[Shotimes] Re: spring and struts replacement

[George Fourchy]

On Tue, 4 Feb 2003 17:46:27 -0500, David P wrote:

>For those of us that maintain all the rubber components in the front
>suspension, hammering down the spindle does not work, at least on the five
>different Taurii/Sables that I've maintained, the suspension does not want
>to go down that far, even when leveraging a 6 foot 2x4 on the torque arm.

OK FOLKS......PAY ATTENTION......THERE WILL BE A TEST LATER.....

........STOMPING HIS FOOT............. 

You can do this the hard way, or you can do it the easy way.  (Rust not
withstanding.)  No hammers or prybars necessary.  Hammering on the knuckle is poor
practice....leaves dents and deformities on the knuckle, disturbs the neighbors, and
you can miss and hit the strut. 

......after you have loosened the three nuts that hold the bearing to the strut
tower, and loosened the big center nut that holds the spring on the strut, and
removed the tire........

1.  Remove the antilock sensor bracket from the strut and fasten it out of the way.

2.  Remove the swaybar end link from the strut, and fasten it out of the way, any
way you desire.

3.  Remove the nut from the rear of the tension strut and pull the knuckle back
about an inch or so from its position against the front side tension strut bushing. 
(This is the missing link....the part that stops you from needing to use a prybar to
take the knuckle off the strut.)

4.  Remove the pinch bolt from the knuckle, turn it around, screw it in from the
back side and stick a big screwdriver or metal wedge into the pinch, then tighten
the bolt up to open the pinch about 3/16ths of an inch.

5.  Remove the bolt and wedge or screwdriver.....check the knuckle for looseness
from the strut...if it will rock a bit, push down with both hands (if not, spread
the pinch a bit more)....no hammer required....and the knuckle will drop right off
the end of the strut....faster than you can blink your eyes....when I show folks
this technique in my driveway, they sometimes blink and miss it....so I do it again
and again, until they get the idea.

Total time for having the strut in my hand after removing the tire, (after loosening
the lugs while it is still on the ground, before jacking).....3 minutes
nominal....if it is a virgin knuckle, it might take 5 minutes.....!!

Removing and installing two new front struts, including swapping the springs, with
the help of an impact gun and spring compressors.....40 minutes tops, from driving
in to driving out.  Cutting and drilling strut housings to add Koni inserts....add 5
minutes per side.   (But I quit doing that after two sets.)

I have already said I will do this for everyone to see at the convention.....I'm not
doing it on someone else's rusty car.....I'm doing it on MY car.  You all can deal
with your own rust.

(:^)

George