Shock/Strut installation, how many hrs?

[darkmoon87]

How long does it take for a skilled mechanic to replace shock/strut on my yaris?

[Betrivent]

I'd say 2-3? Mine took about that

[AlexNet0]

40 minutes.

and we took our time. this includes taking off the wiper cowl

[MUSKOKA800]

It took me ~5 hours working on my own, taking my time.
Car on jack-stands in my driveway with the correct hand tools and a electic impact gun.
If I was to do it a second time I'd estimate 3 hours max.

[thebarber]

id say 2-3h as well

assuming you don't run into problems/seized bolts/nuts/etc

[WeeYari]

The question is for a 'skilled mechanic'.

I would assume this means a trained technician, in a shop, with all appropriate tools. If that is the case, then job should take no more than 1.5 hrs.

[marlondog]

2 hours!

[schleppy]

A couple hours, tops.

[MUSKOKA800]

The question is for a 'skilled mechanic'.

I would assume this means a trained technician, in a shop, with all appropriate tools. If that is the case, then job should take no more than 1.5 hrs.

And folks here have stated that stealerships quote 4-5 hours. :eek:

[1stToyota]

I assume you're asking to see what the labor charge will be...Mitchell1 labor guide: roughly 3.2 hrs [front], 1.6 hrs [rear]...about 5 hrs, total

And I'd advise against going into a Service Center or Dealership, armed with the "I'll pay 2 hrs, tops" ...they'll most likely just laugh and say "do it yourself"

...OR, they may just hire you on the spot, if you can do f&r struts/shocks in that amount of time (1.5 to 2 hrs), guaranteed work, and with no mistakes :biggrin:

[Kaotic Lazagna]

You'll have an easier time with the front struts. The rear shocks require removing a bunch of interior piece to gain access to the top nut.

[Loren]

You'll have an easier time with the front struts. The rear shocks require removing a bunch of interior piece to gain access to the top nut.
Huh? It's been a while since I removed and misplaced mine, but isn't there just a pop-off cover over the top of the rear shocks?

To answer the question: 3-4 hours is reasonable for an experienced mechanic who isn't a Yaris expert. Any real shop is likely to charge you the 5-hour book rate.

None of this includes realigning the front. (no alignment required on the rear)

[Nexus1155]

I didn't even think I used spring compressors for this install for the fronts

Rears pop right in very easy, you should have no issues or waste time there, legit takes 10 mins after jacking it up properly.

Fronts youll have the issue with breaking the top nut loose, WEAR GLOVES, I didn't remove wiper cowl, just finagled myself in there, Fronts take a bit longer because stuff needs to come apart.

Read the DIY guide a couple times and it should take you with setup and prep under 2 hrs.

*Oh you're replacing the whole assembly and not just springs, might be easier for you then.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Huh? It's been a while since I removed and misplaced mine, but isn't there just a pop-off cover over the top of the rear shocks?

To answer the question: 3-4 hours is reasonable for an experienced mechanic who isn't a Yaris expert. Any real shop is likely to charge you the 5-hour book rate.

None of this includes realigning the front. (no alignment required on the rear)

From what I remember on when El Jefe helped me out, the only way he gained access to it was by removing a good portion of the rear interior. This is for the sedan folks, not for the LB folks. I know the LB has a cover that pops right off.

[cali yaris]

darkmoon, are we talking about a liftback or a sedan?

The sedan is quite a bit different in the rear, the top of the shocks are not easily accessible as they are on the liftback.

The advice and estimates you're being given here depend on which Yaris we are talking about.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

If you look at the answers so far, the LB people take only half the time as us sedan folks.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

darkmoon, are we talking about a liftback or a sedan?

The sedan is quite a bit different in the rear, the top of the shocks are not easily accessible as they are on the liftback.

The advice and estimates you're being given here depend on which Yaris we are talking about.

Ah, ninja post me. hahahaha

[Loren]

The Yaris sedan doesn't exist in my world. :wink:

Yeah, I can see there would likely be a few interior panels to remove in the back of a sedan.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

The Yaris sedan doesn't exist in my world. :wink:

Yeah, I can see there would likely be a few interior panels to remove in the back of a sedan.

hahahahaha

[bzinn 1]

Took me 2 hours to do front back on HB.......but I have installed a lot of lowering springs to Toyotas.......shop will probably charge you 4 hours.

[lilredrocket]

Hmmm... I have honestly never seen a sedan up close (other than driving one for my test drive). This will probably not help you but I recently did a spring install (also exhaust and CAI) on another users LB with only hand tools no air or electric tools to help and the whole process took 2 hours in my garage.

[darkmoon87]

sounds like sedan is more bitch to install the struts...lol oh well we'll try.

[MUSKOKA800]

sounds like sedan is more bitch to install the struts...lol oh well we'll try.


Pulling the interior trim is a bit dicey. Many of the fasteners are hidden/conceiled. :iono: Even service manuals don't clearly show removal techniques.
Take a leap of faith and you'll be fine. Mine all when back together without leaving a trace.

