How do you replace front struts?

[1990lumi]

front motor strut mounts aka dog bone because well they look like a dog bone

[oldsl67]

I just went through the front end on my 95 vert. I swapped a 96 in place for the bigger brakes. I found the strut tool at a O'Reilly store near me. They do have it on-line also. I chose to powder coat my parts and replace the struts.

 

[Nas Escobar]

Looking nice!!

[19Cutlass94]

Nice man! Thats clean! What did you use on the subframe?

[oldsl67]

Thx.. I had the whole thing powder coated. The springs and sway bar are stock but had them done with RED powder coating to look special. New Rack also. most everthing was shot when I started getting into it. Struts were gone etc.... So I had to go all the way!

 

[GOT2B GM]

This guy doesn't mess around!

 

Sent from my Z30 using Tapatalk

[pitzel]

Okay, I did the front passenger side, no problem, with the Powerbuilt tool, replaced with KYB's. When I was doing the driver side, unfortunately, I stripped out the Torx bit at the top.

 

Will an 24mm impact be able to remove the bolt?

 

edit: ended up putting the cover back on, jacking up the car, putting a pair of vice grips on the old strut shaft in the wheel well between the springs to prevent it from spinning, letting the jack down, and then hit it with a 24mm impact until the strut nut came off. Removed the vice grips, and proceeded as normal.

 

edit: Rented the Powerbuilt kit from Partsource in Canada, and bought a 6mm hex nut 3/8" driver from Home Depot for the KYB GR-2's. Yes, the Powerbuilt kit won't properly thread onto the KYB shaft, but it works well enough that you can install them. Just be very careful with the threads and don't force the Powerbuilt shaft threads on too much.

 

edit: Very pleased with having KYB GR-2's on all 4's.

Edited August 29, 2014 by pitzel

[pitzel]

BTW, on the topic of oil, it is clear that the factory struts use hydraulic oil contained within the strut tower, as part of their normal operation. The aftermarket replacement insert cartridges are sealed units. Therefore, whether one removes the oil or not is fairly irrelevant. There's no reason, IMHO, that an new strut cannot merely be placed in the existing old oil. Now, if you are replacing the units with cartridges that use the same method of operation as the factory ones, then you will need to replace the oil as well.

 

So adding oil, removing oil, really it doesn't matter for the typical after-market units (KYB's, Monroe's, Gabriels, etc.) which are gas-charged sealed inserts.

[George]

Correct. You're suppose to leave some oil in the tube to keep the new strut cartridge from rusting in the tube preventing future replacement. If you leave too much oil in the tube it will run out the top of the tube as you insert the new strut cartridge, making a mess.

[George]

Correct. You're suppose to leave some oil in the tube to keep the new strut cartridge from rusting in the tube preventing future replacement. If you leave too much oil in the tube it will run out the top of the tube as you insert the new strut cartridge, making a mess.