It was probably a year ago when we last replaced the struts all around on the Scion, but because this car sees more use in a year than most cars see in five, it's understandable that the struts would be worn out this fast. The many miles on various grades of roads can easily wear out even the strongest suspensions on a car. For those of you who don't remember what is involved with this particular job, we will visit that again right here.
First of all, I had to clear the rear of the car of everything in order to expose what amounts to the trunk area. The spare tire and everything around it had to come out. From there I had to remove the side interior panels, which then allowed me to remove the middle "floor" panel that makes up the back of the rear seat. This opened up the area around the tops of the struts and where they mount to the floor. With the panels off and the tops of the struts exposed, the impact wrench made quick work of the three nuts that hold each strut's top to the floor of the car. I started with the right side first, removing the nut then moving to the bottom, having to remove the tire and remove the large nut and bolt holding the strut's bottom to the axle. I had to work the strut out and around the axle and the linkage hardware before I was able to fully free the piece from under the car. Once the strut was out, it was just a simple matter of putting the new unit back in the same way the old one came out. After I got the strut secured, and the tire back on, I moved on to the left side. Its funny how the first of anything can go easy but the second or last thing goes with some difficulty. That was the case here as I had to use a length of pipe to serve as a lever to push the rear control arm/axle down to get the clearance needed to remove the strut. I also had to remove the bracket holding the rear speed sensor as well. All of this stuff wasn't in the way on the right side, which was annoying for the most part. With the pipe I was able to get the old unit out as well as the new unit back in. With everything bolted back up I installed the interior panels and all of the junk that was removed from the car in the beginning. After a day's driving, it was determined that the problems of bottoming out and wheels scraping under the fender wells was eliminated. At this point it is fair enough to assume that the front struts are either at or near the point of needing to be replaced just as well, so we will be ordering these parts soon enough so we can get them here and in the car more sooner than later. Keeping the daily drivers and in the case of the Scion, the money maker vehicles in service is a high priority.
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