New AZ SHO Club Member- need rear strut advice

[stasd135]

Hi all-
My name is Stamati, I've been the proud owner of a Red & Tan 1994 ATX for 2 years now. She's got 196K, but I've only put on the last 35K. In that time I've:

1. Had the CPS, timing belt, and water pump replaced at a friends shop in Missouri.
2. Installed a quality rebuilt starter done by a local shop in Kansas.
3. Replaced 3 alternators (forced to buy a crappy rebuild while in the middle of a road trip, rebuilt the rebuild myself, then finally broke down and dropped the money for yet another rebuild, this time with a lifetime warranty)
4. Installed a new timing belt tensioner last year.
5. Wired in three more “Express-down” boxes inside the driver’s door, adding the ‘Express’ to both driver and passenger windows.
6. Replaced a tired Moonroof switch
7. Rewired the fog/driving lights to always activate/deactive with the parking lights (regardless of headlight position).

My SHO is a daily driver and a work horse. She’s not particularly pretty on the outside (AZ sun is taking its toll on the clear coat) or on the inside (Doggie likes the taste of leather from the back seat). She doesn’t burn much oil, but she’ll leak out a quart every 3K or so. The tranny has been consistently sketchy over the past 100K (I know the previous owner), and so it’s pretty rare that my SHO really gets up and goes, because once the tranny goes, the SHO will probably be over. My goal with this car is longevity, not speed. With all that said, I love my SHO because she’s always underestimated, and consistently over achieves. I don’t know of any other car that gives back so much (power, luxury, handling performance, reliability) with so little investment.

So now that you know a little bit about me, my ride, the kind of wrenching I’ve done, and what I want to get out of my SHO, I want to ask your advice for what’s the best way to fix my latest problem…

MY REAR SUSPENSION IS SHOT.

The springs have been sagging pretty bad for the last year (which coincides with when I started taking weekend trips to Rocky Point, Mexico), and now the rear struts have completely failed (the speed bumps and potholes on the road trip through Baja California sealed the coffin).

The sagging doesn’t bother me much, but the struts have GOT to be replaced. What’s the easiest way to do this, given that price, rather than performance, is more important to me on this ~200K SHO?

1. Can I avoid some of the labor difficulties (spring compression, post install alignment) if I can pull a complete strut off of a junkyard car? My research make me believe that Sable, Taurus, and Taurus SHO suspension parts are interchangeable…

2. Unless someone tells me its foolish, I’d rather not buy new springs. If I do get new springs, I wouldn’t want to cut them. I’ve read good things about the Moog Cargo coils, but I don't know if they will if they aren't modified.

3. Does anyone have a strong opinion one way or the other for any of these products or companies?

Springs
Midwest SHO, Moog CC858 and CC859, 139.99 for all four
Rockauto, Moog CC859, 52.79 pair
NAPA, Moog CC859, 71.49 pair

Struts
Rockauto, Monroe Sensatrak 71781, 51.79 (2 required, buy 3 get one free)
Midwest SHO, KYB OE, 279.00 for all four
Autozone, Gabriel Ultra, 44.99 ea (2 required)
NAPA, Monroe Sensatrak 71781, 61.99 (2 required)

Is there a comprehensive list of parts needed? Do I really need new Strut Mounts, Pinch bolt kit, or a Dust boot Kit?

5. Is there a comprehensive write-up available with pictures that covers doing the rear suspension? I think I've gleaned everything I need by sarching this forum and reading this guide found on SHOTimes site. (http://www.shotimes.com/php-bin/mod...e=article&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0&sid=110)

6. Anything I'm missing? I'm off to Sears now to get the tools. I've got some free time right now and so I'd like to get this job done in the next week.

Sorry for the long post. This is yet another new one for me. The last time I did anything like this was 10 yrs ago with a 1979 CJ-5, when I installed a 4” suspension lift. Even without having to take a chainsaw to the garage door in order to get the vehicle out when it was all done, it was a huge PITA.

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to give help/advice, also thanks to shoguy311 for turning me onto the forum.

Cheers,
Stamati

 

[Shoaz]

Is it an AZ car? It'll be a much easier job if it is.

If you're only going to do the rear suspension I'd suggest changing only the struts and the springs. You shouldn't need mounts, boots, or anything else unless they're broken. Pinch bolts are optional, you can reuse what's in there, but getting new ones doesn't hurt.

