supreme_style21 Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 Man this turned into quite a ghetto operation. 10 years of salty rust had certainly taken its toll on these original struts and bolts. My short span of patience quickly led to some retarded methods of removal. I had soaked everything with PB Blaster for the past few days, so I figured all would go smoothly. The only shot you'll ever see of my spectacular base interior. Everything is going fine so far. About the time I need to remove the two bolts from the upper mount is when it got to my nerves. The two bolts would NOT move for anything.. so.. I figured we'd remove the nut on the inside and let the strut drop down. Low and behold, there is no way for me to get the star socket in there. Turning on the nut inside the trunk obviously just turned the strut and got me nowhere. A pipe wrench on the strut wouldn't hold it in place. So.. we welded a big fucking glob of crap to the strut so the pipe wrench would have something to grab onto Actually worked suprisingly well! By time I got the second strut out, I wasn't even going to bother with the nut that held it to the bushing/mount, so I used the sawzall and lobbed it off. After that, everything went smoothly. The struts were DEAD.. nothing left in them.. the shaft just slapped up and down with ease. Plus, they were pitted and rusted to hell for some reason. Now it sits where it should be sitting... not dragging on the tires. And it doesn't ride like an old lumber wagon anymore. Yeehaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 I'm gonna have to do this to my '95 soon. My girl was driving off to class the other day, and I just watched my rear end bouncing up and down. I'm not looking forward to it. How hard would you say this is to do, say, in my driveway. Also, how much did you pay for struts, and what kind did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted February 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 I'm gonna have to do this to my '95 soon. My girl was driving off to class the other day, and I just watched my rear end bouncing up and down. I'm not looking forward to it. How hard would you say this is to do, say, in my driveway. Also, how much did you pay for struts, and what kind did you use? Heh.. I was also getting tired of the see-saw effect it was starting to like to do. I threw in SensaTracs.. Obviously haven't had them too long, but so far, they're great. I got them at a commercial price.. $32/each. I think retail was near $65. You could do it in your driveway. I had never done it before and it was quite easy and straight-forward. If I hadn't hit all the rusty problems, I figure I could have done both in a little over an hour or so. My patience level is next-to-none, so it took a little longer.. with picking up wrenches I chucked across the shop and whatnot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 My car doesn't appear to have much rust, and I have changed balljoints before. And $32 a strut... I was under the impression I was gonna fork over $50+ a strut just to do it myself. That's not bad, I'm gonna look into a little more expensive struts, but I will do that myself if it's straightforward. You don't happen to have any more pics at all, do you? Also, I don't own a Sawzall. How would I go about getting the bolts off of the old ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted February 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 My car doesn't appear to have much rust, and I have changed balljoints before. And $32 a strut... I was under the impression I was gonna fork over $50+ a strut just to do it myself. That's not bad, I'm gonna look into a little more expensive struts, but I will do that myself if it's straightforward. You don't happen to have any more pics at all, do you? Also, I don't own a Sawzall. How would I go about getting the bolts off of the old ones? I've got a few more pictures.. I dunno if they'd be helpful or not.. doubt it. They're mainly me flicking the camera off. You'll pay more for the struts. I got these with a commercial discount. The sensatracs run around 60 bucks a piece. Spray everything down with a penetrating lubricant a few days before working on it (KY does not work). Ya don't see rust... they just kinda become 'one with the car' after 10 years. Its rather simple after that. Two bolts at the top drop the strut and mount down. To remove the nut that fastens it to the mount, use a star socket that fits in the top of the shaft, to prevent it from turning. Then turn the nut out. The SOB's were in there good.. took a lot of grunting and swearing, but they'll come out eventually. I just sawed them off because it was easier. If you look at my fourth picture, you'll see those two big holes parallel with each other.. there are two splined bolts that are in there.. those need to be removed as well. Thats all that needs to come out. Everybody said I would need to compress the rear leaf. The only time I had to touch it was when I needed to bring the knuckle back up to install the new strut. PS. Do the rear brakes and rotors while you're back there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcrow Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 Sorry to hijack, but hey supreme what size tires are those? I got those same rims but I dont know what size tires they came with. