Help with Replacing Struts

[ElectricTang]

I got a set of Cobra Bilsteins for my 96 and Im planning to change em out myself since it doesnt seem to be all that difficult. Ive got the Haynes manual to help me out but I still have a few questions. In the Haynes it says to unscrew the upper mount body retaining bolt and nuts. I read some threads on Corral and most of them talked about removing the nut on the top of the strut with an impact to free the top end of the strut. So anybody that has done this what route did you take or which would be easier. I dont have an impact so Im thinking to go by the Haynes, but I havent read any threads that mentioned doing it that way.

 

[Acheron315]

Use the impact to remove the upper strut bolt, otherwise it is a pain to get later. If you removed the caster camber plate bolts like in the manual, you would have to get it re-aligned and still have to remove the upper strut bolt.

Make sure you have a jack underneath the control arm to prevent the spring from coming out unexpectedly.

Good luck!

 

[ElectricTang]

So by removing the strut bolt that will free the top portion of the strut to come out?

 

[Acheron315]

yeah if you remove the large nut holding the strut in place (I think it is either 7/8" or 13/16"...its been awhile since I took them off), then the strut will be free to drop down and you can lower the control arm with the jack.

I realize now that I accidently said bolt earlier, I am sorry if that confused you. It is a large nut.

 

[ElectricTang]

Na I knew what you were referring to. The Bilstetins already have a upper strut nut on them as well as the lower plate where the 2 upper mount bolts extend threw and a hole for a bolt to extend down threw when the c/c plate is on above. This is whats confusing me. It seems that the that the 2 nuts and bolt that are seen on the c/c plate would have to be removed along with the top strut nut and then threaded down. What am I not seeing here?

 

[Acheron315]

I would just take off the stut nut off of your bilsteins and then take the nut off the one on your car and just slip the bilsteins in. That way you wont have to realign your car (unless you are lowering it, then you will have to).

 

[CottonBurnerz]

remove front wheels. put jack under the a arm. remove the top strut nut. For this, I use a big flat head screwdriver to hold against the frame while i use an open ended/cresent wrench to turn the nut loose.

After remove the top nut, remove the bottom 2 strut nuts on the a arm. Carefully remove the old strut. Insert new strut and bolt everything back up. Easy as pie

 

[ElectricTang]

Im not going to be lowering it any just gonna replace the worn out shocks and struts. I havent got the shocks yet but they wont be hard at all. Will the bilstein slide in with the strut nut on it? When you did yours did the struts come with a mounting bracket on them with 2 bolts extending threw it? Its hard to explain I'll try and take a pic later today. I understand all the rest of getting it out and what not but that bracket is throwing me off.

 

[Acheron315]

I would strongly suggest getting a Hayne's manual for your car, it goes in detail with all instructions and torque values. I know that the section on suspension removal is great, and it's all I generally use when working on my car. I am sure that once you see the steps in there it will all be clear, just pick one up from your local auto store.

 

[ElectricTang]

Ive got a Haynes manual and Iit all does seem pretty straight forward, I just didnt know how to go about getting the strut nut off and what to do about the bracket. Im probably not gonna get to it till next weekend so Ill just figure it out as I go.

 

[ElectricTang]

I found another thread describing what I was talking about on the Bilsteins. They already have a strut nut and lower mounting plate with bushing so you dont have to touch the strut nut. So Im going to have to remove the 2 nuts and bolt on the c/c plate so that I can remove the whole thing. Can I mark where everything is to keep the alignment in spec or what?

 

[ElectricTang]

Heres a pic of one of the struts. Im going to have to go the route of the Haynes manual but will I have to get an alignment afterwards since the c/c plates will have to come off?

 

[95CobraStang]

Heres a pic of one of the struts. Im going to have to go the route of the Haynes manual but will I have to get an alignment afterwards since the c/c plates will have to come off?

Yes, I would have to say that you will. When lowering my car, I unbolted the three from the cc plate to drop down the strut, and it definately moved the cc around a lot. I don't think there is any way around that movement. So unless you managed to keep it perfectly still, I would think you are gonna be out of spec.

 

[95CobraStang]

and correct me if im wrong, but wouldn't it just be easier to take that top nut off the billstein, slide off the assembly with the three studs that go to the cc plate ( i have no idea what the name is), unbolt the factory top strut nut, and the bottom two from the a-arm, then swap 'em?? That way you don't affect alignment.

I realize this was already said, but it seems the only logical way to do it. There is no reason to go the haynes route, unless you already wanted to get an alignment.