[Shotimes] Re: Changing strut mounts and bearings

[George Fourchy]

On Fri, 18 Oct 2002 20:54:21 -0700 (PDT), Peter Maggiacomo wrote:

>I have a clean salt free 95MTX 100% stock with 75k on
>it. Although the stock suspension suits me just fine,
>I figure around the 100k mark I'll replace all 4
>struts,probably with the original replacement Sachs.
>I may be one of the minorities here, but I believe 
>that you can replace a strut in say 30 minutes after
>you've done it a few times. If you feel up to it,
>could you give us a step by step walk through? Thanks.

You're absolutely right, young man!!  It is certainly possible to remove and replace a
strut/spring assembly in 30 minutes...or less.  Usually this will be a front strut, since
the top of the rears is rather hard to get to without the proper tool...a wratchet box
wrench.  We banter back and forth about rust and corrosion, and that obviously is what
makes everything harder to do.  I've determined that it takes about 4 hours to do an
entire car....one hour for the fronts, and 2.5 or so for the rears, with a beer break in
the middle.

I have posted to the SHOTimes FAQ (quite a while ago, actually) instructions on how to
swap the struts and how to disassemble them and reinstall new struts and/or springs.  Go
to 'Care and Feeding', then go to suspension, and look for strut replacement.  I've
posted addendums to those instructions here on the list over time, and am always ready to
answer individual questions from members regarding their particular problems.  

If you have questions after reading my instructions on the FAQ, I'd be glad to answer
them with a smile.  They are rather long, so I'd rather you went there first.  

Have fun...!

I'll soon be sending Evan my wheel balancing instructions for posting there too....I'll
be including pictures of the Hunter Balancer I use for the rear wheels, plus some of the
weights I use and depictions of determining the placement of the weight.

George and the Lowrider