How hard to do shocks&brakes?

Hi folks! My '89's brakes are getting soft and will need some TLC soon and same with the suspension. I pretty much have the parts in mind picked out I was just curious what level of difficulty I'm looking at here. I plan on doing the shocks and a what suspension bushings I can get to at the time and move out to the brakes and finish off with a full alignment (or so the plan in my head goes).

The front brakes are not hard at all.  The back brakes are more difficult due to the emergency brake.  I haven't done the front shocks yet, but they don't look to hard due to they are small in size.  You may need a jack or something to prop the control arm up if you change them yourself.  The rear shocks are more difficult because you have to reach way up into the wheel well to reach the top of the shock.

Cool! Thanks  , Doesnt sound to bad then! I'll call up my bro-in-law since he has more experience with those emergency brakes and such. I have plenty of jacks and stands and such... Last Q,will I need any weird special tools for this?

I have found that brakes and shocks are easy to replace. Not a whole lot different than any other Chevy. 

Sounds like a fun weekend worth of work.  Do you have any manuals?  If not, take plenty of pictures as you do tear down, label parts, do one wheel at a time so you have a good one to look at for comparison.  Do some looking on net, lot's of people have done this already and there is a ton of 'how to' info out there.  If you get stuck, post up and members can help.  Draining coolant has some tricks, so do some research. Same with adding new brake lines and bleeding. Don't guess, the engineers built things a certain way for a reason  Get some PB Blaster and spray any bolts a day before. And remember safety first, jackstands, etc.  Do your homework ahead of time and you will have a better job that takes less time and will be done right.  We've all been there, good luck, you'll feel so much better knowing you did it yourself.

This is not a difficult job. I changed mine numerous times on my 85 during it's 200,000 mile tenure.

Scott

A GM product called 'Heat Riser Lubricant' was recommended to me by a good friend.  The stuff is absolutely incredible at helping to free rusted nuts and bolts.  Over the weekend I was working on a stick harrow that has sat outside for over 20 years.  I hosed down nuts and bolts I knew I was going to working with and within an hour I was able to break them loose.  Another tip that friend gave me was to first try to tighten a rusted nut/bolt and then loosen it.   

to me the shocks on my 90 were pretty easy to do. i did all four in a couple hours and everything went like clockwork (which is unusual when i have an easy job to do). i have not tackled the brakes as of yet but i am sure they won't be to bad. have four wheel d/b on my escalade and they went on pretty easy. take your time and be careful and you should have no problems.

About the parking brake on a 88, I can say it´s the newer set up without the special shoes on the inside.

I suggest you use a premium shock absorber,

nothing worse than a cheap shock on a performance vehicle.