2012-2016 Honda CR-V Front & Rear Struts Replacement How-To 

This is the part of youtube I love. An instructional video with no crazy intro and no fluff. I learned how to do something, and now I'm going to apply it. Thanks for this.

Three different shops quoted me around $1,800 to replace JUST the strut assemblies. I replaced all four strut assemblies AND all four sway bar links on my 2014 CRV yesterday using this video as a guide for only $600 in parts. I just bookmarked your other CRV videos for when the time comes to do that maintenance too. THANK YOU!!

Just used this video to change struts on 2012 CR-V and couldn’t be happier. Fantastic instructional video. Thanks!

An Excellent step by step video, giving the do it myselfer the confidence to get er done fast and easy! Thanks for the best quality video too!

I just replaced my shocks and struts for our 2015 CRV. Thank you very much for this video. It made things easier for me and saved me a lot of time. My only suggestion is adding a tool list and torque specs in the video description section. Other than that , great video!! Thank you !!

Fantastic quality and instructions. I love how you actually take and effort to position the camera correctly in those tight spaces. A+ top job.

Thanks for the very clear images and instructions, including torque values which some people don't seem to use. Hope mine goes as smoothly.

Hey man, I also replaced front and rear struts and sway bar links on our '012 CRV with the help of your video, I am not a mechanic at all, it took me couple of days to do the 4 struts because removing the sway bay links was really hard, but at the end all went well. My last 2023 car job, lol. Thank you so much and have great new year.

Truly, one of the best instructional videos I've watched. No nonsense, laid back, informative, and naturally descriptive in each step of the process. Thank you very much for this. I'll hopefully be getting this done next week. I've got to change my front struts and will be changing my rear struts in a couple of weeks. My budget won't allow me to knock it all out at once, but this has left me extremely confident in my first attempt at getting this done. Cheers.

It’s been four years since I’ve taken my back shocks off, so that was great. I bought the O’Reilly shocks top-of-the-line with a lifetime warranty and four years later they sound spongy. It’s the full shock and spring assembly and I’m gonna go down tomorrow and they’re gonna give me free ones to replace. Hopefully I don’t have issues with the fronts but we’ll see what happens when I get the back ones on.

Fantastic instruction.. Thank you so much for taking the time and help us save lots of money and learn so much. Thanks again couldn't be any happier.

Just finished tackling this. Thanks for the video! I also used a small jack stand in addition to the jack under the ball joint to stabilize it which helped. What a difference having new struts and sway bar links after 220K miles on my CRV! :)

Thank You for the video. It was very helpful. It was a pain to get to the bolts for the rear struts, but this video saved me.

Thanks for taking the time do share this instruction. Much appreciated!

Thanks for the video, good to see how the rear strut assembly is made. Quick notes: when torquing with a torque wrench, the bolt must turn some before the wrench clicks, otherwise it was already too tight. Also, using an impact to drive the bolt through the bottom of the strut could damage the bolt threads.

Love how long and informative this is, made me think I can do this with ease. Thanks

I am not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination; however, if I followed this video, I could change my struts on the back and front. If I had a car that I could just toy around with, I would be willing to try this because this is great instruction. I am watching this because I do have to get my struts replaced on my Honda CR-V and I want to know if ANYTHING goes wrong, I know the process and can speak a little more intelligently on the matter. Thank you so much. Happy Holidays!

- Those torque specs were helpful , thanks.

