Struts & springs - impossible?

[Frisbeeguy]

lol- After much studying, printing the "how to" and with the manual in hand I went for it today.
Big mistake.
Had to give up after over 3 hours struggling to remove a rear strut. Ready to attack the car w/ a hammer. (I did attempt to pound it out w/ a heavy rubber mallet)
Am I just clueless? Here's what I've done:

Have the rear end up on jackstands, wheels off. Top three nuts loosened.
Brake hose loose. Stabilizer bar loose and off link. With a lot of effort, got the tension bar off the spindle. Pinch bolt out. (Then reinstalled it backwards with a screwdriver in the slot, cranked tight to try to open up spindle a bit.)

At this point the manual says to "remove strut from vehicle". Yaaaa, right.

Now what? (I don't mind hammering it again tomorrow but I don't think it'll help)

Do I need to disassemble the control arms?
Maybe try jacking the strut up out of the spindle?? (attempted but jack / socket extension slipped)

I'm doing something completely wrong - should car be on the ground? Jackstands under the spindles?

Thanks for listening... Hopefully tomorrow goes better then today.

 

[Ishodu]

Its a royal pain to get the long body struts out of the knuckle. I have clamped on spring compressors in the past and made the unit shorter to make it go better. I have also removed the whole rear knuckle as well. And also fought cursed and swore and pried it out too.

 

[luigisho]

Ditto. I think I used a jack and maybe a prybar. Try prying the gap at the pinch bolt some and some spray **** then use a jack. I think I may have used a piece of 2x4 and a jack and pushed it up from the bottom of the spring perch of the strut. Be careful if you do this as it likes to pop off at an angle. I think I also may have I used a shorter piece of 2x4 and a mini sledge and banged downward on the knuckle around the area where the strut goes through to get it loosened up-- with the car up on jackstands for a little more working room...Been a long while since I had to do one....

 

[kevinspann]

Hammer down on the spindle, right next to where the strut goes though.

 

[boat]

With a minimum of a 5lb sledge hammer. When you put it back together, put some grease on the new strut body so it goes into the spindle a little easier.

I might be doing this weekend, the madness of replacing struts on my SHO.

Hammer down on the spindle, right next to where the strut goes though.

 

[93rev2sev]

Open the knuckles' ears further. Tighten the topnuts so that there's a rigid connection at the top and use a large prybar setup of some kind. I have 5 feet of fence post I use for this and lots of other stuff. Put the long prybar under the H and over the knuckle. Help the prybar with the tap of a 3lb sledge. I think Bill has even put a bottle jack between the knuckle and the bottom of the strut...

In other words: large amounts of sustained force...not sharp hammer blows.

 

[kevinspann]

I've done it all of these ways, lol.

 

[Danz13]

I just did it for the front. **** up and Hammer away!

 

[LOUDSHO92]

With the strut still tight to the top Ill jump on or kick the knuckle down. May not sound elegant but it works. I do open the knuckle as stated. It always works too.

Also if the strut is loose up top it takes a way some of the force you are putting into the knuckle. Make sure it is tight up top.

 

[NP SHO]

I had trouble when doing my SensaTrac/Intrax install. Pretty sure they were the original struts and springs on there. As stated before...

1. Tighten the top nuts back up. Having them loose is just making more work for yourself.
2. Spread the ears on the back of the knuckle where the pinch bolt runs through. (I used a prybar instead of the threading-the-pinch-bolt-from-the-other-side method)
3. BFH to knock the spindle loose from the bottom of the strut.
4. Good sturdy prybar to finish separating the knuckle from the bottom of the strut.
5. Remove the top nuts and drop the strut assembly down and out of the wheel well.

Also as mentioned above, **** the inside of the knuckle a little when reinstalling as it will help get the strut to slide back into the knuckle, as well as help you get them out again in the future if need be.

Be glad you didn't snap a pinch bolt when taking everything apart. That was a *****!

I'm sending you a PM with my number in case you have any questions, or just need some moral support. Good luck and let us know how you make out!


What strut and spring combo are you installing? Also, just another piece of advice... Replace the strut mounts and all the bushings while you have it apart. It will save you from going crazy trying to track down random clunks and squeaks afterwards. I speak from experience. lol

 

[Frisbeeguy]

Oh yea! Good morning and thanks all of you - now I don't feel completely foolish.
So it's normal to get manly and force the issue.
Maybe step 13 in the manual could be a bit more then just "remove struts from vehicle".
Have new Eibach's and Sensatracs for all four corners. (found an unused set of Eibach's on GL awhile back)
While down there I did find one side (drivers) stabilizer bar link was loose / worn. I'm now thinking this was the cause of the mysterious occasional clunk back there.
I have today to work on it after no time for the last couple months.
Bye bye saggy rear end uphill driver.
Hmmm... then comes cat-back and paint. (does it ever end??)
Thanks again - will report back when done.

 

[NP SHO]

now I don't feel completely foolish.

Don't feel foolish. We're here to help. Just be glad you don't live in the rust belt!

While down there I did find one side (drivers) stabilizer bar link was loose / worn. I'm now thinking this was the cause of the mysterious occasional clunk back there.

I had a similar situation. After installing my new suspension I still had the same clunk as before I upgraded. After troubleshooting I found out it was the swaybar bushings all along. They were the only bushings I HADN'T replaced when doing the suspension upgrade.

(does it ever end??)

Never! lol

Thanks again - will report back when done.

Yes, keep us updated. "After" pics are good too.

Good luck!

 

[rubydist]

one obvious thing I didn't see mentioned above is to soak the knuckle/strut interface with penetrating oil (PB Blaster or similar) for a while. that will help loosen rust and provide some lubrication.

 

[NP SHO]

I knew I forgot to mention something...

 

[93rev2sev]

Here's the alternate version of the instructions:

Remove strut from vehicle

 

[jayro]

Do you have an air hammer? With the pinch bolt ears separated a little use the air hammer with a mushroom head on it to hammer the knuckle down while prying down with a big bar. The air hammer works great, just use ear plugs or they will be ringing for at least a day. Good luck.

 

[Frisbeeguy]

WOW - what a day!
I never would have thought it'd take all day to do just the rear. Yikes. (I said far worse then that as I was taking out the top screw that's pinched under the seat belt retracter)
It turns out there was no upper bushing on the drivers side anti-sway bar.
Removed the KYB struts that were in about 30 - 40,000 miles. They weren't in bad shape and the mounts were O.K. as well but I replaced them anyway.
The KYB's take a 6mm hex and 19mm crows foot to take out the piston bellow to reuse. Of course one stripped and I had to grind the nut off to get it apart.
I did use a liberal amount of PB blaster during the process and found the "stand and bounce on the knuckle" along with a bit of hammering worked best. (******** hit the edge of the fender once though - D'oh)

Very happy with the final result though... it raised the rear a shade over an inch. Haven't driven it yet.

A million thanks for the quick and helpful hints on this. I really thought I'd not need it after all the reading I've done before starting. Y'all are awesome!

Very tired and hungry (and hot - over 100 down here)
Beer & sleep & may try to do the fronts tomorrow if I have time. Glad I did the hard ones first.

When I do the fronts I may cut one coil after comparing the old & new springs.

 

[kevinspann]

You could have slid the strut bellows up and clamped down on the strut shaft with a pair of vise-grips, and tried to loosen the nut.

 

[jayro]

Also, if you removed the back shelf on the interior of the car ( think that's what it's called) you can access the 3 nuts on top of the strut assembly with ease. Not a lot of help afteryour done though.

 

[NP SHO]

Compared to the rears the fronts should be a cake walk.