 

[stasd135]

Yes it's a Chandler, Az car at the moment, although in two weeks I plan to drive to Portland, Oregon- so I guess its days in the SW are numbered... Do you know of a local place where I can get all the parts I need in the next day or two?
What benefit willl new springs give beyond raising the ride height? Springs don't affect the ride stiffness much, do they? Is there a combination of struts/springs that would be best for adding a hitch and (small) tow trailer to my SHO? I know it's not reccomended for an ATX, but don't like being told what to do...

Stamati

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Is it an AZ car? It'll be a much easier job if it is.

Bah....wuss. Whats a little rust anyways?


But Sounds like you have yourself a well seasoned sho there. Welcome to the forum.

Firstly I need to point out that its your springs that hold the car up, not the struts, so if she's got a saggy rear end, its because of those famous stock springs going south (literally). A cheap fix is to just buy the rear springs at 50 something a pair and put them in along with 2 new rear struts. Yes you could get some junk yard springs, but they may suffer from the same effects of gravity that your current ones do.


The rears are not complicated in that you have to remove the axle or get it realigned, but depending on the condition of some of the rear pinch bolts, and the length of the struts, you could be in for a tough time.

 

[stasd135]

Yes you could get some junk yard springs, but they may suffer from the same effects of gravity that your current ones do.

Yeah, good point. I'd be pretty ticked off if I did all that work just to swap bad parts for bad parts. I called NAPA about the Moog Cargo coils, but the guy said they don't carry them... Is the NAPA catalog inventory and stock handled regionally instead of nationally? Strange.
They did said they could get me a pair of "Precision Variable Flex" springs next day ($74pr), no shipping charges, so that's probably what I'm going to go with.

Stamati

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Yeah, good point. I'd be pretty ticked off if I did all that work just to swap bad parts for bad parts. I called NAPA about the Moog Cargo coils, but the guy said they don't carry them... Is the NAPA catalog inventory and stock handled regionally instead of nationally? Strange.
They did said they could get me a pair of "Precision Variable Flex" springs next day ($74pr), no shipping charges, so that's probably what I'm going to go with.

Stamati

Well, it is an old sho, so you want to keep the costs down, however I have never heard of PVF springs. HEre are some Moog's.....4 of them for 150 shipped to you....that is double but you atleast get the fronts too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...tem=7958779592&category=33582&sspagename=WDVW

 

[stasd135]

Well, I've removed the back seat, cleaned out a spot in the garage, and picked up the parts... I've already come across a few things I didn't expect:
1. The change of supplier in the springs Napa carries (already discussed earlier in this thread)
2. The part number on the Monroe Sensatrak struts from NAPA changed from 71781 to 71616...
3. Under the seatbelt mounts, the top retaining nuts (3) on the passenger side were 1/2in, driver side were 13 mm?!?!

QUESTION for anyone who's done this job before:
Is a Crow's foot wrench (21mm?) necessary to remove the big nut on the top of the strut, or will a cresent wrench work?

Stamati

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Well, I've removed the back seat, cleaned out a spot in the garage, and picked up the parts.

QUESTION for anyone who's done this job before:
Is a Crow's foot wrench (21mm?) necessary to remove the big nut on the top of the strut, or will a cresent wrench work?

Stamati

1: No, you dont "need" a crows foot, any wrench you can get down in that mount will work...mine were seized by years of rust, so I "needed" a die grinder.

2: You are doing the rear springs, why are you taking out the back seat?

 

[stasd135]

1: No, you dont "need" a crows foot, any wrench you can get down in that mount will work...mine were seized by years of rust, so I "needed" a die grinder.

2: You are doing the rear springs, why are you taking out the back seat?

1: Ford shop books and Monroe Shock instructions say you need it to hold the piston in place while you spine off the top (big) bolt. I held onto the piston by lowering the bumper stop and grabbing on to it down below with some fancy vice grips designed for holding cylindrical shapes... I don't think I did any damage.

2: I removed the rear seat because my piggy bank was getting low, and I knew there had to be at least $100 worth of change lost in the cracks. It also made the job of cleaning the seats and applying the leather conditioner much easier... It's the easiest way to get to the top threes strut bolts

For anyone interested, I found these two sites to have to best information on doing this procedure. The SHOtimes guide is a decent 'howto' and the page titled 'MOOG CC springs and the V6 SHO Taurus' has good info on parts for both Gen1 and Gen2. Here they are, Cheers.

http://hosting.superhighoutput.com/notsoslowsho/moog_cc_springs.htm
http://www.shotimes.com/php-bin/mod...e=article&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0&sid=110