My Father taught me that no matter how far down a road you get, never be afraid to turn around.

(spin)

I got my HSports today and began with the left-front because it seems like the most trouble. I cannot for the life of me get that GD strut out of that socket. It will slide up and down but stays about 1 inch inside. I can turn it, push it up and down, but I can't get it clear. I have loosened the 3 tower bolts as the recommendations state. I've disconnected the front sway bar drop link. It's loose but I can't get the rotor and axle LOW enough.

WTF CHUCK!?!?!?!

Please help. I'm going to take it to a shop tomorrow if I can't resolve it.

Thanks in advance,

-Jim

 

Hey hey. Been there! Ok, the trick is to rotate the lower housing (the part with the brake rotor and such attached) forward while pulling it as far toward the rear of the car as possible. this should give you enough room to rotate the strut out from under the wheel well housing and allow you to remove it. Will take several tries, but trust me it can be done.

Mark


_________________
Mark
'02 Cooper S
<p>"Minibeast" Sponsored by
<p><A HREF="http://www.2fam.com"><IMG SRC="http://www.2fam.com/images1/fa-banner.gif" ALT="Click above to vist our site!" ALIGN=CENTER></A>

 

Thanks Mark,

When you say rotate do you mean as the rotor is oriented or rotate the steering mechanism?

Also, I've only disconnected the sway bar link and the bolt holding the strut in. Any other disconnects required?

Thanks,

-Jim

 

The left front is the most difficult one to get out. When I had Eric @ Helix put the H-Sports on, he wrestled with the same GD strut for awhile before it popped. He said that some of the cars were harder than others, but mine was absolutely the worst. You might want to do the others first and save the left front for last. By then, you'll at least know how they should come off.

Good luck,
Kim

 

Well, I'd think you would want to start with the most difficult one first. That way you don't get 3 of them on only to get stuck on the last one. (shrug)

In any event, thanks for the replies but the white flag of surrender is up. I'm going to have Charlie at RDR install them Wednesday.

Doh!

-J

 

assuming you are going to use a spring compressor, put it on before you pull the strut and shorten the overall length that way. You might get lucky with a couple of small bar clamps doing the same thing.