It’s Sunday and Mother’s Day but I decided to replace the stabilizers on my car when I do the struts so ordered them from Rock about 4:00 today. I got an email they had shipped at 9:00. They are working on Sunday??
A week ago I ordered the suspension package with two assembled struts and two shocks for front and rear. I ordered late Friday night and they delivered on Sunday?? All on the standard shipping charge. I think the stuff is coming from a Twin Cities warehouse so maybe that makes the difference.
Well I’m impressed anyway but the thing is I really don’t want to do the job. I swore I’d never do another strut but then thought the assembled ones with no spring to change would be something reasonable for me to do.
Just don’t do the struts like I did the first time I did them.I got the struts and a free spring compresser rental from a national parts chain.
I was working in a very tight garage in very cold weather and I weighed about 270 on my 6’ 3" frame.
The only way I could get room to work was to position the car close to one side of the garage and work from and jack up the other side. it took all my strength and a long crowbar to get each side into place. It was only after I had done the job that I realised that I had been fighting the weight of the van resting on the tire on the other end of the sway bar.
Assembled struts are easy. 5 to 7 bolts and they are out. Reverse for the new ones.
Just replacing the strut damper requires spring removal. Compressing the spring can be an issue but… I have a trick. Disconnect the stab bar links and the jack up the corner you are working on as far as you can. Install the spring compressor. Doesn’t take a wrench, by hand is fine. Position them 180 degrees apart and drop the jack. 9 times out of 10 the spring will be loose enough to remove the top mount without further tightening. I suggest holding the whole thing in a vice to disassemble and mount and spring. Slip it all back on the new strut and re-install. Jack it up again. Remove the spring compressors.
Some cars don’t have room for the compressors on-car. Those you need to use the conventional way. Just keep your hands, face and body out of the “line of fire”.
Same opinion as Mustangman. I installed quick struts on a vehicle recently. They were pretty simple to replace.
A rusted nut on one sway bar link added an hour to the job. I tried removing it with non-destructive methods. Finally, I ended up removing it with a cut-off wheel and buying a replacement sway bar link. A thin sway bar link wrench probably would have helped me somewhat.
I got a wheel alignment afterwards. A friend did his recently, too, and said he skipped the alignment.
Yeah I’ve got the spring compressors but wanted no part of that again so got the assembled units. Plus in the past have replaced the struts then had to do it all over again to replace the upper mounts.
Decided to just replace the tie rod ends and sway bar links at the same time since half way there anyway and the alignment afterwards.
Well I take that back. Who knew DHL was still in business? They evidently hand off to the USPS so over a week to go 50 miles.
I had ordered the sway bar links since I figured I’d do those at the same time. But they didn’t come and everything was so rusted, I had to cut the links off to get the strut out. Not a big deal I guess just more work to pull the wheels again and go back in.
I guess I should have paid the extra couple of dollars for Fed Ex.