How To Remove 2005-14 Mustang Shocks, Struts, & Springs

In this article, Jay with LMR.com shows you how to remove the shocks, struts, and springs from your 2005-2014 Mustang. The shocks, struts, and springs in your Mustang are vital suspension parts that must be replaced from time to time. This can be anything from normal wear and tear, upgrading to a performance part, or from damage caused by an accident. Ford recommends replacing these suspension components every 50,000-100,000 miles for optimal performance and overall ride quality.

Today in the shop, we have Jay's 2012 GT500 we will be working on. This car has almost 200k miles on it and still has the factory suspension. We will be upgrading these components, so it is a perfect time to show you how simple this process is. Overall this one should take you roughly an hour to two hours to complete.

Tools Needed

Removal Steps

1. Start off by popping the hood and the trunk, then lift the car via a lift or jacks and jack stands.


2. Remove all of your wheels from the vehicle.


3. Starting in the rear of the car, support the differential with a floor jack or jack stand.


4. Peel back the interior carpet portion of the trunk liner to gain access to the upper shock nuts. Using a 3/8" impact and a 15mm socket, remove the upper nut. Once this is loose, you can take off the upper bushing and nut assembly at this time.


5. To make the shock and spring removal a little easier, you can also drop down the factory sway bar. These end links are held in place by (1) 15mm bolt on each side. Remove each of these bolts and you'll be able to swing the sway bar out of the way.


6. Remove the lower 15mm bolt holding the shock in place. There will be a speed nut on the backside of this bolt, so there is no need to hold the nut with a wrench.


7. Once the shocks and swaybar are loose, you can lift up and out on the springs to free them from their perch.


8. Heading back to the front of the car, we will start by removing the swaybar end links from the strut body. This can be done using a 17mm wrench on the stud’s backside to hold this in place. Using an 18mm socket, remove the nuts from the stud and then slide the end link out of the way.


9. Now dislodge the ABS sensor retainer from the strut tab on the lower edge.


10. Using an 18mm socket, remove the bolt holding the ABS sensor to the spindle then you can slide this out of place.


11. Next, you will need to remove each of the strut to spindle bolts. These will be equipped with a speed nut on the backside. Using an 18mm socket, remove each of these bolts. Be careful here; there will be some slight tension once the spindle and the strut separate. You can use a jack on the lower A-arm to help keep this from moving excessively.


12. You will need to remove the (4) 13mm nuts holding this in place on the top side of the strut mount. Grab the strut body from the bottom when doing this, so the strut does not fall onto your foot or the floor.


13. Once you have the nuts loose, you will be able to remove this from the vehicle.


14. Now that the strut assembly is out of the car, you will need to use a spring compressor of your choosing. Once the spring is compressed you can use a 21mm socket and your 1/2" impact to remove the upper strut nut.


15. Once this is separated, you can remove the strut mount and then pull the spring off of the strut.


16. Now that this is finished, you have successfully removed your shocks, struts, and springs from your S197 Mustang!

We hope that this video has helped you and you have a better understanding of how to remove your shocks and struts from your S197 Mustang.