the shock expands and you miss the upper mount it is a real pain getting it to compress back down so you can fit it in the top mount. As you can see in the picture I made my own retaining strap to keep the shock from expanding. These were some shocks I had from a few years ago that I took out but decided to put them back in.
4. After letting the shock expand in to the bottom mount you can tighten all the bolts and you are good to go.
5. As you can see the rear shocks are very easy to get to. I don't have the spare tire under the rear deck so I did not need to get that out of the way first. I would imagine if it was under the rear deck you would want to remove the spare first.
6. The only word of caution for the rear shocks is that The first time I replaced them I twisted the lower mounting bolt right off. Just be careful with that and you will be fine.
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