2003 Ford Explorer 4 Door Front & Rear 8 Piece Suspension Kit TRQ PSA63595

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Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.

In this video, we're going to show you how to replace the struts on this 2003 Mercury Mountaneer. We show you the passenger side. The driver side is a similar procedure. There is just one little different thing that you have to remove to get to the bolts. This Mountaineer is basically the same as all Explorer, Ford Explorer, and Lincoln Aviator. You'll need new front struts from 1AAuto.com; 8, 13, 19, and 24 millimeter sockets with ratchet and a piece of pipe for some extra leverage; pry bar; jack and jack stands; and a torque wrench.

Pry off the hubcap by using a flat blade screwdriver in the small slot on the side. Once you get it started, you can just pull off around the edges. We'll just fast forward as Mike removes those 19 millimeter lug nuts. If you don't have air powered tools, you want to loosen them while the vehicle's on the ground, raise the vehicle and remove them the rest of the way. Now you can pull the wheel free.

At the top of your strut, are three 13 millimeter nuts. Coat the top of those with some penetrating oil. That little valve in the top of the picture is in the way, so use an 8 millimeter socket and ratchet and remove the bolt for it, so it can move around. Then, use a 13 millimeter socket and ratchet with extensions or, if you have them, use air powered tools and remove those three nuts that hold the top of the strut.

You want to remove this bolt right here, so just spray the nut on the back first with some penetrating fluid, and then, using a 24 millimeter socket and ratchet and a piece of pipe for some extra leverage, just loosen that up and remove it. Use a pry bar to pry the strut down and pull it forward and then up and out.

On the bottom, is the old strut. Above it, is the new one from 1A Auto. You can see, they're very similar and they'll fit exactly the same and work just the same. Take your new strut from 1A Auto and feed it back into the lower control arm and angle it up. Then, just push those studs back up into place and replace those nuts. After you get them all replaced by hand, you just want to tighten them up preliminarily.

Then, remove this nut. Lower the wheel knuckle, so that you can get that bolt in the strut and then just push the bolt in and hammer it in the rest of the way. Put the nut on the other side and lock it into place. Then, tighten up that bolt the rest of the way.

Now, in order to tighten up that bottom nut, you want to simulate like the weight is on the suspension, so jack the suspension up and take the weight off the jack stand. Then, you'll want to torque that nut to 130 foot-pounds.

Replace your wheel and then replace the lug nuts and tighten them in a crossing pattern. You just want to tighten them most of the way, lower the vehicle and then tighten them the rest of the way. Torque the lug nuts in a crossing pattern to 100 foot-pounds. Line up your hubcap and hit it back into place. Then, torque these three nuts at the top of the strut to 30 foot pounds. Replace the 8 millimeter bolt that holds that bracket and valve in place and tighten it up.

We hope this video helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the Internet and in person.

Brought to you by 1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet.

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.

In this video, we're going to show you how to replace the front sway bar link on this 2003 Mercury Mountaineer, same as any 2002 to 2005 Mountaineer, as well as Explorer. Our front passenger side is broken, so we show you how to get it out and replace it with a new one from 1A Auto. You'll need new sway bar link from 1AAuto.com, 16mm and 19mm socket and ratchet, a piece of pipe for some leverage, jack and jack stands and a torque wrench.

You'll want to remove your center cap. If you don't have the benefit of air tools, then loosen your lug nuts with the vehicle on the ground. Then raise both front wheels and support the car with jack stands and then remove the lug nuts and wheel the rest of the way. Now you can pull the wheel free.

This is the driver side, which is actually still together, so you would, if you're removing one that was still together, put a 15mm socket and ratchet on top and a 16mm wrench on the bottom, remove that top nut and then go from there. On ours, it's broken so I'm just filling, basically, the cavity with penetrating oil. This is pretty typical: it breaks off up top here and you saw where you just filled it up with penetrating oil and now we're just messing around with it. We locked some locking pliers onto it. That penetrating oil really helped the bolt start up and we've basically broken the plastic here. Now this plastic tube will slide off.

We're just going to use a hammer and chisel to remove the rest of the plastic. This, of course, is the worst case scenario, you just want to remove the plastic, you can use some locking pliers and then just remove the nut on the bottom or at least loosen it up as much as you can. Then just hammer this down and out.

Before installing it, just jack up the other side, just slightly. Now replace your sway link and the order it should go in is: washer, bushing, control arm, then bushing, washer, the tube, and another washer, and then the bushing, and then your sway bar, then another bushing, another washer, and then the nut. You just want to tighten that nut preliminarily,and then release the jack.

