Just replaced my front and rear struts. Rear ones were easy, just as the Haynes manual said. Front ones were a royal PITA. Thought I'd put a few notes in here for anyone's future reference, and so you can tell me what I did wrong.

- I did not unhook the caliper, just set it up on the tie rod out of the way
- I didn't take the rotors or splash shields or torque members off. The bearings tested out fine and I didn't want to muck something up by taking that stuff off.
- The 2 bolts holding the strut to the steering knuckle were TIGHT, and I broke my cheap ratchet using a breaker bar.
- I didn't take the balljoint off either, I just took all the nuts/bolts out, and the strut came out by twisting the knuckle down and to the right as you face it. Probably not factory approved, but I also did not want to fool with the balljoint at this time.

- The strut was heavy as frak because it still had the rotor/etc. on it. I set it up on the edge of my workbench and clamped it down tight with 2 woodworking clamps. This worked well.
- I had to go buy a big pipe wrench for the gland nut. Nothing else worked, but that worked fine with it clamped to the workbench.
- I pried out the O-ring on the inside with a pocketknife. You can't really get the assembly out nicely without removing the o-ring, and the knife pried it up to where I could pull it out.
- Should I save the guts?? Any value in having original strut guts?
- Put the new assembly in. It turned out to be about 1/2" shorter than the original setup, so I had to tighten up the compressors some more to get the springs on and top parts.
- Cleaned and repacked the top bearing, which I wasn't planning for. Not a big deal, but I overlooked that part when going over the procedure beforehand.

- Getting the strut back in there was the most painful part. I had to push the transverse link down to let the bottom fit up and over the steering knuckle, then put the bolts through the top and tighten the nuts down, then fight with the bottom part to get the 2 holes lined up and bolts back in.

I guess it doesn't sound horrible reading it here, the 2 biggest things were clamping it down tight since I don't have a vise, and using the pipe wrench. And it was a lot of not-much-fun, curse-inducing work. Not fun like engine work.

ANYWAY, it rides much better now so I guess it was worth it, but I'm glad it's over.

 

Sometimes the best way to learn is the hard way huh?

 

Yeah that's always the case. One side will take forever and the other side will be a piece of cake.

 

why i like coilovers...makes it alot easier

 

I remember doing this. The only part I remember was hard is holding the assembly up in the fender while trying to line up the two bottom bolts through the bumpsteer spacer. Those things didn't want to start threading. oh, and at the same time pressing down on the lower control arm.

 

Yep. That part was awesome, especially with the shop light hanging in the wheel well hitting/burning my forehead.

 

i just removed the caliper from its mounts, left it hooked up to the line, unbolted the ball joint and sway bar, strut rod and upper mounts, the thing fell out. its the fastest way to do it, took about 2.5 hours total. the hardest is getting back up to the top and putting in the bolts, but if you got help they can get one bolt on so you dont have to strong arm it.

 

That's the key to this. Having a 3rd hand is immensely useful. A fourth hand just starts getting in the way, but a 3rd is perfect.