Strut replacement idiot's guide?, Haynes a little vague....for a newbie! Options

[tadink]

Hey all -

I'm going to be replacing front and rear shocks / struts - and after looking at the Haynes manual, I'm wondering if someone has posted "the idiot's guide" for doing this?

In particular, the photo in Haynes shows a special tool-looking gadget holding the locking plate in place while loosening the nut (figure 7.5, page 101). Is that thing the dude is holding in his left hand an integral part of this procedure?

Also - for a strut insert, is this a 'strut off the car' procedure? I read a recent post where someone talked about this taking like 38 minute per side, taking the whole strut assembly off the car seems like it would take a LOT longer than that!

Please help the ignorant -

thx

td

[Dave_Darling]

For the front struts:

Yes, as long as the gland nut (that's the big nut that holds the shock into the strut) has an edge on the outside of the strut, you can use a pipe wrench on it. No problem.

Haynes would have you remove the strut completely from the car; it's a lot easier to leave it attached to the ball joint at the bottom. You unbolt the top from the mount, push it down into the fender, collapse the strut, and swing the top out from inside the fender. That lets you pull the cover off the top, then you swing the strut back into the fender and put the shaft back up through the upper mount. That holds the strut so you can use the pipe wrench on the gland nut. It's a little easier of you have someone helping you out by holding the wheel so the strut doesn't turn, but it's doable by yourself.

Once the gland nut is loosened, you collapse the strut again and swing it out of the fender again. Remove the gland nut, remove the shock, put the new shock in (possibly with some light weight oil in the tube as well), put the gland nut back on. Then it goes back into the fender so you can tighten the gland nut. Then back out again to put the cover on, then back in and finally attach it to the car.

That leaves out one or two things, like flattening out the lock-washers, torquing the mounting nut to spec, folding up the edge of the lock washer, and so on.

--DD