To tighten up the link, what you want to do is have the car back down on the ground, and now I have a jack supporting just the front suspension so that basically everything is level and the suspension is in its correct ride height. Then tighten up the link by holding the wrench on top and then turning the bottom. Tighten it up so that the bushings are all squeezed to about the diameter of the washers.

Replace your wheel, then replace all the lug nuts and tighten them preliminarily. Then you'd want to lower the vehicle and tighten them the rest of the way, then torque each of these in a crossing pattern to 100 foot-pounds. Now replace your hubcap. Just line it up and hit it back into place.

We hope this video helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the Internet and in person.

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years. We're dedicated to delivering quality auto parts, expert customer service, fast and free shipping, all backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee. Visit us at 1AAuto.com, your trusted source for quality auto parts.

In this video, we're going to be working with our 2006 Ford Explorer. We're going to show you how to remove and replace your vehicle's sway bar link in the front. If you like this video, please click subscribe. We have a ton more information on this and many other vehicles. If you need these parts for your car, you can follow the link down into the description over to 1AAuto.com. Here are the items you'll need for this repair.

Using a 19mm socket and a breaker bar, loosen the lug nuts on your tire. Raise and support your vehicle. We're doing this on a lift to make it easier to show you what's going on, but this job can be done at home on a jack and jack stands. Finish removing your lug nuts. You should be able to do this by hand at this point but you can use a ratchet if you need to. You can then remove your wheel and tire.

It may be a good idea to apply some penetrating oil to whatever parts you're going to be working with. Put a 17mm wrench on the nut on the top side of your sway bar link and brace it against the frame of the vehicle. You can then use a 16mm socket and ratchet on the bottom to loosen it. The sway bar link on these vehicles is essentially a series of bushing and washers with a sleeve all held together by one long bolt, as opposed to being a one-piece unit like some other vehicles.

You can see ours is pretty rough here, because there's usually not this much slack. That's actually what your bushing is supposed to look like on all four pieces, one on each side. You can see the old ones are worn down or cut there. It looks like they've actually fallen off over time. Once the nut's out, you can try to remove the bolt from the center of the sway bar link. This can be pretty difficult, so if it doesn't come out by hand, don't be afraid to get on there and give it a good hit with a hammer. The sway bar link will disassemble just like that when you pull it out, so just make sure you have all the old bushing material and all the old washers off of it.

Now you sort of need to build the sway bar link into the truck, so we'll start with a washer and then a bushing. We'll go up through the control arm, install a bushing with the tapered end down, followed by another washer, the sleeve, a washer with the cup end facing up, and a bushing with the tapered end facing up. We'll go through the sway bar, install another bushing. You may need to use a screw jack or floor jack to jack up the control arm to get enough slack on that bolt to install the sway bar link. Then install the washer and a nut and tighten your new hardware down. You'll want a 17mm wrench on the nut and a 16mm socket and ratchet on the bolt end. Just tighten that up until it compresses the bushings so you know that everything's nice and tight and there's no slop in there to make any noise when you go over bumps. Once that's down tight, you can lower the weight off of the screw jack or floor jack.

Reinstall the wheel and tire onto your hub. It's easiest to put a lug nut inside of the 19mm socket to start it onto the studs. Get all five of these down as tight as you can by hand, and then we'll torque the wheel once there's some weight on it. Lower the vehicle back down and put partial weight onto the wheel and tire. This means that you may have your jack or lift under the vehicle. Get the tire to touch and let the vehicle come down some without allowing it completely off of the lift or jack. Torque your lug nuts to 100 foot-pounds in a cross pattern.

Thanks for watching. Visit us at 1AAuto.com for quality auto parts, fast and free shipping, and the best customer service in the industry.

Brought to you by 1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet.

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.

In this video, we're going to show you how to replace the rear strut on this 2003 Mercury Mountaineer. We show you on the passenger's side but the driver's side is the same procedure. The items you'll need for are a new rear strut from 1AAuto.com, a 13 through 21mm socket and ratchet, piece of pipe for some extra leverage, flat blade screwdriver, a pry bar, jack and jack stands and torque wrench.

Start off by prying off your hub cap. Then remove these 19mm lug nuts and if you don't have air powered tools, you want to loosen them up while the vehicle's on the ground, raise the vehicle and remove them the rest of the way. Now just pull the wheel free.

Now, you want to remove these three nuts at the top of your strut. Just spray them with some penetrating oil and let them sit and then also spray the bolt at the bottom of our strut and let that sit. On our vehicle, I believe these were originally 13mm and they had actually rusted down so that a 1/2 inch wrench actually worked best. You can see I put the wrench onto one of the nuts and then I hook another wrench in that gives me some leverage and I can get the nut going. Like I said, it was kind of a process, I got the 13mm wrench on there first, realized that there was some flaky rust, so then I went to the 1/2 inch wrench and that went on. The other thing is a lot of times, one of them broke off which was fine. Actually, it sped the process up but another one of them I had to just loosen and then tighten a few times and spray it with penetrating oil before it came off.

