So the rear shocks on my '11 Outlander have finally given out making the back end a little unstable. I bought a set of KYB's from Rock Auto and an going to attempt to install them this weekend. Tried searching threads for a quick how-to guide. Can't remember if the interior plastics need to be removed or not. Can anyone give some quick advice other than taking it to the shop? Should be pretty straightforward, right?

 

Nevermind....this job turned out to be way easier than I thought. Only struggled a little with the top bolts of the shock housings. Not much room to work with in there.

 

I just tackled one of the rear shocks on my '13 XLS this past weekend and I concur - way easier than expected. I didn't even have to disconnect the trailing arm or rear stabilizer bar (as per the service manual) to get enough clearance to remove/install the shock. The driver's side might be sliiiiightly more challenging - on the passenger side there's a little tray above the wheel well you can pull to access the top bolts, but no such tray on the passenger side.

 

Do you guys have separate spring and shock location in the back? If so, it should be fairly simple.

How did you find out the shocks died?

 

Ya, no coilover in the rear so it's quite simple. The rear end of my Mitsu was pretty bouncy over large bumps, and bounced a few times before settling when doing a bounce test. The real giveaway was when I pulled the wheel off and the shock was covered in fluid that had leaked out of it haha...dead giveaway. The other side isn't leaking and does all right with a bounce test, but they say to replace them in pairs so that's next. @120k km new shocks will improve the ride anyway so it's worth it for me.

 

The back end was getting little bouncy from what I remember and handling around corners was a little sketchy. I have these airbags installed so it wasn't bottoming out. But the shocks were leaking real bad. The overall ride was very much improved after doing the shocks. Now considering doing the front struts too.