Cost of Front Shocks on Estima

boss0301, Jun 30, 5:13am
Hi there.
Just wondering if anyone could give me a rough cost idea on replacing the front shocks in a 93 Toyota Estima! (parts & labour)
Thanks heaps

grangies, Jun 30, 5:14am

boss0301, Jun 30, 5:16am
time to trade in then :)

mugenb20b, Jun 30, 5:38am
Parts are around $300, labour around 2 to 3 hours, so not a biggy. If your Estima has a clunky front suspension, it's usually caused by worn out front sway bar bushes. These are around $60 and take 15 minutes to replace.

boss0301, Jun 30, 5:41am
Thanks, can I replace the sway bar bushes first, and see if I still need the shocks replaced! And $300 is that for both sides! thanks

mugenb20b, Jun 30, 5:53am
Yes, I would do sway bar bushes first. You can do them yourself if you want to. And yes, $300 for both shocks, but prices can vary, they may be $240 from some places.

And to do shocks, you will need two people when refitting struts back into the vehicle.

mugenb20b, Jun 30, 6:01am
No worries.

grangies, Jun 30, 6:32am
Yeah. Damn expensive eh!

sw20, Jun 30, 6:54am
Genuine Toyota shock absorbers are line priced. Retail they are around $190, but you should be able to get them for $150 each.

My Bilsteins for my MR2 were $150 each from Toyota.

scotthurst01, Jun 30, 7:19am
Done mine last year, replaced rear ones at the same time, cost just over $400 for all of them, they had a special on buy 3 get one free, took around 4-5 hours to replace them.

boss0301, Jul 1, 6:46am
I saw someone who is wrecking a same model van, and I asked about the bushings and this was their reply "i take it you want the sway bar links.rod with ball conection on each end."

Is this what I'm looking for! Secondly, is this a part that I should bother with second hand! or should I just buy new.

mugenb20b, Jul 1, 8:08am
Sway bar has two mounting bushes, which are just made of rubber and shaped like a letter 'D'. You want to replace these with new ones.

The links with ball joint ends attach the ends of the sway bar to the front struts (so now you might get a clearer picture of how the whole thing works). These ball joints also wear with time, you can check them simply by trying to pull on the ends and see if there's any play between the joints and securing nuts. You'll feel them clicking if they are stuffed.

However, in having said that, if you can get the complete sway bar, links and bushes for a song, go for it. But, make sure everything's in good nick.