Thank you for this video saved me $700.00

Written steps of the job: ## Front Struts 1. Turn on the vehicle, turn on the wipers, and turn off the vehicle with wipers up to access the front struts. 2. Remove plastic covers by wiper joint using pry tool 3. Jack the vehicle up, and place the jack stand on the pinch weld. 4. Remove Tire 19 MM socket 5. Remove the brake line from the front strut. 12 MM socket 6. Remove the ABS wheel speed sensor from the strut Use plastic pry and clip remover. 7. Remove the lower sway bar link, only because we are replacing the links. 17 MM socket/wrench 6 MM Allen key 8. Remove struts and knuckle bolts. 19 MM socket 22 MM socket Can use impact to get off. 1. Place Jack standing underneath the knuckle to lift the suspension a little. 2. Remove the sway bar link bolt from the sway bar. 3. Remove bolts from knuckle to strut. 9. At the top of the strut tower, remove all five nuts 13 MM socket or 15 MM socket 10. Remove the strut 1. Lower the jack to allow the suspension to rest and slowly work the strut out NOTE: Do not lower the jack too much, don't put too much stress on the CV axle. 11. Lift the new strut up into the well, once seated try and get some of the threads started to hold the strut in place. 13 MM socket or 15 MM socket 12. Tighten down the five lugs hand tight for now 13. Position the steering knuckle into the new strut 19 MM socket 22 MM socket Torque: 115 ft-lbs 1. Use the jack to help lift and align to get the bolts back through. 14. Reattach break line 12 MM socket 15. Reattach the ABS speed sensor cable. Reseat plastic clip and rubber boot 16. Install a new sway bar 1. Seat lower bolt first 2. Lightly get the bottom nut started 3. Once positioned tighten down the bottom nut 1. 18 MM socket 2. 18 MM wrench 3. Torque: 58 ft-lbs 17. Jack up the strut until you can get the top link bolt into the strut assembly. 18. Once positioned tighten down the top nut 1. 18 MM socket 2. 18 MM wrench 3. Torque: 58 ft-lbs 19. Using a grease gun put 3 to 4 shots of grease into each link joint. 1. Wipe off excess grease 20. With the strut still jacked up, tighten the five top strut bolts. 1. 15 MM socket 2. Torque: 30 ft-lbs 21. Remount the wheel and lower the vehicle 1. Lower the jack 2. Remount the wheel 1. 19 MM socket 3. Jack the car back up 4. Remove the jack stand 5. Lower the jack 6. Torque lugs to 80 ft-lbs 22. Double-check strut tightness with a vehicle on the ground 23. Remount plastic trim pieces 24. Remount rubber molding ## Rear Struts 1. Lift up back seat 2. Folder rear seats forward 3. Remove plastic strut cover 1. Pry up the front of the panel on the side toward the front of the vehicle. 4. Jack up the vehicle at the center cross member. Jack is kind of high. 5. Place jack stands on both sides of the vehicle on jack mount points. 6. Remove the wheel from the vehicle. 7. Remove bolts holding the forward control arm 1. 17 MM socket 2. Use an impact gun 8. Remove the strut bolt going through the bottom of the suspension 1. 17 MM socket 2. Use an impact gun 9. Remove struct top mount nuts inside the vehicle 1. 14 MM socket 2. Use rachet 10. Remove strut assembly 1. Wiggle assembly and potentially use a pry bar to help get the strut free. 2. Swing it down and in toward the vehicle. 11. Feed new strut assembly up into the well 12. Hand tighten snug struct mount nuts 1. 14 MM socket 13. Replace the bolt going through the bottom of the suspension 1. 17 MM socket 2. Might need to use a mallet to align holes 3. Use a pry to help lift the strut to align the bolt 4. Once started by hand you can use an impact to drive home. 14. Replace bolts for forward control arm 1. Use the jack to lift the suspension to align the holes 2. Thread bolts by hand 3. Can use socket or impact 15. Lower the jack to allow the suspension to hang 16. Torque forward control arm bolts 1. 17 MM 2. Torque: 54 ft-lbs 17. Torque lower strut bolt 1. 17 MM 2. Torque: 64 ft-lbs 18. Remount wheels 19. Do the other side of the vehicle next. Do 1-18 again for the other side. 20. Jack the car back up at the center cross member remove the jack stands and lower the vehicle. 21. Tighten wheel lugs 1. 19 MM socket 2. Torque: 80 ft-lbs 22. Torque rear strut mount nuts 1. 14 MM socket 2. Torque: 33 ft-lbs 23. Replace plastic covers

Mine is not leaking but im feeling every small bumbs on road .. should i change my structs? Its 10 years old now.

Excellent video. Got the rear ones done this weekend. Why did you replace front sway bar links?

Good job, very detailed.

Thank you for the content, it was really helpful!

Great tutorial. 👍

Excellent video... Thanks a lot !!!

Thanks for sharing!

Exelente explicacion . Muchas gracias

Great video brother, I will try to follow your instructions step by step. Jesus Christ you have one squirrel nest right there .😀

Excellent detail and descriptions. Well done!

Thank you so much sire 🎉

Is there any reason to replace the rear strut mount along with the strut? I am having a hard time even finding them for sale

Great job. On front, does it need 2b aligned?

Great video but the ease at which he removes so the bolts is real misleading. This a nasty job getting the strut bolts and sway bar off

Great video. I got a 2014 crv. Everything looks pretty rusty on mine, but still seems to work fine. Why did you change these?

Great video! Do you need to torque the five nuts on top of the front struts?

My OCD is kicking in when he doesn't even attempt to clean those cone stuck in it 12:13!

I am getting ready to do the same service on my CRV. I was considering getting quick struts like the ones you used. How have they worked out for you?

That pine cone is old af needs a replacement buddy

thank u i will try too

thank you

can I ask you how many miles did your struts have on them?

thanks. anybody have a web site for the torque specs?

I don't tow or have anything extra on my 2013. 85,000 miles and it is sagging in back. Doing this soon.

great! can you list what tools you used to dis/assemble struts?

Do you really have to unbolt the rear control arms from the chassis or was that preferable?

I just noticed a rear strut leaking fluid. If I replace just the rears, do I need to have an alignment done?

How much they asking at the dealership parts and labor?

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5cIcCfvpG8Q.html and the cheerios go flying. I remember those days... Another informative DIY. Thank you sir.

It’s crazy that shops wanna be charging you 300 plus for just the rear shocks 250-300 for just labor when it took me 30-1 hr to do. Insane. Should be theft

12 CRV with 160K miles. The ride really sucks and cornering is bad. This is gonna be the last Honda I ever get. The OEM struts are really weak. Not leaking - just not enough dampening. Not sure what I'm gonna replace them with yet. Usually get KYB but heard some bad stuff lately. How is the Monroe? They used to suck back 30 years ago but maybe got their act together now. How are yours holding up?