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Well, finished my front suspension rebuild. My Konis had died, and after 135K I figured my hydraulic bushings were gone, so I did the lower control arms too. The results are terrific, although I need to get the tires and shocks all adjusted out again to where I like the handling and ride.
Here are a few notes for anyone else doing the job. A parts summary is at the bottom on everything I suggest ordering.
I used Dimitri's guide, along with my Haynes manual, to get it done. Between the two and the fact that it's really not very complicated, I got it done. It did take about 12 hours for the whole job, including a couple rides for more parts, an hour on the phone finding parts, lunch, and some time fabricating some repairs to the ABS sensor holders.
So, assuming you follow one or more of the guides, here are the trouble spots I had adn parts I suggest you buy in advance.:
First, right off the bat I could not break the axle nuts free. They were off before at about 40K miles but they were stuck tight. I bought a deep impact socket for the job, but even with my (cheap) impact wrench I could not break them free. I tried my 1/2" breaker bar with a 3' pipe and bent the breaker bar badly. So, I took a trip to a local mechanic who used a larger, better impact wrench and broke them free.
Next, I suggest buying the end links for the stabilizer bar. I ordered new bushings, but I should have ordered complete links. At these miles, they are badly rusted, despite advise I got otherwise from some knowledgable folks. I got one unbolted but the other snapped mid link. That cost me an hour on the phone finding a store that could get a pair the same day and an extra $60 to buy them. (Dealer was an extra $86!).
The ball joints were the usual PITA to separate. I used a very large pry bar and drove it in between the lower arm and the bottom of the strut mount. I got one side separated quickly, the other was more work. I didn't have to worry about the boots since I was replacing the lower arms, but it was still a PITA.
Dimitri has a suggestion of removing the ABS sensor mount instead of the sensor since the sensor bolt will have it's allen head rusted out. Good advice, but the plastic pin that aligns the sensor mount was rusted in place, so that broke when I pulled the mounts off. After breaking one, I looked for an alternate method for the other side, but there isn't one. So, some of my time went into fabricating new alignment pins and repairing the mount. Again, I'd suggest ordering new mounts in advance if you live where things rust.
The upper spring support (steel plates over the rubber cushions) were a bit rusted. If I had the time, I would have replaced those. Also, the lower zink spring "spacer" was very degraded. I'd order those too if I'd know ahead of time or had the time to wait for an order. Rubber cushions were fine, as were the upper strut mounts (despite my expectation that they would be gone).
So, here's the list of parts I would recommend if doing this job on a car over 100K:
- strut cartridges - I like adjustable Koni's
- lower control arms if you are doing them too
- strut bearings
- strut washers
- sway bar end links (if you don't replace these, get new locknuts and bushings)
- ball joint nuts (self locking, required replacement, come with arms)
- axle nuts (self locking, required replacement)
- upper spring supports
- lower spring spacers
- tie rod end locknuts (self locking, not required, but should be
- strut mount locknuts (self locking, not required, but should be
- abs sensor holders
- bellows - check yours, one of mine was junk, I replaced both
You'll need some blue locktite and also some red if you do the control arms.
posted by 98.110.15...
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