Difficulty rating, time, cost or is it a DIY job

ba_barabus

Guys I'm looking for a cost estimate for the following job.

And also if it is possible for a novice to do on the driveway.

My OH has a high mileage Avensis 2.OTD. The drivers side rear strut bearing has failed. It's knocking like hell over bumps and there is a constant banging above 65-70mph. The strut hasn't failed but I doubt it's much longer for this world either.

Anyway, what should I expect to pay for this to be done or how difficult would it be to do.

visual

You will need a coil compressor as the bearing cap holds the spring in place.

If you clap the spring to take the pressure off bearing cap you can unbolt the cap
3x 10 or 11mm nuts and it unscrews from body and single nut think its 14mm
you probably have a rubber bung covering the 14mm nut.

The suspension I think will drop down enough to give you enough space to take the bearing cap out through wheel well.


I replaced the struts on sons avensis only recently. With bearing cap still attached to strut it comes out in one piece with spring.

Unbolt from body 3x 11mm nuts at top and unbolt from axle hub can't remember if it was 1 or two bolts think it was 2.

Clamp the spring with spring compressor and then unbolt the bearing cap.

Stuts I bought from micksgarage for about 45 euro each.

With age of car check balljoint and drop links
ball joint is awkward, drop links easy to change.

But all is DIY able.
Look up youtube its the same set up as corolla

With hand tools and spring compressor its not difficult. A garage probably charge you 1hour a side. Plus price of parts. DiY double the time

ba_barabus

Cheers Visual.

Doesn't sound too bad that. I've had two mechanics tell me it wasn't worth doing as the whole rear end needs a full rebuild by right (the car is rough to be fair to it). All I want to do is keep it going on the cheap.

visual

Sorry im tired I missed the bit about being rear my description was for front


here is video for rear

Replacing Bouncing Rear Struts On Your Car: http://youtu.be/hWoOPI_xsIw

Avns1s

From what the OP describes, it's probably the "shock top" that has failed, i.e. the part that the top of the shock absorber connects to which in turn is attached to the body of the car. It's common enough on these cars.

Get someone who knows what they're doing to check the operation of the shocks but no point in replacing the shocks if it's the shock top. Part is about €70 iirc from the last time I did one and also, from memory, you will have to remove the shock and spring, and compress the spring as visual said earlier, to replace the top.

ba_barabus

Avns1s wrote: »

From what the OP describes, it's probably the "shock top" that has failed, i.e. the part that the top of the shock absorber connects to which in turn is attached to the body of the car. It's common enough on these cars.

Get someone who knows what they're doing to check the operation of the shocks but no point in replacing the shocks if it's the shock top. Part is about €70 iirc from the last time I did one and also, from memory, you will have to remove the shock and spring, and compress the spring as visual said earlier, to replace the top.

Shock top is right.

Sorry I was thinking of a strut top bearing for the front wheels when I posted earlier.

What you've said above is bang on the money however the shocks look a bit past it. As it's a cheap car that just needs to keep going, I don't care.

visual

ba_barabus wrote: »

Cheers Visual.

Doesn't sound too bad that. I've had two mechanics tell me it wasn't worth doing as the whole rear end needs a full rebuild by right (the car is rough to be fair to it). All I want to do is keep it going on the cheap.

Mechanics can be lazy sometimes or just looking for handy numbers.

Cheapest option might be buy strut with spring as complete unit from brakers then you dont need spring compressors.

Plenty of avensis on the road and brakers so you should be able to source part locally

Avns1s

ba_barabus wrote: »

Shock top is right.

Sorry I was thinking of a strut top bearing for the front wheels when I posted earlier.

What you've said above is bang on the money however the shocks look a bit past it. As it's a cheap car that just needs to keep going, I don't care.

Shocks can look poor from corrosion etc but can work perfectly, hence have it checked but I wouldn't change it unless necessary. If you do change it, you really need to change both on that axle. Otherwise you will fail your NCT through imbalance in all probability. Funny thing is - NCT checks imbalance. If both shocks are faulty, provided they're equally faulty, you pass.

Shocks are a wearing part and not a good investment from a breakers. You never know what your getting in the first instance and they're one of those parts that don't like a return to use after being left sitting outside unused for months on end.

CJhaughey

I did all my suspension last year on the 2.0td Avensis.
Rears are very easy, tbh if its just to keep it on the road I'd chance a secondhand unit complete from the breakers, just unbolt the old one and bolt the 2nd hand one on.
The saloon is more of a pain to do then the wagon or hatch as access to the three bolts on the shock mount is more difficult.
Two bolts to the hub and one for the droplink and it just pulls away.
What will a breaker charge? 50 or so? Its worth trying and if it doesn't work then you can always reuse the top mount if you make sure its good.