To get to one of the bolts, you'll have to move the shield. To do that, you just pry out these clips and then remove the four clips down the side. To do that you just twist out the center with a Phillips screwdriver and then pull the clip out. If yours are broken or have sand in them and they won't come out, then just pry out, put some wire cutters in there and just clip the tops off. Once you've gotten all of them, just pry out and pull that panel free. Now you can access that back nut.

Now, remove this 21mm bolt, using your socket and ratchet and a piece of pipe for some extra leverage. Once you get it out to this point, you should be able to just pull it free.

Start off using some penetrating oil and coat that. The bolt for the stabilizer link is from down here and it's a 16mm. It's always really good if you can put your wrench on it and turn it. What this means . actually there's two really good things going on here, you can see I'm turning it and that nut is not moving. The other thing is you're turning it and this plastic isn't moving. Sometimes the hardest part is getting this whole shaft out of the plastic. If you can't turn it or it tends to turn the plastic as well, what you can do is use a hammer and a chisel and break away all the plastic when you get to that point. As you can see, I was able to turn it with a 16mm. This nut on the original is a 15mm, I'm just going to remove this nut. We'll just fast forward as Mike removes that nut. Once you remove the nut, it should just pull out but if the bar still won't pull out from the bottom, just lock onto the plastic with some locking pliers and use a 16mm socket and ratchet and try and get it out that way. If it still only goes so far, you can use a hammer and a punch and just knock it out the rest of the way that way. Once you pull it out the plastic part will just lift up and out.

You need to remove the bolt that holds the outer, lower control arm. That nut is 21mm and the other end of the bolt is 18mm, so I use a socket and ratchet with a pipe for some extra leverage to get it loose. Then, hold the bolt end with an 18mm wrench and remove the nut the rest of the way.

Now you just need to loosen the two bolts that hold the control arm to the body or the frame. There's one there, they're 21mm nuts. There's 18mm heads on the bolts, but they actually have tabs on them to hold them in place. Use a 21mm socket and ratchet and a pipe for some extra leverage and just loosen those up a couple of turns. Once those are loosened, you can pull your lower control arm down and lift up on your wheel knuckle. Then you can lift your strut up and out.

On the bottom, is the old strut. Above it, is the new one from 1A Auto. You can see they're identical and they'll fit exactly the same. Make sure you have the lower part of the strut lined up so that the mount, obviously, goes front to back, so that the bolt will go in and then feed the top up and in, just look up and in until you get those three studs lined up. Once you get them lined, push it up in there and start the three nuts on to hold it.

You may need to turn the bottom of the strut just a little bit to make sure it lines up well. You shouldn't have to turn it much, just adjust it a little bit so the bolt will go in easily. Once you get it lined up, just lift the lower control arm into place and then push your bolt back through the strut. Then, put your other bolt back in right here on the wheel knuckle, just hammer that in and then hammer this bolt in just a little bit. You want it to be about that distance right there, put the nut on the other side and then just tighten that bolt into the nut. Then put the nut onto this bolt and then we'll fast forward as Mike tightens both of those up.

Then just tighten up those three nuts at the top of the strut. You want to tighten these up between 20 and 25 foot pounds which is just good and tight with a small wrench. Now take your sway bar and load it up with a washer, then a bushing, then your lower control arm. When it goes through, add a bushing, then a washer and then that tube and then another washer and another bushing. Then your sway bar, just push it up through the sway bar and then another bushing and a washer and then that nut. Now just tighten that up.

To tighten up the suspension parts, you want to simulate it as if your car was in the level riding position. You can see I'm jacking it up off of the lift with the jack and now I'm tightening up the sway bar link. You tighten it up until the bushings are basically squeezed down and they're about the same diameter as the washers. Again, with the weight of the vehicle on the suspension, tighten up the three nuts that go into the bolts, there's the two that go to the control arm to body and the one into the control arm to the knuckle. Those all tighten to 110 foot-pounds.

Now take this panel and feed it back in underneath, get the holes lined up, and then push these clips back into place. Then, for these four clips, you just push in the lower part of the clip, and then push the center in to lock them.

Now replace the wheel and then replace the lug nuts. We'll fast forward as Mike tightens those up. You want to tighten them while the vehicle's in the air just preliminarily and then lower the vehicle and tighten them the rest of the way. Then you want to torque each of these to 100 foot-pounds in a crossing pattern. Then take your hub cap, line it up and hit it back into place.

We hope this video helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the Internet and in person.