Rear Struts

[MorpheusGPR]

I have 3 nuts off the top of the strut, am I missing one? I have the other stuff off, the spring compressed with a pair of ampro coil spring compressing units and the thing will not budge.

I am trying to replace everything, the strut, spring, and strut mounts.

 

[CerberuS]

The 3 top nuts is only to hold it to the car.

Once you have the unit in hand (the whole macpherson kit spring And strut) , compress the spring , once you see the spring is loose , remove the Center big bolt.

NEVER remove the big bolt (center) if the spring is NOT compressed.

 

[Redskull]

in my experience, taking the things apart is more trouble than it's worth unless you have a nice set of impact tools. Just drop off the old stuff and the new stuff at a shop; it'll take them 20 minutes and 30 dollars, and you won't wreck them.

PS - the three bolts on the top of the mounts are NOT generic; They are keyed in a specific position, with the 'outer' bolt lined up with the brake line clip, or else it won't go back in the car.

 

[MorpheusGPR]

Redskull, That confused me there not sure what you mean.

Update:

I went to wrap things up for the night and put a stand under it. When I did that and lowered the jack the upper end all fell out and is now loose. Now I just have to figure out how to get the strut to rotate free from the bottom.

I was making it harder then it is, I guess. When it came out from the top I thought for sure something had torn free and destroyed something.

So now I have a jack stand under my SFC where it welds near the rear and I put the tire back on for the night, although its just sort of hanging there since the strut is free from the top. I took the jack out so someone won't steal it while I am at work tomorrow.

Anyways to get the strut the rest of the way free? I used a screw driver and mallet with no luck. If I bang on the strut where the sway bar mounts then I can see it rotate but it won't slide free.

 

[Redskull]

sorry, i didn't realize you didn't have them out of the car yet.....The best way I found was to keep the top of the struts (the three small bolts) bolted into the car, and then slide the spindle off the bottom with the help of a large hammer and a crowbar. After you loosen the spindle pinch bolt (around the back of the strut near the bottom), pry it apart as much as you can with a crowbar, and go to town on the large flat spot between the spindle and the strut. WD-40 is your friend. Anyway you do it, your in for a long day of pounding. You're also going to need to take out the tension strut (the front/back mini-strut looking thing) that goes from the cars frame to the very bottom of the spindle. Make sure to put something underneath the spindle, because once you slide it off the bottom of the strut, gravity takes over.

alan

 

[MorpheusGPR]

I finally got the dirvers rear strut and spring out. Damn, what a PITA. I did a bunch of pounding etc. I finally figured out that the bar the goes underneath everything had to be unbolted (even though it never came out of the hole) which allowed the unit to drop more and gave me just enough room to fit the unit out while I have it clamped down with some spring compressors.

I went to a couple of local stores to try and get a replace ment bushing in poly for that part I was just mentioning but I do not know what it is called and no one had any poly bushings. I would not mind just replacing the bushings at the other end of the bar as well it they are easy to get to since they look to be cracked etc. I also could not find anyone who had a poly sway bar to frame bushing. The previous owner put poly endlinks on already.

Anyone know a quick place online?

 

[MorpheusGPR]

Ok I had to quit for the day. This is annoying. Now I take the new spring, strut, and strut mount out of the boxes. The strut looks way to short and has no rubber guard on it, and I can't get the stocker to come apart What am I missing? Whats the trick?

 

[Redskull]

No trick, you just need a truck load of toruqe in a place that's impossible to get at. I'll mention again that it's well worth the money to just drop all the parts at a shop and get them to swap them around; they have all the expensive impact tools. But remember, the strut mouts only go in the car ONE way. Take the mount, before it gets put on the strut, and fit it up into the car so you know which way it needs to be oriented. Then mark the bolt that is furtherst towards the outside of the car. When you put the new mount on the strut, make sure the marked bolt is in line with the clip for the brake line, and they'll be no problems. As for bushings, I think spmotorsports had a whole line of them, but i'm not sure if they had the ones for the tension strut

alan

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Umm, you don't use the spring compressors until the strut assembly is OUT OF THE CAR.

 

[MorpheusGPR]

Ok well its out at any rate, why in the **** is the new strut so short? What am I missing here? There is no length to it and there is no rubber boot around the "piston" which I can't even see. So I can't assemble the new unit because its got no length to go up and through the spring etc.

????

 

[Redskull]

wrong struts, maybe? What kind did you get? If i remember right, my Tokicos didn't come with rubber boots; i had to buy them seperatly. As far as the length goes, try putting the spring on it, and see if it 'pulls it out' to the right size. If there still not the right size, i'd check the part numbers

ac

 

[Mr Anonymous]

You may need to turn the strut piston to release it. Other than OE Ford struts, aftermarket struts don't include the bumper and bellows. If you don't want to reuse your old ones, you'll need to buy new ones.

 

[Vsho93]

Don't feel bad , my uncle owns a shop and it took us 3 days to swap the entire rear end of my SHO using all those expensive impact tools , we broke the bolts on the bottom and had to drill them out ( ouch )

P.S. the reason for the 3rd day is thats when the starter decided to quit , lol

 

[MorpheusGPR]

I bought the monroe sensatracs front and rears. I can handle going to the zone to buy the rubber boots to go around it. I doubt I could get the spring to compress this far....I have to hit he sack for the night but I don't see any way to turn anything to "free" it up either. There is no metal rod showing at all, just the strut and then the thread piece at the top. Does that help on the description any?

Thanks for the help.

 

[MorpheusGPR]

When looking at the strut I have out of the box again, is there anything that I need to remove, i.e. some type of metal cap on it? Something that is holding the piston from extending out so I can assemble the new unit.

 

[projectSHO89]

When looking at the strut I have out of the box again, is there anything that I need to remove, i.e. some type of metal cap on it? Something that is holding the piston from extending out so I can assemble the new unit.

Push in slightly and rotate the piston. It will then release from its internal keeper and extend under pressure.

Steve