I want to replace the rear struts on my 2003 Toyota Corolla. Removing the large bottom bolt is easy but how do I access the top part of the strut??

I just replaced my rear struts on my 2009 Camry Hybrid. This was the second time in my life I ever did this kind of work. The trick is to get access to the top of the strut. You have to fold down the back seat cushions. In my hybrid there are two pull levers in the trunk that release the seats. The levers are at the top of the trunk.

Once you fold down the seats, there will be two side cushions on the side of the seats that did not fold down. At the bottom of that side cushion, between the side cushion and the bottom seat is a bolt holding the side cushion on. It is way in the back so you will need an extension with a 12mm socket to get to the bolt. Dont be afraid to dig into the space between the cushions to find the bolt. Once you unscrew the bolt, you can lift up on the side cushion and it will come out (lift upward). You now have a clear (and easy) access to the top of the strut.

I just replaced my rear struts on my 2009 Camry Hybrid. This was the second time in my life I ever did this kind of work. The trick is to get access to the top of the strut. You have to fold down the back seat cushions. In my hybrid there are two pull levers in the trunk that release the seats. The levers are at the top of the trunk.

Once you fold down the seats, there will be two side cushions on the side of the seats that did not fold down. At the bottom of that side cushion, between the side cushion and the bottom seat is a bolt holding the side cushion on. It is way in the back so you will need an extension with a 12mm socket to get to the bolt. Dont be afraid to dig you had into the space to find the bolt. Once you unscrew the bolt, you can lift up on the side cushion and it will come out (lift upward). You now have a clear (and easy) access to the top of the strut.

daley smiths, Before I take you through the procedure keep in mind that you can purchase what are called easy struts or quick struts. These units have the spring and upper bearing plates already installed and are quicker and much safer than just replacing the strut itself. So instead of just getting new struts, you are getting the whole assembly new. If you want to replace just the struts you will have to rent a spring compressor. Procedure for just the struts follows:
You don't mention whether you are replacing the front or rear struts but the procedure is pretty much the same for both. This is the procedure for the front struts. Jack up one side of car and remove the wheel. Place a jackstand under the vehicle frame to support it. Sometimes there are brake lines, sway bar links and ABS wires connected to the strut. Remove anything attached to the strut. You will see two large bolts holding the bottom of the strut. Remove the nuts only. The bolts are usually splined to keep them from moving so you will have to pound them out with a hammer. If the bolts are threaded all the way to the end then put the nut back on so it is flush with the end of the bolt.. This is so the threads are not damaged as you will need to reuse them. Some bolts are not threaded all the way so you wont have to worry about damaging the threads here. With the hood open you will see three nuts that are holding the top of the strut. Remove them one at a time. Hold the strut when removing the last one so it doesn't drop and damage any break lines or ABS wires. Remove the strut. Place part of the spring compressor on one side of the spring as close to the top and bottom as possible and hand tighten it. Do the same on the other side of the spring with the spring compressor part. Tighten the spring compressor one side at a time two turns at a time. BE VERY SURE THAT THE COMPRESSOR DOES NOT SHIFT WHEN DOING THIS. Keep doing this one side at a time until you can turn the upper bearing plate easily. Place a pair of vice grips as close as possible to the top of the strut shaft and tighten as much as possible. Remove the nut holding the upper bearing plate and remove the plate. Remove the vice grips and any rubber bushings and finally the spring and lower rubber bushing. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH SPRING AS YOU SET IT ASIDE. Place the lower bushing on the new strut and be sure that the spring seats properly on the strut. Replace the upper bushing and finally the bearing plate. Once again place the vice grips as high as possible on the new strut shaft and tighten as much as possible. Making sure the upper plate is properly aligned for reassembly to the vehicle tighten the upper bearing nut. Take the spring compressor off the spring using the same method of two turns at a time. Once again be sure it doesn't shift on you when doing this. Replace the strut back to the vehicle by reversing the procedure. One thing I forgot to mention. Because of the connections of the sway bar links and brake lines there is a right and left side strut so be careful when choosing which strut to put in.
The only difference for the rear struts are the way they are connected to the vehicle. The bottom will have one bolt and the top will have either one bolt accessable from inside the wheel well or have three nuts accessable from inside the trunk or under the panel in the rear window behind the rear seat. Good luck with this.

