Front Shock Question

[ttora4runner]

During my recent Montana trip I noticed the front passenger side shock looks like it's separated from the top of the coil plate (whatever you call it). The nut is all the way tight.



What would cause this happen? I'm assuming that the shock just crap out and needs to be replaced.

 

[Spork]

Time for a replacement, I would imagine it makes quite a bit of noise now. Possibly the bottom mount has pushed through the washer allowing the shock to move up more than before? It's kind of strange because the front spring typically holds the shock in compression and where this is not putting any tension on the nut something isn't right.

 

[XJEEPER]

Does the shock still work properly, other than being loose? Id check the status of the upper bushings and if the shock is still good, just replace the bushings. This could easily be remedied with some additional washers.....or, use this a a great excuse to buy new shocks!

 

[ttora4runner]

Ya, it does make a noise kind of clunk sound. I ran it off-road up in Montana (nothing too serious) and it held up ok just noisy.

Stupid question how do you check the bushings?

 

[XJEEPER]

If we are talking 2002 Toyota 4 Runner, your rig is running a coil spring/shock assembly, more commonly referred to as a strut. Here's a great guide to servicing your style shock assembly, along with important safety tips.

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/down...ront-Bilstein-Adjustable-Shocks-0-2.5Lift.pdf

These are typically sold as assemblies and while you can replace just the shock, it is less common that just replacing the entire assembly.

 

[chans]

The shock probably can't fully compress any longer and when the spring compressed it pushed the shaft up. You can rent a heavy duty spring compressor at Autozone for free and most likely going to have to cut the nut off on both depending on how long the shocks have been on. Just don't stand right in front or behind the spring when working on it while compressed.