So I've looked but couldn't find an answer to one question about changing out the rear struts. Once I jack the rear of the car up and place on jackstands, do I keep a jack under the rear axle so when I unbolt one strut, it doesn't just fall down on that side? What's the best way to go about that?

 

Do not support the axle. Jack the car up and put the jackstands under the car at the factory jack points. You dont want the spring compressed when youre taking it off the car.

 

^^Thanks. Do I put anything under the axle at all, just to hold it in place when I remove the strut, or just let it dangle? I wasn't gonna use the jack to put so much tension on it that it compressed the suspension, just to keep it from falling further when I remove the strut.

BTW, I've been to Garland!

 

The axle won't really 'dangle', it's held up by the trailing arms and the lateral link. No need to worry about it.

Really, just do one side at a time, problem solved.

 

^^Thanks, so one strut at a time and it's not an issue.

 

Indeed.

 

I def agree with this one as well, I had one of my guys in the yard do this and when the compressed spring came out , It caught him under the jaw & broke it! It was bad.

 

^Ouch. That musta hurt.

 

Yeah, I got lucky...DO NOT SUPPORT THE AXLE!

 

Jack up the entire rear thought. That way you dont fight the swaybar like force the beam has when you only do one side.

 

I jacked the car up last weekend to replace both ***** but the bottom bolts are frozen, tried some penetrating oil with no luck. Anyone else have problems with those bolts?

 

If penetrating solvent didn't work you can always get a torch and heat the bolt up and try again.

 

Cut the nut off. You're supposed to replace the nut anyway. You'd want to get new bolts too cause of the rust.

 

Gonna be tricky to cut the bolt off, they're held in place by some metal around the nut on three sides. That would be tricky. I used PB Blaster and an impact wrench. I would think a breaker bar could do that job. I can't imagine they're rustier than the 150,000 mile bolts on the MA car I just did.

 

Tried a breaker bar on mine and they just spin in the poorly engineered holder. Had to bring it to KRRZ350 (Kevin), he welded the bolt in place the got it out easy...

 

That seems like welding is what I will have to do as that nut just keeps spinning, the nut has high Ductility

 

What is the best brand of strut to use please?

 

Search!!!

OEM / OEM Equiv or you can always idk.. Search and find out what other Aftermarket ones there are.

BTW way to threadjack.

 

I used KYB GR2's and am really happy with the ride and handling on stock springs. Got all 4 on ebay for $260. I used all OEM replacement parts with them, that's what got expensive, over $450 for all the little bits!!

 

Why did you choose to use oem parts for the rest? I just installed kyb gr2's and the supporting stock parts were fine except for the dust boots which I replaced with generic shock boots @ $3.50 each.

 

I replaced every part but the springs and the big metal piece up top. The OEM parts lasted 12 years and 140K miles. I won't have to touch them again. I read bad things about the KYB bearings I replaced the mounts, bearings,washers, everything. The car feels brand new. It's probably overkill, but my wife drives the car and I wanted it done right.

I didn't want to take the whole suspension apart and find that I needed to replace something else and then order it and wait and back and forth. It's got a full brand new suspension now and drives like it.

 

^^I forgot we were talking about the rears only, the rear parts were not that much, it was the front suspension that had the bulk of the cost in bits and pieces. I did all 4 struts.

 

Where exactly is the jacking point in the rear? FSM shows the middle of the axle. When I tried it the axle seemed to buckle & tires were hardly moving off the ground. 3 ton hydraulic jack does not have the verticle reach to raise the vehicle high enough to place the jack stands at 2nd or 3rd notch. How do you guys manage this? I had same problems when I recently changed parking brake cable. Jacking up one side at time, puts too much strain on the rusty old structure members, I think.
Looking forward to tried out solutions. A lot of thanks.

 

Jack up one side at a time; place jack under rear axle just inside end of axle; lift; put jackstand under jack point on side of car just forward of rear wheel; let down on jackstand. Repeat on other side. Reverse after rear struts replaced. Good luck.

 

Try heat it up with a torch.

 

same issue here. replaced the driverside rear strut just fine and the passenger rear the nut spins. gonna have to tack weld the nut in place to get it out.

 

it depends if your car is lowered or has anything else done to it.. i had kyb gr2's oh h&r springs years ago.. when i took them out i hammered them to pieces cause they are the worst struts in the world for a lowered car with big rims.

 

I am replacing my struts with the same kyb and how in the heck do you get enough strut exposed to put on the nut on the end? It took me forever and ever just to swap one side and I'm not sure about doing the other side.

It seems like the stack height of the bushings and stuff is greater than the strut length and squeezing down the bushings to expose threads is and was next to impossible.

What am I doing wrong? YouTube video shows lots of exposed strut.....????

This should not be that hard. I blew my whole Saturday on one strut. Just 1/8" more strut and I would be fine.

 

Can you tighten the spring compressors a bit more?

 

I used the AutoZone rental ones and put 2-3 "steps" , if you will, between the holding blocks and tightened it down until the safety pins were the only things between the spring steps and barely got the nut on.

I did it similarly to other videos I've seen and cannot believe how awful that experience was. Still need to do the other side yet.

it's as if struts come in different lengths depending on brand and maybe that's the diff.

The only thing I can think of is mounting the compressor over the entire spring length but I've not seen where others had to do that.

 

I used the Koni STR-T (orange) Struts and had a similar problem. Ultimately, IIRC, I put the compressor at the outermost points and was able to get that extra 1/2" I needed to thread the nut. Keep at it!

 

I will try that for the other side. I did get the one comp!eted but it took 3 of us to squeeze and get the nut on. Quite a sight.

​​​​​​The videos I've seen had the coil compressors in the center area of the spring so i thought that was all that was necessary. I'll try the extr extreme ends like suggested....next weekend. I had enough fun yesterday.

Thanks guys for your replies and help. I'll post when I do the other side.

 

Some spring compressors work and fit better than others. Try renting a different style if need be.

 

I like Monroe quick struts. So easy and you don't have to use a spring compressor

 

That's what I had to do when I bought mine 3 years ago. The rears were grossly out of orientation and couldn't be mounted unless I compressed and readjusted. I have the Monroe quick struts on and am replacing them. Struts lost compression.

I will say the readjustment is easier than my issue now with trying to get the stupid assembly to allow the nut to fit.

Not too happy with Monroe, to say the least.

 

Been through KYB GR2 rebuilds, Monroe quick struts and Moog P/S Strut assemblies. They all SUCKED. GR2s rode so hard my teeth clattered. The Monroes and Moogs were junk and quickly noisy from weak bearings and strut mounts and garbage spring insulation.

Now I'm back to OEM everything except the Koni struts. Couldn't be happier. For the only decent results, OEM everything except Struts and Springs and I use enhanced Spring Insulation. Quality Struts and Springs are mandatory with the OEM everything else.