Need Help: Rear Struts Mounts

[ArizonaEagle07]

I took heart in tackling the job of replacing all struts and springs myself.
Struts: Monroe SensaTrac Springs: Sprint

After removing all the jacks stands, it came to my disappointment that the car when traveling up and down I get this piercing noise from the rear that squeaks. Almost like having sex on a bad mattress or something. The noise is more on the right side of the car and seems to be coming from where the mount is placed. It does come from the left side also just not as loud.

General Facts:
- Struts, Springs all new.
- I reused strut mount, and inner coil insulator.

What came to my surprise is that when re-installing the full strut assembly there is no cushion between the rear upper strut mount or the chassis its just metal to metal... is this normal?

To fix the problem, do the upper strut mounts need to be replaced?
or could this be a bigger problem, like torsion in the chassis....?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[ArizonaEagle07]

bump, any help!

[akora12]

It's normal for the mounts to directly touch the body. Once bolted down, the assembly can't move enough to produce noise even though it's metal on metal.

There's nothing to go bad in the rear mounts aside from the rubber insulators. The rears don't have bearings that can go bad like the fronts. I would check your endlinks to make sure they're tight. I'd also check that the springs are correctly seated in the insulators and not touching the shock.

[ArizonaEagle07]

Well I found out the problem. While I was looking at the end links they seemed to be in need of replacement due to lubrication leak from the bearings and stripped allen key hole.

Turns out the bushings that hold the TRD swaybar in place have no lubricant on them anymore. When I move the bar up and down it makes that horrifying creaking sound. I removed the swaybar and I will be cleaning it and the bushings and will be adding gobs of new lubricant to it.

Does anyone know how to remove the endlink if you have a stripped allen keyhole where the allen wrench goes?

[grnsolara]

Cut it is what my friend and I did last weekend. I bought new end links for the rear, so I wouldn't have to mess w/ the freezing issues and just cut them w/ a torch. It's good to replace them while you're in there anyhow if you haven't already. The good thing about the rears is they are identical for both sides, so it's less part searching.

[Eye8Pussies]

since the bushings are shot on the endlinks anyway, you can use a pair of locking pliers to grab behind it (directly onto the metal shaft with the allenkey hole at the end) on the other side of the mounting tab on the strut, and then just use an impact gun on the outter nut or a ratchet

it's not really recommended if you still want to reuse the endlink though, since it usually destroys the bushing and the grease will leak out, but that's not a problem in this case

[SleeperSolara]

Mine was stripped and i took a drill, and drilled the allen bolt out.
I used a 14mm open end wrench or 6 point open end wrench hold the bolt, and started to drill out the allen bolt.

[ArizonaEagle07]

Thanks for the help, I ended up using locking pliers and I muscled the bolt off. I'm in the process of purchasing a new set of rear end links.

My only questions now is:
What are the differnce in these two items...
only thing I found to be was "link" vs. "link kit".
I'm hearing a lot of good things about Moog.

Sway Bar Link:
http://www2.partstrain.com/store/?N=117 ... 4294964334

Sway Bar Link Kit:
http://www2.partstrain.com/store/?N=589 ... ,year:2000),AND(universal:1))

[YESCA]

Mine was stripped and i took a drill, and drilled the allen bolt out.
I hat a 14mm open end wrench or 6 point open end wrench hold the bolt, and started to drill out the allen bolt.

I had fun removing mine, I tried the drill, but that seemed to take to long, so my Friend Mr. Dremel and his friends cutting wheels came out to play.

[Gibson99]

that partstrain site was not working for me...

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/catalo ... tid=531715

looks like what you need... and not too pricey either. i like how autozone usually has photos of the actual part. removes a lot of questions of little things like how many connections a part has, whether it comes with small parts (in this case, the nuts) and makes it easier overall. wish more companies did that!

[5842solara]

ho... glad you was able to take the rear strut job?
my friend said you had to remove the rear seats and side panels ...and what not..

did you have to do that?

[ArizonaEagle07]

Yes to get to the 3 upper mount strut bolts you have to completely remove the whole back interior: seats, side paneling, and rear dash.

It was by farthest the most stressful part of the job, exp for a newb first time attempting this.

[SleeperSolara]

I had fun removing mine, I tried the drill, but that seemed to take to long, so my Friend Mr. Dremel and his friends cutting wheels came out to play.

Yeah i know, and i was layin' on the ground too. lol.
Then i got a bigger drill bit and went back and forth, then after about 15 to 30 minutes, the nut popped off. lol.
I didn't have enough room for the dremel.....

Yes to get to the 3 upper mount strut bolts you have to completely remove the whole back interior: seats, side paneling, and rear dash.

It was by farthest the most stressful part of the job, exp for a newb first time attempting this.

Yeah i know, if you have someone that's done it before help you on that it makes it faster.
By the way do you need some rear sway bar end links??
Let me know, there is a salvage yard that i can pull it off for you and it's OEM.
AutoZone has some aftermarket one that huge compared to OEM.
There's an ES300 and a Gen 4 Camry i can pick off the end links for you if you want, or i can go to another salvage yard right down the street and get one from a Solara if they still have one.
Let me know.

[ArizonaEagle07]

SleeperSolara: Thanks for the offer but I was able to hit up Advanced Auto Parts and pick up a pair of Moosh End Links. They are much nicer than the OEM. They are all around thicker, and have lube points.

It's so nice to see my car off the jacks and lowered 1.8" handling is much nicer. It is a highly recommended to get an alignment and camber adjustment.