How do you change rear struts - shocks - and coil springs on a Taurus - Sable?

Answer 1

"rears" 3 mount nuts in trunk for each strut - loosen

remove sway bar link from strut

pinch bolt on spindle housing loosen (careful likes to break) use heat "or" penetrating oil if necessary

Special tool is nice but a big pry bar and hammer will work to separate strut from spindle housing

"becareful of brake lines and abs sensors" will have to loosen support points

"fronts" same thing but mount nuts under hood

reverse procedure and have alignment done

Jaybird1980

Answer to revised question

Just by quick struts. It saves time and well worth the money.

Quick strut: NEW Strut, Spring, Strut mount, Spring pads already assembled and ready to put in. jaybird1980

Answer

there are three bolts on each side there in the trunk of the car centre of the wheel and there are to at the bottiom of the strut jack up the car and brace it good ( on stands )

drive safe

On the sable, you have springs/struts, not shocks. Pretty much the only reason you should replace is if a spring is cracked or the strut is leaking (or something in the mounting is broken). A lot of shops will tell you they are even if they aren't. Get a second opinion. But this is a huge issue on sables...

If you do need to replace them, do not attempt them yourself... unless you have a hydraulic lift and a torch. They're buggers to get off, really, and you don't want to be banging that car while on jack stands. It's hard work and if you get stuck in the job at home w/o the right equipment, you're pretty much up a creek.

The cheapest route by far is to order a "quick strut" from monroe. Half the money you get charged is for mechanic's time disassembling and re- the whole mess (again, don't do yourself unless you are very handy and have the right equipment. A stray spring could kill you). Quick struts come as one assembled unit, spring and strut, and just need to be installed. Make sure to replace them in pairs. With parts and labor you should be paying around $500. If higher, you're getting scammed. Cheers.

There are three nuts on the top of the strut that are barely accessible from inside the trunk, one small bolt that holds a brake line bracket, one very long swaybar link bolt, and one large bolt at the bottom that tightens a clamp onto the strut tube.

Remove the small bolt, the long bolt, and the big bolt, and you should be able to slide the clamp down the strut tube far enough to clear the end. Then remove the three nuts from the top and pull out the old strut. Installation is the reverse.

Things to watch out for?

Rust. Both of the big clamp bolts on this car were so rusty, the heads snapped off when I was trying to turn them out, even with PB Blaster and torch heat liberally applied. I spent an hour working the second one back and forth, trying to keep it from breaking. I got it to come out about 3/4 of an inch, and then it snapped. I ended up just blowing the bolts out with the cutting torch and putting in a similarly-sized grade 8 bolt and locking nut. The swaybar link bolts also snapped off, but those are much easier to remove.

Corroded brake lines. One of the brake lines was rotted enough to start leaking as soon as I flexed it a little, that still needs replacing. I have the leak stopped at the proportioning valve on the rear axle, but for the moment there's no RR brake.

Proceed with caution, or save yourself the trouble and push it into a lake.

The rear seat bottom and back need to be removed then lift the package tray up to expose the nuts that hold the strut on the top. The bottom is held with the pinch bolt.