Ok my front strut bearings are f^*)%D how do i change them?

[1979lee]

Got a 98 chevy lumina base 134K miles 3.1 v6, and the strut bearings are totally trashed, the passengers side strut pops up with the upper bolts and cover off.....

i know where to get the parts, my question is how do i change these dammed things without losing a finger or shooting a spring accross the street?

btw the struts themselvs seem to be in very good condition

 

thanks

[Hairdo12]

With the strut tower plates off, the strut should be able to come up. Is this what you are using to determine your bearing plates are bad? So far everything sounds fine to me.

 

Word of warning... if you removed the 15/16 nut from the strut shaft, make sure you keep the weight of the car on the wheels keeping the spring compressed. If you jack it up your spring will release and all sorts of bad things will happen.

 

If you must replace:

1 jack up car and support on jack stand

2 remove caliper and rotor

3 pop tierod end from strut assembly

4 remove 35 (some say 36) mm nut from CV shaft

5 remove CV shaft from wheel bearing

6 pop ball joint from control arm

7 remove three bolts from the top and the assembly should fall down

 

8 make plenty of marks on spring, upper mount, assembly so you can get everything lined up when you re-assemble

9 compress spring

10 remove 15/16 nut from strut shaft

11 pull the unit apart

 

12 Re-assemble

 

[rockfangd]

all i have to say is they are way easier said then done

[mfewtrail]

The struts popping up somewhat is normal. The black rubber piece with the washer built in on top of the strut is considered a "mount," there's no bearing in it if that's what you were thinking. If you actually have a bad strut bearing you will hear a "whirring" type noise when turning into a street or driveway. Turning in at speed is usually when you hear the noise, about 15mph or so should make it very noticeable.