Strut Removal

[southsiderida90]

I NEED HELP QUIK SOMEBODY TELL ME PLEASE HOW TO REMOVE THE FRONT SUSPENSION ASSEMBLY

[jaged]

what part? the whole thing or just the strut?

[dalaster88]

Well, in a nut shell, there is a bold on the backide of the strut at the bottom and a nut on the top and a couple smaller ones on the top that hold the rubber thing, lol, there maybe a how-to

[jaged]

remove the caliper, tie it off to the side. remove the bolt on the back of the strut. spray the bottom of the strut with some wd 40 and let it soak in. there are various ways to go from here. you can jack up on the tie rod mount and bang on the knuckle and get it to slide out. you can put a crow bar into the arm and push down on that and whack the knuckle to get it to slide down. you can turn the wheel just right so that you can get a big socket on the bottom of the strut and jack up on that. it should push the strut up, you might have to whack on the knuckle to get it to pop down.

whenever i beat on the knuckle i put a rubber/plastic mallet on the knuckle and hit that with a 2lb sledge to not damage the knuckle, but if youre not careful you will damage your fender

you might have to turn the wheel a bit to get the strut to pop out, or get a screwdriver in there to pry it out.

once you get it out hit the inside of the knuckle with some steel wool or fine sandpaper so the next time it will go easier

when doing any of this take your time. you will cuss, ive done it a lot, and i still cuss at it

[wadespencer99]

I pull the whole strut/spindle assembly out and separate them on the garage floor, but unless the car is relatively clean and been apart a couple times, you'll probably ruin the balljoint.

[southsiderida90]

ight thanks i figured it out i went to discount and borrowed a front end svc kit, one of the v clamps workd perfect with some tinkering

[southsiderida90]

now i cant get em bak in??? nybody got a good technique for this?

[sonza68]

If you have the strut started into the knuckle, I use a combination of holding the strut with one hand and the kuckle with the other and shaking while pulling up on the knuckle. That usually gets it half way or better. I finish it off either with jacking up under the ball joint, hitting the knuckle with a hammer, or a combination of both.

If you haven't even gotten that far yet, I use a 2x4 under the sway bar end link bracket and jack up on the board to compress the spring. Once it is compressed enough, you can rotate the knuckle into place under it. I will warn you that this often involves cursing as the board twists instead of compresses the spring or slips and pops out of place. Be careful of the later because it can be rather violent.

[burton160w]

[southsiderida90]

ight i got it all bak in. end popping out the ball joint(that was fun putting back in) and taking out the axles, looks great, highly recomend b&g springs