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 now you have me wanting to do mine! damn you! anyhow glad it went well. who makes hte sensatracks anyhow? gabrieal? and how do they ride and handle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldsmoBeast Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 now you have me wanting to do mine! damn you! anyhow glad it went well. who makes hte sensatracks anyhow? gabrieal? and how do they ride and handle? They're made by Monroe... apparently they're really good, but that's all I know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 THat ride height looks SO much better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryk2003 Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 were you the one that had the CLUNKING noise in the rear of your car!?...if so, i'm guessing the struts solved that!?...cause, if thats the case, i think i'm gonna be putting new struts in very soon...cause i have one helluva clunk in my right rear when i hit certain bumps.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscoStudd Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 You did change the mounts, right? I finally dug into my Regal's "broken" strut on Friday and discovered that the strut wasn't broken at all, but the mount was absolutely screwed. I cut the boot off of the strut and found the piston all the way down against the bump-stop with the nut still in tact. The mount was so worn that the piston (with the nut still attached) pushed all the way back down through it! I tried the exact same thing you did (using a pipe wrench to try to take the nut off) and it did the same thing . I ended up pushing the piston back through the mount (with the nut still attached) and clamped it on the top with a vice grip to hold it in place so I can at least limp it to the shop without fear of the tire swinging out when I take a corner. If I had a garage and some air tools, I'd damn sure be doing this myself, but I don't have either, so I'm sending it off as soon as my ST front springs arrive. I'll be sure to get some pics up of my old struts. Trust me, they're in worse shape than your old ones... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscoStudd Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 were you the one that had the CLUNKING noise in the rear of your car!?...if so, i'm guessing the struts solved that!?...cause, if thats the case, i think i'm gonna be putting new struts in very soon...cause i have one helluva clunk in my right rear when i hit certain bumps.... I'm almost certain that your mount is screwed, cause that's the same thing my Regal was doing. It didn't take but 2 weeks for the piston to push all the way through the mount. Be sure you replace those when you change the struts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryk2003 Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 were you the one that had the CLUNKING noise in the rear of your car!?...if so, i'm guessing the struts solved that!?...cause, if thats the case, i think i'm gonna be putting new struts in very soon...cause i have one helluva clunk in my right rear when i hit certain bumps.... I'm almost certain that your mount is screwed, cause that's the same thing my Regal was doing. It didn't take but 2 weeks for the piston to push all the way through the mount. Be sure you replace those when you change the struts! well...is there any way to really tell besides tearing it apart?...i've been jumpin up and down on that corner trying to get it to do it, but i can't hear anything when i try...only does it when i go around right turns, and when i pull in my driveway and go over the (uncut) curb... :? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscoStudd Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 Pull back the carpet in the trunk and look at the top side of the mount. You should see a large shaft sticking through with a giant nut attached (huh huh huh.) Compare it to the one on the other side. See if it's trying to work its way down through the bottom of the mount at all, or see if the rubber surrounding it is worn out any. It would still be wise to replace the mounts when you have the struts replaced... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted February 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 were you the one that had the CLUNKING noise in the rear of your car!?...if so, i'm guessing the struts solved that!?...cause, if thats the case, i think i'm gonna be putting new struts in very soon...cause i have one helluva clunk in my right rear when i hit certain bumps.... I'm almost certain that your mount is screwed, cause that's the same thing my Regal was doing. It didn't take but 2 weeks for the piston to push all the way through the mount. Be sure you replace those when you change the struts! well...is there any way to really tell besides tearing it apart?...i've been jumpin up and down on that corner trying to get it to do it, but i can't hear anything when i try...only does it when i go around right turns, and when i pull in my driveway and go over the (uncut) curb... :? Nope my mounts appeared to be in good shape. I was the one with the clunking and the struts fixed that. Came from the same side as you... rear right. The clunk I had been blaming on the cold weather, but once it warmed up and got worse, I figured something was wrong. There was NO bounce in the rear.. like I said, the struts were dead... completely empty of all fluids.. every bump I hit was bone-jarring. I'm fairly impressed with these Monroes.... BUT now that the rear is fixed, I can feel how shitty the front ones are! