Does anyone remember at what stage you torqued this nut down for re-assembly? Going through the FSM and they don't mention if you torque it while it's outside the car, or inside the car.

Only thing I can think of for not doing it outside the car, is, how can I line up the upper mount properly if there is no adjustibility.

I'll see if I can flip the mcpherson tool the other way, to see if I can remove it while it's in the car.

 

lol, you should just make one dedicated thread to ask your questions cause you've been making a lot of threads lately

 

yeah....


anyway.
I would tighten/torque it down before, or at least get the nut all the way on (with at least one thread sticking out of the top of the nut), take the strut compressors off, then put it on the car, after you put the car back on the ground.
that is how I did the front struts, I cannot imagine doing it any other way.

you are talking about the nut that "holds" the strut mount, right? not the gland nut?

 

Exactly Benstoked - the nut that goes in the center to the piston - the center nut.

I've run into a big problem with the front struts now. The rear ones are assembled and done fine.

For some reason I could get the front springs off 2 weeks ago, but now, no matter how I clamp the coil with the mcpherson tool, it won't go far enough to bring the spring down, meaning, i've reached the maximum it will open (distance), then closes.

I'ts possible maybe, I could use 4 mcpherson tools on each side to get it to compress enough - or maybe i'll have to return these harbor freight style ghetto ones, and look for rods that are way longer. The rear springs were fine and the assembly is ready. But the front springs are pretty damn big compared to.

 

you can do the center strut piston nut before or after the strut is installed in the car, it doesn't really matter that much. like benstoked said if you thread it on first and then actually torque it once the strut is installed, that works too.
As for compressing the spring to get it off (while the strut w/ the spring in it is still on the car) remove the top 3 bolts that hold the strut up, but support the bottom of the strut w/ a jack first, undo that center piston nut, and slowly let the pressure off the strut using the jack. (this is not exactly the safest or "by the book" at all) but once you've installed lowering kits a couple of times you start looking for shortcuts.

Or if you want to use the Mcpherson tool you can remove the strut, loosen that center piston nut NOT !ALL THE WAY OFF! just enough to let some pressure off the spring so that you can install the spring compressor higher up thus giving you more room to compress it.