Shock top nut removal

Hey everybody, I put Bilstein 5100's on the front of my 2000 pre-runner extra cab about 2 years ago and set them at the medium setting to raise the front and cover for some sagging springs (only 320,000 miles on em, no big deal). I've gotten tired of the overly-firm ride and bought some new TRD off-road springs for the front and want to set the 5100's back to normal height.

I spent about 2 hours last night with a can of kroil on the bolts and managed to get everything loose except the top nut on the shocks. These were new locking nuts that came with the 5100's and they won't loosen after 5 applications of kroil and 45 seconds of heat from a propane torch. I don't remember the stock bolts being this difficult. Any one run into this problem and have any ideas? I'm not used to giving up and going to the shop this easy

 

maybe you can saw the bolt off,i recently used a saw z all with a metal cutting blade and lopped off the frozen bolt on my rear shocks to remove them.works very good

 

BillsSR5, I’m no stranger to the sawzall, but I’d like to keep using the shocks since I’ve only put about 10k miles on them so far

 

This is a common practice. If you think these are hard, try a 3rd generation 4Runner. Ridiculous design on the top mount. The thing is a water and mud trap which rust the nut on tight. Sawing or torching it off is almost always standard practice.

 

you better leave them alone because once those bolts are seized uplike that they will not come off at all

 

Ok.... Any other thoughts from someone who's been here before? I don't give up easy!

 

Biggest impact you can get on it and a torch to heat it up, and big fat hammer to whack it.

But yeah.....we just cut ours off with the torch. Thats the easiest way. But I understand why you want to save them so I would try the impact, torch, and big ole hammer method.

 

This bolt should be under pressure as it holds the top plate down. You probably need to find someway to compress the strut to relieve some of that pressure. When I did this on my 3rd gen. 4runner, the shock top bolt had a flat spot that you would get a crescent wrench on to keep the piston from spinning while you backed off the nut.

 

This ^^^


Floor jack under the LCA and compressing the coil is the only way I could get mine off. This is kinda sketchy at first but it's nearly the de facto standard on here it seems.

 

Thats the kind of advice I was hoping for. I will give that a try and let you know how it works!

 

Whatever way you go, please don't use the external spring compressors you buy/rent from an auto parts store. They are not your safest option. I do know that most tire shops/general maintenance places have a strut compressor and could swap your old springs with your new TRD ones. This however would require your removing both coil overs completely from the vehicle to take them and have them done at the same time.