[flash]

with all the suspension mods and koni conversions and such going on, i thought i would pass along a tech tip:



no need to use a spring compressor to remove the front coil springs - that's right - put that thing away



just remove the sway bar - takes 5 minutes - much quicker than compressing a spring



then, when you remove the strut nut, the control arm swings "freely" down and out of the way, leaving plenty of clearance to remove the spring



i recommend having a floor jack under the control arm, snugged up a bit, just to keep it from dropping abruptly when you remove the strut nut, which can cause the strut tip to nick the fender on the way down



takes less time - no special tool - no chance of it flying loose and injuring you

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[PorscheDude]

Installation is reverse of removal....

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[sasilverbullet]

COOL! will keep that in mind...

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[Spieln968]

Just so I understand, do you need to unbolt the tie rod ends too or unbolt the control arm from the spindle? Or does the spindle and all rotate down with the control arm?



Trying to recall this from memory so have not crawled under there to really look at it.



Thanks,

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[flash]

no and no - just remove the front swaybar, and then everything goes down together

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[Spieln968]

[quote name='flash' post='45467' date='Jan 9 2008, 02:05 PM']no and no - just remove the front swaybar, and then everything goes down together[/quote]



Thanks. Doing the Koni conversion in the next few weeks and need all the tips I can get.

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[Spieln968]

While we are on this subject. I have read where you use an impact to remove the strut nut. No need to worry about the strut rod turning.



How do you torque the nut and hold the new strut rod from turning during reassembly?

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[Ryan]

In order to torque the nut, you must have a special tool (surprise)



You can get it kind of tight and drive it up to the nearest shop that has the tools and get them to set it. It won't hurt to drive with the nut loose for a little bit.



Also, you still need a spring compressor in order to disassemble your strut or the spring will shoot the strut bushing and nut across the garage with force. Ask me how I know!

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[flash]

no it won't - that's my whole point - if you remove the swaybar completely, and then back the strut nut off, it drops down nicely with no parts flying around - have the jack under the control arm to prevent anything from coming loose too quickly - very simple - i've done this now a half dozen times this way, an a few different cars - no issues at all

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[Spieln968]

[quote name='flash' post='45473' date='Jan 9 2008, 03:08 PM']no it won't - that's my whole point - if you remove the swaybar completely, and then back the strut nut off, it drops down nicely with no parts flying around - have the jack under the control arm to prevent anything from coming loose too quickly - very simple - i've done this now a half dozen times this way, an a few different cars - no issues at all[/quote]



Flash, do you have the special tool to torque the new nut or have you figured a way around this?

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[flash]

i know about the "issues" with the shaft spinning and damaging seals - after 30 years of doing this, i have developed a sense of "feel" on my gun that works - haven't had a failure yet using the following procedure:



with a load on the control arm pushing up so that the spring is sucked up into place, i put a shot of tri-flow on the threads of the strut - then, i use my impact gun, set on low or medium, and i "bump" the trigger, removing it after each bump to see if the shaft turned - once it does, i stop



on stock struts there is a tool to use to be able to tighten the nut while holding the shaft still at the center - most of the struts i do are konis though, so that is moot

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[Ryan]

Flash, I am talking about removing the nut while the strut assembly is out of the car. The stock springs are under tension while the unit is assembled. If you have lowering springs on the unit you may be able to take the nut off with no problem , however the stock spring will shoot the top off the unit.



I have a special tool if somebody needs to borrow it. I had it made at a machine shop form a standard socket. I had the center bored so you could get a second socket into the bore and I had flats ground on the outside so you could use an open end wrench to hold the socket. It is set up for Konis. The only thing is...you can't use a torque wrench.

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[flash]

don't do that! leave the strut bearing in the car - only remove the big nut in the center - that's the problem you're having - you're removing parts that don't need to be removed

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[Ryan]

Do you reinstall by mounting the unit to the spindle and use a jack at the "A" arm to compress the spring and get the shock shaft through the bearing?

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[flash]

after mounting the strut to the spindle, just use the jack - it takes very little to get it through there enough to get the nut on it



it really does make the job a lot easier, faster, and safer - all together i can change a strut in about 15 minutes

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[FRporscheman]

The "special tool" needed for holding the strut shaft can be substituted by a standard 22mm offset box wrench. But more along the lines of the "proper" tool would be a 22mm oxygen-sensor wrench. Personally I actually think the offset wrench works better... YMMV.

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[Spieln968]

Used this method a few weeks ago and it worked great. The hardest part was pushing the sway bar back up. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> Used an 02 sensor socket and a 7/16 socket to keep the strut from turning.



To convert the strut housings...



I used a 3 1/2 inch hand held grinder with a cut off wheel. Works slick to bolt the strut rod in the vise. Steady the grinder against the vice while you cut and slowly turn the housing. No hack saw for me. The cut-off wheel also worked great for removing the lower spring perch. Intalled ARHK from Paragon.





The Koni improvement is great.

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[flash]

glad it was easy for you - sometimes you just have to let the air out of the tires to get unstuck

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[FRporscheman]

Heheh, yeah the air out of tires trick worked for me... I had to use my spare once, then I deflated it and put it back, and my carpet wouldn't lay flat. I thought I just couldn't figure out how to position the spare. Turned out I had a little air still in it, so I let it out and wammo! Carpet lies flat.

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[flash]

yeah - i was referring to the story of the little girl who, after watching a bunch of "experts" try to figure out how to get a truck unstuck from an overpass, spoke up and said "why don't you just let the air out of the tires"



i suppose i could also have just referred to occam's razor

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