DIY Replace 3rd Gen Struts

I have the same jack stands! They are OLD!

 

I recognize those too, gave mine to one of son's friends, decades back.

Looks like quite a job.

 

I've done the same job. Hard to believe but the struts and shocks are different on the v.

 

Hopefully, I have got some time for EGR yet.
I am at 85k miles and some suspension issues and front brake job postponed so I need to focus on that first.

 

Buying struts is not enough. You have to buy the strut socks and the sway bar links too. I highly recommend doing the front and rear at the same time

 

Have now tried both KYB excelG and Sachs. Kyb excelG is much better

 

Regular alignment shop doesn't need the computer. As long as they turn the car off while it's in the rack...

 

I don't think they'll be able to turn the steering wheel with the car off.
I haven't tried it on mine. Something to do today!

 

Great Job pk123!
Since my prius body is very low and the bottom will crash some road pump when I drive through it , wanna ask if replacing this new strut will the car body be higher than before? How high is your prius body right now?

 

I'm thinking doing the bushings and possibly the sway bar links.

First off the front strut assemblies and the lower ball joints (at least the drivers side for now even though I invested in both).

Wondering if the bushings can be DIY Homebrewed repaired with some polyurethane or maybe even type 2 silicone and/or a wrap of some rubber sheet to tighten up the tolerance?

 

It’s just as easy to replace the bushings as trying to DIY Homebrew it. Do it at same time as sway bar links, sway bar needs to be disconnected on both sides to change out the bushings. Easy job if you’re already working in that area.

 

What brand did you choose. Are you having any issues?

 

Yes, I'm thinking that's true. Challenging when I can drive quite a few miles with the expense of the bushings in gas.

Went into the Toyota dealership to get my oil and oil filter changed along with an inspection. I got under also and confirmed the sway bar links are loose. The sway bar seems solid, so thinking bushings aren't required yet. Sway bar links are for sure.

The front suspension, lower ball joints and what else inspected without the wheels in the air all seemed suitable. Got an extra little bounce, instead of an ideal stop when pushing down on the front suspension. The consensus seemed to be those are fine and maybe starting to get a little loose, though not bad or needing to be changed. Any thoughts regarding? Same with the lower ball joints.

However, the culprit for the tire wear appears to be the wheel bearings that I'm thinking were caused by Discount Tire repairing a tire and not checking all the other tires pressure when they worked on the one. I drove a few thousand miles before I noticed and I've requested they rotate my tires at that same place and they thought they didn't need to based on mileage since new so they didn't do the free rotation and balance. Will have to dig through the paperwork or actually just call the Discount Tire I typically go to and bought the tires from in the morning to see when they did at the other Discount Tire location since I know where was performed very clearly.

 

I used the OEM sway bar bushings.

 

I am thinking about replacing the struts with KYB SR4245 and SR4246. When you are talking about alignment, is this with the spring? It seems like the recent production of the KYBs have a misaligned spring causing it to rub with the wheel well. Did you have this issue with installation?