Springs Install How-To

[PenelopeG3]

Originally Posted by k-huevo

Place a stick on the jack’s lift pad and use as leverage under the lower spring perch to compress the spring and push the strut out of the steering knuckle. A few taps with a dead blow hammer may be needed to break it free. Exercise cautions if a hand is needed to stabilize the strut, do not place the hand or fingers between the strut & stick or any place where it could be trapped if the strut shifts abruptly.

I just installed Koni struts on my 06 MCS using this write-up as a guide. I wanted to make a couple of points on installing Koni front struts where the directions should change from the directions for stock-like front struts.

For the Koni front strut, do NOT use a "piece of wood" under the lower spring perch to try and compress the spring enough so that it can be maneuvered into the lower control arm. The spring perch on the Koni is pressed into the strut shaft. If you apply upward pressure to it using the wood and a jack procedure above, you will wind up dislodging the perch from the strut.

Notice that the strut is a "two piece" design and the spring perch is pressed in to the strut body.



Instead, loosen the 2 bolts that hold the inner ball joint to the front subframe. By loosening those 2 bolts ( I think I might have fully removed one bolt on the passenger side), the lower control arm drops a couple of inches and you can easily maneuver the strut into the lower control arm. It was actually quicker for me to do this than to try screwing around with the wood and jack routine. Safer too.

Good luck.