Here are some quick notes that may be helpful to anyone replacing front strut shocks.
2005 Envoy SLT, 4.2L I6 4WD. Vehicle is 10 years old at the time of this writing. The shocks are the factory originals, never replaced. The strut assembly does not appear severely rusted.
I purchased Bilstein 24-103336 4600 series shock absorbers. They are yellow. I did not want my underwear showing, so I painted them black. I used John Deere medium gloss black a good quality acrylic paint. The paint does not adhere well to the Bilstein paint or plastic boot, but might stay on long enough for everything to dirty up before it peels off. Plastic paint may be a better choice.
Remove the strut module assembly in one piece by unscrewing the two upper strut nuts and one lower yoke nut. Use a puller to get the yoke off. I used an OTC 7503 which works great. Remove the assembly with a slight twist on the yoke to clear the stabilizer link. A pipe wrench can aid in twisting the yoke. You do not have to remove the stabilizer link. I made the mistake of trying to remove the link and added a couple of hours to my task. The stabilizer link stud will easily rotate when loosened and become jammed in the old exposed rusty threads. It needs to be held stationary with a 7mm Allen wrench. 7mm Allen wrenches are uncommon to most Allen wrench sets. Luckily AutoZone sells a 3/8 socket bit which I had to bicycle over to get.
Do both struts at the same time. Doing the second is easy when you have the correct tools and procedure in hand.
Lay out a piece of carpet to protect the spring paint while working on the assembly.
Remove the pinch bolt holding the yoke to the strut. Removing the bolt from the yoke was no easy task. It was fused in the yoke and required an arbor press to get out. You may be able to pound it out with a heavy punch and hammer. However, not something I would want to do.
To remove the shock from the yoke, spread the yoke with something like a cold chisel. Once loosened, removal is still problematic because the rusty projection beyond the yoke prevents the shock from slipping out. I used an arbor press to press out the shock from the yoke. You might be able to pound it out with a heavy hammer. You will need a large punch tool like a 1 3/8 socket, and some way to hold the yoke. The assembly is very awkward to handle and holding it while striking with a hammer is even more problematic. I would not underestimate this task. Remember, protect the paint on the spring.
The yoke bore was severely corroded and required some cleanup and descaling. I used the side of a file shank, and a round file to clean off the scale.
Compress the spring. I used a loaner tool from AutoZone, OEM 27036 spring compressor. It worked good and without issue. Compress the longest part of the spring possible.
Remove the shock nut. The old rusty threads will not allow the nut to come off without some serious counter torque. An Allen wrench in the shank end will not suffice. You might get a vise grip on the shock shank, but the shank is hardened so don't expect great holding power, and you will ruin the boot. Not all new shocks come with boots. Removing this nut is going to be a major PITA. I used a cutting torch to remove the nut. Don't ruin the washer, it will be needed later.
Assembly is straight forward. The bumper goes on the shock with constricted end near tip of shock shank.
It took me about 8 hours to replace two front shocks (not including my bicycle trip). I have never replaced strut shocks before, so there is a lot of looking and thinking in that time.
Looking back on the job, I would not want to do this without a well equipped shop. I consider cutting torch, arbor press and puller OTC 7503 must haves in addition to the spring compressor. You might be able to do it without those tools, but serious headache.
2005 Envoy SLT, 4.2L I6 4WD. Vehicle is 10 years old at the time of this writing. The shocks are the factory originals, never replaced. The strut assembly does not appear severely rusted.
I purchased Bilstein 24-103336 4600 series shock absorbers. They are yellow. I did not want my underwear showing, so I painted them black. I used John Deere medium gloss black a good quality acrylic paint. The paint does not adhere well to the Bilstein paint or plastic boot, but might stay on long enough for everything to dirty up before it peels off. Plastic paint may be a better choice.
Remove the strut module assembly in one piece by unscrewing the two upper strut nuts and one lower yoke nut. Use a puller to get the yoke off. I used an OTC 7503 which works great. Remove the assembly with a slight twist on the yoke to clear the stabilizer link. A pipe wrench can aid in twisting the yoke. You do not have to remove the stabilizer link. I made the mistake of trying to remove the link and added a couple of hours to my task. The stabilizer link stud will easily rotate when loosened and become jammed in the old exposed rusty threads. It needs to be held stationary with a 7mm Allen wrench. 7mm Allen wrenches are uncommon to most Allen wrench sets. Luckily AutoZone sells a 3/8 socket bit which I had to bicycle over to get.
Do both struts at the same time. Doing the second is easy when you have the correct tools and procedure in hand.
Lay out a piece of carpet to protect the spring paint while working on the assembly.
Remove the pinch bolt holding the yoke to the strut. Removing the bolt from the yoke was no easy task. It was fused in the yoke and required an arbor press to get out. You may be able to pound it out with a heavy punch and hammer. However, not something I would want to do.
To remove the shock from the yoke, spread the yoke with something like a cold chisel. Once loosened, removal is still problematic because the rusty projection beyond the yoke prevents the shock from slipping out. I used an arbor press to press out the shock from the yoke. You might be able to pound it out with a heavy hammer. You will need a large punch tool like a 1 3/8 socket, and some way to hold the yoke. The assembly is very awkward to handle and holding it while striking with a hammer is even more problematic. I would not underestimate this task. Remember, protect the paint on the spring.
The yoke bore was severely corroded and required some cleanup and descaling. I used the side of a file shank, and a round file to clean off the scale.
Compress the spring. I used a loaner tool from AutoZone, OEM 27036 spring compressor. It worked good and without issue. Compress the longest part of the spring possible.
Remove the shock nut. The old rusty threads will not allow the nut to come off without some serious counter torque. An Allen wrench in the shank end will not suffice. You might get a vise grip on the shock shank, but the shank is hardened so don't expect great holding power, and you will ruin the boot. Not all new shocks come with boots. Removing this nut is going to be a major PITA. I used a cutting torch to remove the nut. Don't ruin the washer, it will be needed later.
Assembly is straight forward. The bumper goes on the shock with constricted end near tip of shock shank.
It took me about 8 hours to replace two front shocks (not including my bicycle trip). I have never replaced strut shocks before, so there is a lot of looking and thinking in that time.
Looking back on the job, I would not want to do this without a well equipped shop. I consider cutting torch, arbor press and puller OTC 7503 must haves in addition to the spring compressor. You might be able to do it without those tools, but serious headache.
