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Replacing rear strut mounts-How difficult?


DEMonte1997

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I'll be doing it this weekend. Do I have to remove the entire strut from the car to get the mount on it or can I just loosen the top bolts and let it sag down? I noticed that the top bolts go into the mount upside down from the wheel well rather than from the trunk. WTF? Is this normal? Everything I've seen and read thus far says the bolts should go down into the strut from inside the trunk. :neutral: The guy I bought this car from said the struts and mounts were replaced by Sears two years ago. Not much faith there.... :lol:

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  • 2 weeks later...

You can replace just the mounts. get the car up on jack stands under the rear, then place a jack under the knuckle for that side, jack it up until there is a bit of pressure from the jack pushing up on the strut and spring assembly. Then unbolt the strut mount bolts, and strut bolt. Lower jack down until you can take out the strut mount, and put in the new strut mount. jack it back up, bolt everything up and tight, and you are done.

 

CAUTION, make sure you dont try jacking up the rear end by placing it under the monoleaf. They break very easily, and get expensive to replace.

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My mount bolts go in from underneath, as should any 1st gen w-body. There is a 1/4" plate of steel on the inside of the trunk welded to the top of the strut tower, this plate has threads in it for the strut mount bolts. I had to replace mine when I did my suspension work as I broke the heads off of 2 of them. Lucky for me my father works at GM and he brought me home identical new bolts, good old GM still using the same bolts.

 

This is how mine looked from the wheel well before I took it apart, notice the bolt heads.

CIMG2377.jpg

 

Here is a pic of the threaded plate, complete with bolts stuck in place with no heads!

CIMG2390.jpg

 

Jamie

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Yeah a few of my bolt heads broke off also. I just welded a nut that was threaded on the bolt sticking up through the trunk and threaded them out that way.

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Yeah a few of my bolt heads broke off also. I just welded a nut that was threaded on the bolt sticking up through the trunk and threaded them out that way.

 

We were able to do that with one of the studs, but the other was so seized it broke the welds... We ended up drilling it out from underneath, without hitting any threads, guess my dad is a straight shot, haha. Once it was drilled out we were able to break it loose.

 

Jamie

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