[britishbikes]

The rear shocks on Sedan are easy, just pop a few interior panels loose and then a few easy to get to bolts and nuts. The fronts are much more involved. You need spring compressors have to disassemble major parts of the front suspension. Then you have to realign the front end. I took mine to a front end shop for the fronts because of logistical reasons, they charged me $235 to change the front struts and springs and then align the wheels. The whole job took around two hours for extremely competent and expereinced mechanics with all the best tools. I have done the job on other cars when I had the time. I with typical shade tree tools expect to spend around 1/2 a day for both ends, not including the trip to the alignment shop.

[RacerFreakXXX]

Haha... this thread makes me laugh. My friend at the dealership did the front and rear in about an hour. Even if you have issues I couldn't see it taking more than 2hr for a technician who knows what they are doing. DIY, I would expect about 5hrs with breaks. a lot of place just don't like doing aftermarket jobs like this, or they go by the reccomended time, not the actual time. Like if you have an lof that takes 4hrs cuz the tech is retarded they wont charge you for that much time, but on the downside if a 4hr job taks an hour and a half you still get charged the 4hrs.

[britishbikes]

I can't see doing both ends with- one mechanic- and realigning the wheels in one hour. If your friend CHARGED you an hour, then he did you a favor.

Think about it, it takes about 1/2 hour to align the wheels, so that leaves him 1/2 hour to change two struts and two shocks, and replace the rear interior panels over the top of the rear shocks. That means that it took him, according to you, 7.5 minutes per corner of the car, including clearing the shop space for the next job. If you can change a strut and spring in 7.5 minutes, then perhaps you have your pick as to which shop you work.

Also there is nothing more difficult about the TRD suspension than there is changing the stock parts, so there should not be any premium for that. That day it was done, I saw the car go on the rack at about 7:00 am, they had the parts installed and aligned, plus a test drive by about 9:00 am.

Some guys I have seen etch out the spot where the camber plate went when they change the strut, in lieu of aligning the wheels, but that is never very accurate, with variations from the old part to new and also how the parts are positioned at the moment when the bolts are tightened. Were your wheels actually aligned in the deal?

There is almost always more to a job than you can see from here (online).

PS I remember the car was on the rack by 7:00 am; according to the sales ticket I paid at 8:47 am.

[darkmoon87]

I just finished installing the rears, and rears only for a scary reason which I will get to.

Rears took about 2.5~3 hours, not counting break and searching on the Internet to tackle a few problems that we had.

Front I assume it's gonna take longer than this and we are expecting about 4hrs+ to get it done. The reason why we couldn't jump on to start the fronts was...

When I popped the hood, on the top hat of the driver side front strut, one of the two bolts sticking out, was missing.
Upon a closer inspection, I found out that one of the two bolts sticking out towards engine bay has been completely snapped off and missing.
I think it happened when I took a pothole hard. If not, it would be me taking it a little too hard on corners as I take the car out for a spirited driving time to time on a regular basis. Whichever may have caused the breaking, it is scary to think what may have happened if the remaining bolt snapped off when I am driving...

Anyways, ordered that part from the dealership and it should be in a few days. As soon as I get it from them, we gonna start working on the front.

[cali yaris]

When I popped the hood, on the top hat of the driver side front strut, one of the two bolts sticking out, was missing.

The front struts only have one bolt and nut on top. got a pic of that?

Not sure what you mean by bolts "sticking out towards engine bay"

[RacerFreakXXX]

I can't see doing both ends with- one mechanic- and realigning the wheels in one hour. If your friend CHARGED you an hour, then he did you a favor.

He actually did both ends for free in an hour, just no alignment. I can see it taking 2hrs with an alignment, however I didn't need one and I don't see why you would unless you were changing camber or toe.

[Astroman]

I got an alignment done after I did springs. It was off a little.

[darkmoon87]

The front struts only have one bolt and nut on top. got a pic of that?

Not sure what you mean by bolts "sticking out towards engine bay"

yeah my fault for a vague explanation, but once i get the picture up you will know what i am talking about. gave me cringes after finding it out :frown:

[britishbikes]

Racer Freak:

The reason you align the wheels when you change struts is because the strut controls the camber. If you remove the strut and put a new kind in with different springs and geometry it also affects toe, because the distance from the steering rack to the spindle is changed as the lower control arm is now sitting in a different part of its arc.

It only takes a degree or so to speed tire wear, but in the short term, you may not notice much. If your tires are not wearing abnormally, of course taking into account that driving fast around corners will wear the edges more, then you should be fine with the alignment.

[Loren]

yeah my fault for a vague explanation, but once i get the picture up you will know what i am talking about. gave me cringes after finding it out :frown:
Don't cringe, just think carefully about how that upper mount works. Most of the time (I dare say 99% of the time, as even those of us who do motorsports very rarely ever "get air" with the front of the car), the weight of the car is holding the upper strut mount into a tightly fit sort of conically-shaped hole in the strut tower. It ain't going anywhere, even if you didn't put the nut on the end of the strut! (might make a little thunk when you hit a good sized bump, but that's about it)

The nut on the end of the strut is there merely to support the weight of that strut, hub and wheel assembly when the suspension is in full droop. It's more than up to that task.

It's a brilliantly simple design, really. It's that kind of reduced-part-count and easy-to-assemble engineering that allows them to sell the Yaris for a relatively cheap price.