'99 Rear strut springs broken

[JTS03COBRA]

Hi everyone, I don't come to this site too often, only when I'm working on my sis's '99 SHO.:sun:
I have found out that both rear springs are broken and need replacing. Do you know if Autozone's Duralast brand will be ok to use?
Also, I ran into a problem with the rear pinch bolts, they won't budge. Do you think that if I simply removed the lower rear strut tension rod and the upper strut mount nuts that the whole thing will swing down and out of the wheelwell? Since I'm not replacing the struts, I was thinking I could give this a try. Has anyone done it this way?
Thanks for any info you can offer.:thankyou:

 

[SHOMEX]

Well if the bolt at the knucle doesn't move; then you can remove the whole strut and knuckle just like you said, by removing the tension strut rod nut and both bolts for the control arms; after that simple swing out the whole thing. (I had to do that when one of my knucle to strut bolts broke inside the knucle)
As per the duralast brand I have never used them so no feedback there.

 

[SHODWN]

Doubtfull that the strut rod and controll arms will come loose if the pinch bold wont.. Your going to need to get torches to heat up the knuckle to get the bolt out.. dont even try untill you have the threaded part on the knuckle hot.. The bolt will strech and snap then you have a big problem.

If you have to buy new springs and im sure you will install new mounts why not install monroe quick struts? a little bit more but WAY less work.

 

[JTS03COBRA]

Thanks for those replies guys. I did manage to remove one of the pinch bolts, the other one did end up breaking, even though I used a torch on the knuckle just like the other.:frantic:
So, after that happened I was still able to remove the knuckle by unbolting the nuts to the tension strut & lower arms. They came off ok, the tension strut nut took about twice the effort, though. Then the ABS sensor needed to come off, but of course it wouldn't budge, so I had to leave it be and unhook it at it's plug, which was located at the center of the car above where the lower arms bolt up, which is in a place that tears the crap out of your arms & hands.
After I got everything out, I noticed the tops of the strut mounts were covered in rust and I could not budge the large nut on top. I don't have any air tools! So, I took them to a local shop in the hopes that they can remove the busted pinch bolt and then have them replace the springs while they're at it. Yeah, I didn't go w/ ready struts, as these were replaced with Motorcraft units about 4 years ago. They seem to be fine. But after all the hassle of getting to where I am at now, it definitely would've been easier on me to have went that route!

 

[Ian Macoomb]

For what its worth the Ford springs aren't too expensive. I think I paid about $50 a piece from Torrie at Ford Parts Network which is now Fast Parts Network thanks to Ford's ace legal team.

 

[JTS03COBRA]

Forgot to update this thread. I did get everything back together ok. The shop got the old pinch bolt drilled out and they installed the new springs, but they didn't line up the strut mounts. So, I had to compress the springs enough to rotate the mounts into position, good thing I had marked everything beforehand. All seems to be well so far. The ride height, however, was only a tiny bit higher, but the loud clunking was gone:sun:.

 

[ALL4SHO2]

glad everything is back together good. shouldn't the new springs have risen the ride height substaintally since the old springs were broke??

 

[kit352]

which springs did you end up using?

 

[JTS03COBRA]

I'm guessing that the ride height wasn't affected too much because the original springs were both broken at near the very top coil of the springs. So, not much loss in height since it was not affecting the springs' heights very much, just there stability, as the coils of the spring became separated from the strut mount. Luckily they both had slip over spring covers, which held them in place.
To answer the question above, I went with the Autozone Duralast coil springs.