You can buy preloaded struts meaning new springs and struts and upper bearing caps already together so all you have to do is mark the old position with chalk on the bottomand remove the to bolts at the bottom and the 3 at the top under the hood on the top and in the trunk and replace the same way.with the car jacked up and on jack stands for safety.The preloaded are safer way to do the job. some people have been hurt unloading the springs and trying to reload without the right tools.

Rear struts usually have a large bolt on the bottom and 3 little bolts on top, to allow removal.
But then you need special spring compressor clamps to take the tension off the coil spring, so that the top of the strut can be safely removed. Careful, because the springs can be very dangerous.
You remove the top from the strut by undoing the large center nut. If the shaft turns with the nut, use a small wrench on the flats in the end of the shaft. Once the top is off, then you remove the spring. The strut tube then has a cap retaining the insert cartridge that needs to be removed and replaced with a new one. Reverse the rest.

Basically the shock inserts in the struts are what hold the spring in place, and the axle knuckle to the fender.

On a very few cars, they were slick enough to design it so that you don't have to do very much.
On these exceptions, you just remove a plate from the top of the strut, in the engine compartment, and pull the insert up after unscrewing a cap.

But on most cars, you have to first drop the top of the strut down from the fender, then undo the pinch bolts at the bottom, in order to remove the whole strut from the car. Then you put a large spring compressor on it to remove the tension. (this is dangerous) You can rent or buy inexpensive spring compressors, because some are just a pair of threaded rods with hooks on both ends. Then you take the top plate off the strut by removing the nut threaded onto the insert shaft. Then there is a cap on the end of the strut tube, that allows the insert to be removed. The tube may be filled with oil. By accident if leaking, or be design with some cars, for cooling. Then you slip the new intsert in, cap it down, put the compressed spring back on, tighten up the top plate with the nut threaded on the shaft, uncompress the spring, and then place the strut back on the lower knucke, and finally back in the fender.

The difference between the fronts and rear is that the front may have an excentric bolt on the bottom, so that you can adjust the camber. If so, mark it before losening, so that you can put it back at the same angle of rotation. A chisel mark will do. The rear usually does not have alignment.

upper nuts 36 lbs and the bottom two big ones are 145 lbs and the upper mount to body are 29 lbs. good luck man

First you must remove the rear seat to gain access to the top strut mounts. The bottom of the rear seat comes out first. On the 91 model there are two tabs at the base of the seat bottm that you pull forward to release the seat bottom. I'm not sure if the 89 is the same. After removal of the rear seat bottom, you will see a bolt at the bottom of each side of the rear seat back that need to be removed. Fold down the arm rest and disconnect the vinyl cover at the base of the armrest to expose and remove two screws. Push up on the rear seat back to unhook three plastic hooks (center and one at each end) at the top of the rear seat back. Remove the seat back. Remove the large metal support panel that is behind the seat back. Safely jack up the rear of the car and support on jack stands so the rear wheels hang free. Doing one strut at a time, remove the two top strut mount bolts leaving the center strut stud nut in place. The strut and mount will lower out of the unibody. Disconnect the bottom strut mount. Remove the strut/coil spring assembly. Using a strut/spring compressor (some auto parts stores rent these) compress the spring. Carefully remove the top strut stud retaining nut, top strut mount, bumpers and strut boot. Carefully install compressed spring, strut boot, bumpers and top strut mount on new strut and install washer and retaining nut. Reinstall strut and etc. in reverse order.

Don't mess with struts unless you have a strut compression tool. You could get seriously injured. The nut is on top of the tower where the strut attaches.

you should be able to hammer them out. put the nuts on till the bolt is level with the end of the nut (as to not damage the bolt threads) then hammer them out. spraying some wd-40 may help aswell