Replacing Front Struts Clear-UP

[Guest Anonymous]

I going to try to replace them again at school tommorow, where I have access to a lift. The first time I tried, I couldn't figure out how to do it. So, does it go something to the effect of undoing the tie-rod, compressing the spring, undoing the top nut and pulling the whole bilstein out through the top? Reinstillation is just a reverse. Does it go something like that?

[Guest Anonymous]

no, it comes out from the bottom. If you are going to be doing work like this often you need to buy a factory manual. Sorry I don't have time to give detailed info tonight, I'm sure someone will be able to help.

[BillWilliams]

For the struts:

Disconnect the brake lines at the bracket

Disconnect the tie rod and seperate it, I use a small three jaw puller to do this

Disconnect the sway bar links

Remove the three nuts that hold the strut bearing to the top of the fender

You will notice your strut assembly start to move down, may want to place a floor jack under it.

Now is the time to get another set of hands.

If your struts have been off, there are three bolts and nuts on the bottom of the strut assembly that need to be removed, if this the first time, there are rivets there that need to be drilled out and replaced with grade 8 or grade 10 hardware with locktite.

It took me to hold the strut assembly and a wrench on the bolts while the young son, loosened the nuts from the bottom.

Now move the assembly to the bench.

Place the spring compressors on the springs and release some pressure off of the springs.

Hope you have access to air tools, remove the top nut from the strut

Take careful notice of the sequence of washer, spacer, strut bearing, cupped washer and thicker washer, if you mess up this sequence, you will be plaqued with a nasty clunk when you drive.

Remove the spring, leaving the spring compressors on.

With a spanner wrench or pipe wrench, loosen the collar that holds the strut in.

Pull the strut out, then reverse your procedure.

Make sure you line up the end of the spring and spring rubbers with the indent in the lower and upper plates.

Check for grease in the strut bearings too

Use that locktite and refresh the cotter pins.

I had to use a c-clamp to get the sway bar back on.

Replace your brake fluid, bleed the system, and look proudly at that clear brake fluid.

[Guest Anonymous]

So you have to do all that just to remove the Bilstein shock? I just need to replace that, not take off the whole assembly.

[BillWilliams]

I did not need to do.

I was hoping to be able to swing the strut assembly outside the wheel housing without disconnecting the bottom three bolts but I could not get enough clearance.

Maybe someone else has the magic method.

[Guest Anonymous]

I could have sworn some someone here told me you could just drop the tie rodand pall the shock out throught the top.

[Justin_in_Cville]

At least in my opinion. I just went through this whole ordeal, and the easiest way i found (thanks to Brad) is to remove the whole assembly at the subframe. its actually pretty easy if done as follows:

disconnect brake lines

unbolt tie-rod, sway bar link

unbolt front 'control arm' bolt

unbolt control arm at subframe

unbolt the top 3 bolts holding the strut tower

the whole assembly drops out.

the 3 bolts on the bottom were a real pain to get to (especially when working alone) so i elected to go at the subframe bolts.

on my front struts the impact gun just spun the whole strut, but i was able to use an offset box end wrench and a believe an 8mm socket on the top of the strut to loosen the top bolt.

when putting the assembly back in the car:

unbolt the front 'Arm' from the base of the shock tower

get the big bolt in the subframe first

hang the assembly with one bolt through the top

the assembly can be swung around enough to get the front arm, tie rod, and sway bar back on loosely.

tighten up the top three bolts, brake lines, sway bar and tie rod end.

with the weight of the car on the suspension, tighten up the large 'control arm' bolts/bushings.

BTW Bill, finally got my electrical issues sorted in the Turbo E28, as soon as i figure out how to replace the idler arm, it will be back on the road.

[KFunk]

That was me that said you didn't need to remove the bottom three bolts, because I didn't remove them to change mine.

I started to try and remove them, but they wouldn't break loose, and I started to round them off. Instead, I just unbolted the top mounting nuts, the tie rod, sway bar, etc.

No there isn't enough room to swing it all the way out at first. But if you put the spring compressors securely on the spring at this point and compress it a little bit, you can push down on the top of the strut, and swing it outward with enough clearance. Then tighten down the spring compressors a little more, remove the top shock nut, threaded collar, change strut cartridge, and put it all back together.

It may seem odd to compress springs while they're still on the car, but thats the common method for changing shocks on miatas, which I've done plenty before. The biggest problem is variation in ergonomics of the compressors, and whether you can fit them in there and still get a wrench in there to tighten them down.

[BillWilliams]

the fuel pump from the antennae? I thought that was a nice feature.

Glad you got it, please say hi to your family.