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How to work on your struts...
1) Jack front of car up and place on jack stands. You need both sides off the ground at the same time so that you take the stress off the sway bar.
2) Remove wheels (bolts 1-4 per side).
3)Turn steering wheel to one side and lock it. This makes access to the upper end-like bolt (The one on the side of the strut) easier to get to. Take off bolt (bolt #5) and slide through the end-link. Turn the wheel and repeat on the other side.
4) Take the brake line, the ABS sensor wire, and the brake pad sensor wire (if equipped) off the struts.
5) Undo the pinch bolt (big one on the steering knuckle) and remove it (this is number 6...). You have to take it out because it goes through a safety tab so the strut can't come out of the knuckle while driving if the bolt were to loosen.
6) Work the strut out of the knuckle. I rest the bottom of the rotor on a floor jack, and just work it side to side, whack it with a 2x4, whatever. I can slide out pretty easy. Depending on your model year, it may take a bit of creativity to get the drivers side out (at least on very early cars). I'll leave this as an excursize for the student! You want to keep the bottom of the rotor supported cause if you let it droop, it will lean away from the car, maybe far enough to pull the splines out of the tranny, and this is a PITA to deal with.
7) Undo the three top bolts on the strut tower. (bolt numbers 7-9....) Watch out, when the third one is loose the strut will drop. It's pretty heavy (at least to hold with one hand) so go carefull here. Don't worry, you won't break your wrist, just know that it's gonna want drop so be prepared. Once it's loose, you have to thread it through all the lines to get it free and take it out of the car.
8) You can either use the strut top nut tool (a deep socket cut away so you can get an allen wrench into the top of the strut) or an air wrench to undo the top nut. (Number 10!) There isn't much force retianed in the string so you don't NEED a spring compressor. But there is a bit of energy retained in there so be carefull. I've use the air wrench and just leaned into it, or put some ratcheting canvass straps on the spring when using hand tools. Strut compressors can be rented for very little money too, if you like to do things right....
9) once the top nut is off and the spring energy released, you just take off the strut guide and the spring perch, put the new one or ones on, and reverse the process.
It's not hard at all, and now I can drop a strut in less than 10 min. Took about a half hour a side the first time going very slow. If you have lowering springs, then it's even easier.... I don't think there's any energy (depending on spring brand) left in the spring when the strut is out of the car.....
Matt
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