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HokemBokem Posted February 20, 2005 Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 were you the one that had the CLUNKING noise in the rear of your car!?...if so, i'm guessing the struts solved that!?...cause, if thats the case, i think i'm gonna be putting new struts in very soon...cause i have one helluva clunk in my right rear when i hit certain bumps.... I'm almost certain that your mount is screwed, cause that's the same thing my Regal was doing. It didn't take but 2 weeks for the piston to push all the way through the mount. Be sure you replace those when you change the struts! well...is there any way to really tell besides tearing it apart?...i've been jumpin up and down on that corner trying to get it to do it, but i can't hear anything when i try...only does it when i go around right turns, and when i pull in my driveway and go over the (uncut) curb... :? Nope my mounts appeared to be in good shape. I was the one with the clunking and the struts fixed that. Came from the same side as you... rear right. The clunk I had been blaming on the cold weather, but once it warmed up and got worse, I figured something was wrong. There was NO bounce in the rear.. like I said, the struts were dead... completely empty of all fluids.. every bump I hit was bone-jarring. I'm fairly impressed with these Monroes.... BUT now that the rear is fixed, I can feel how shitty the front ones are! Sounds like you have another project ahead of you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted February 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2005 Sorry to hijack, but hey supreme what size tires are those? I got those same rims but I dont know what size tires they came with. Thanks The tires on there are P225 / 60R16. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossman429 Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 Sorry to hijack, but hey supreme what size tires are those? I got those same rims but I dont know what size tires they came with. Thanks I've put tires on those wheels at work before, and the factory size I've always put on is 225/60R16. That is also the size on my new GTP wheels on the STE EDIT: Guess I should have read the 2nd page :oops: Oh well, I guess I can be happy that I confirmed what Supreme said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutlsp Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 Sorry to hijack, but hey supreme what size tires are those? I got those same rims but I dont know what size tires they came with. Thanks personally what size wheels and tires are on your cutlass right now because that is the way you need to determine the tire size you need for your new wheels or else your speedometer will be way off :? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 well...is there any way to really tell besides tearing it apart?... Look under the wheel well. If it looks like this your mount is bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryk2003 Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 well...is there any way to really tell besides tearing it apart?... Look under the wheel well. If it looks like this your mount is bad. well, i actually was trying to look @ it last night with the car on the lift...i didnt notice anything abnormal from underneath & i deff. woulda noticed something like that... :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscoStudd Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 well...is there any way to really tell besides tearing it apart?... Look under the wheel well. If it looks like this your mount is bad. Bingo! That's exactly what I found after I cut the boot off (mine fell down inside the boot!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWeb80 Posted February 21, 2005 Report Share Posted February 21, 2005 man, your stock struts looked good compared to mine.....they were so rusted and pitted...i had to pull the shaft in and out....otherwise the rust just got caught and it made horrible grinding noises..... P.S. make sure you get the rear end aligned....it will be out since u took the bolts out on the bottom of the strut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted February 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 man, your stock struts looked good compared to mine.....they were so rusted and pitted...i had to pull the shaft in and out....otherwise the rust just got caught and it made horrible grinding noises..... P.S. make sure you get the rear end aligned....it will be out since u took the bolts out on the bottom of the strut. That I don't understand... nothing really moved? Everyone says yes.. but it doesn't sink into my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryk2003 Posted February 22, 2005 Report Share Posted February 22, 2005 man, your stock struts looked good compared to mine.....they were so rusted and pitted...i had to pull the shaft in and out....otherwise the rust just got caught and it made horrible grinding noises..... P.S. make sure you get the rear end aligned....it will be out since u took the bolts out on the bottom of the strut. That I don't understand... nothing really moved? Everyone says yes.. but it doesn't sink into my head. the camber of the rear wheel depends on the position of the strut bolts...if you losen the bolts you should be able to tilt the rear wheels in or out!...well, that angle needs to be set (alignment)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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