Ridiculous rear shock set up in 3rd gens

I challenge anyone to come up with a more ridiculous rear shock set up than the 98 4Runner has. Concrete, welders and SCUBA gear are not an acceptable redesign. If you choose to accept this challenge and are successful, you should probably keep it to yourself, as your IQ is somewhere between 12 and 18. I thought those dudes were smarter than that. I have no words. I’m literally unable to express myself

 

Uhm, what?

 

yes

 

All your base are belong to us!

 

I like to sip tequila.

 

My head hurts now!

 

If he didn't have a filled out profile, I would say it's a bot. Gibberish.

 

Rear suspension does ok

 

I’m simply saying that the 3Gen rear shock design is horrible.

 

Can you post a picture? What's so wrong with it?

 

Horrible for what though?

 

Does anyone have a picture of a 3rd gen rear suspension? I'm just really curious now

 

Ignore the arms and panhard; bunch of still still hasn't arrived.

 

The top nut is what i am sure he is talking about, it can be a pain in the ass to access without the right tools.

 

It is a standard Spring and shock setup.

The top nut is a PITA, which is true. The trick to the upper nut on the shocks is to:

1. Let all tension off from the rear springs by letting the rear axle down. Don't forget to release the e-brake line. You cna't access that nut otherwise.
2. Spray penetrant in the upper bolt area. Wait a while....do it often over half a day.
3. Get your 3/8" breaker bar on it and wedge it against the body.
4. Take a chain clamp and turn the shock body. It mangles them a bit.

The chain clamp is what finally did it for me. https://www.acehardware.com/departments/tools/hand-tools/solid-joint-pliers/21714

Super easy once you do it that way. Mangles the originals a bit...but I wasn't going to keep them.

 

I just twisted the shock body itself and the shock unbolted itself from up top.

 

Lucky, mine were original and seized nicely. sawzall for the win.

 

I am sure we have drifted way off course by now. But can you explain why you think the shocks are so badly designed? The OEMs are made by Tokico...which I thought were on all 3rd gens. They have always gotten high marks. They do last upwards of 20 years which is amazing. (mine went 18...and only felt slightly different than the OEMs I put back on). They do lack the stiffness that many want for off-roading.

Did you open one up or something and it's a mess inside?

I'm still curious as to how Cement and SCUBA are part of the equation.

 

I recently changed the shocks on my wife's 11 Rav4 so I can kind of feel your pain. The top bolt is pretty rough but the bottom just wasn't thought out. All they had to do was turn the bolt around and it would be simple, but the way it's inserted it can't come out and you have to take off another whole bracket then separate the shock from that bracket. Still only took about an hour but it was an hour filled with profanity.