Question about replacing rear struts...

[mchill07]

Now that I have new struts in the front I can definitely tell the rear ones need to be changed asap. Is there anything special that I have to do to the mono leafspring when I remove the struts, Or will it stay in place? With the struts out, is this the best time replace the mono leaf pads?

[GnatGoSplat]

If you have incredible strength, you could probably change the rear struts without compressing the rear spring. I've heard of it being done, but I honestly don't know how they pulled it off.

 

If you are as wimpy as I am, then you'll need to relieve spring pressure from the strut after loosening (but not removing) all the bolts. The easiest way to do this is just to jack up the car and set it on jack stands. Then jack up on the spring close to the knuckle, placing a small piece of wood like a small chunk of 2x4 between the jack and spring so you don't scratch/gouge the spring. You can kind of feel when the strut has been relieved of spring pressure. This will make it extremely easy to remove the old strut and reinstall the new one without needing to buy any special tools.

[White93z34]

I've never compressed the rear leaf to do rear struts.

 

Just put a jack under the bottom of the trailing arm, put some upward pressure on it, remove the top bolts,let the jack down, remove the bottom bolts and knock them out remove strut reverse for installation.

[55trucker]

If you are going to tackle this yourself, a camber gauge (in my opinion) is mandatory. You will need to take a measurement of the wheel angle for reference before you disassemble anything and afterwards to get the strut angle exactly where it belongs again so you don't have to have an alignment done. This little tool is worth it's weight in gold.

I keep two of them in my toolchest.

 

http://www.gunson.co.uk/news/lg/77066_INSITU.jpg

[GnatGoSplat]

I've never compressed the rear leaf to do rear struts.

 

Just put a jack under the bottom of the trailing arm, put some upward pressure on it, remove the top bolts,let the jack down, remove the bottom bolts and knock them out remove strut reverse for installation.

 

Whenever I tried it that way, the top of the strut wants to fight me the whole way trying to align the holes.

But then I am a weakling after all.

Relieving spring pressure on the knuckle lets you easily maneuver the strut assembly because there's no resistance anywhere, even the wimpiest person could do it.

[White93z34]

yeah its not the easiest thing for sure, but I was always too lazy to bother with that