Front strut removal

I'm replacing the factory springs and shocks with the standard setup from LaJolla. In removing the strut, the top comes off fine but the bottom of the strut seems like it's welded on. I've removed the three safety wired nuts/studs but no movement. I'v heard from another Forum member that I may have to remove it all via the lower ball joint but I'm trying to avoid that. Any suggestions on how to split the strut from the fiting that sits on the ball joint?




You can see where the three bolts came out and where I'm attempting to split the strut from the ball joint fitting. Maybe I need a bigger hammer?:mrgreen:

Never mind!

Indeed, I did need a bigger hammer! (And a sharper chisel)

OK, on to the next step. Looks like the shock is stuck in the tube. And yes, I've used a bigger hammer. Any suggestions on how to get it out?

You have removed the strut assembly correctly. There is no need, nor do I believe it is possible to seperate the tube portion of the outer strut housing from the 3 bolt mount. Simply compress the spring and go about replaceing the spring and insert.
Once you have it completely disassembled would be a good time to clean and paint the housing.

i just did my front struts a few months ago- From the pictures it looks like you have the housing out just fine. The very top nut that holds the spring together with the strut can be tight. I reinstalled the old strut, used an impact wrench to get it free while on the car, then took the strut housing out. as far as the shock goes, there should be a large nut where the insert and the housing come together..again this is not a typical size so i soaked it in wd-40, then used a clamp to hold the housing, and large vise grips to loosen the nut holding the strut to the housing.. hope this helps-

Front Strut Difficult

Front up- both sides or
Loosen or remove the sway bar link. (Not in the manual, but shown in the picture) More arm travel is what you're trying for.
Jack up the lower spring perch to relieve tension.

2' pry bar and 5 lb. hammer!

Looks like they were nearly rust welded together.

Success!

Finally got it. From the suggestions above (thanks heroszeros!), I went looking for a second/third set of nuts. The POS FSM doesn't mention them.

After removing the boot, I found this. Looks like a split collet or a ring nut. A "special tool" kind of thing so I went after it with a hammer and chisel :-D





Sure enough, off came the first brass looking nut



Then the inner nut by way of a punch



And success!



The shock appears to be the only thing on the car that's not rusty!! Lots of graudu (that's an American engineering term, equivalant to "swarf" in English) inside the tube, water and old oil.

Of course, being a n00b at this, I didn't bother to look at the new shock for a clue. Notice the threaded collar at the top, under the gator. Duh!



Oh well, now for the assembly!

Offset Collar

I've got the upgraded suspension from La Jolla. So how do the offset collars go in? It looks like I need to pound out the existing bolts in the top of the strut and then bolt the offset collar back in. Do the short bolts in the collar go into the strut with the longer studs going back up thru the body?

Is that a fixed camber plate?

Yes, exactly that. From BimmerDoc

hey you got them off!, yes you need to press(pound?) out the old bolts which mount the top of the strut housing to the fender, then mount this plate to the top of the strut, short side to the strut, and long side through the fender.

be sure, because they are side specific (i think my plates had letters ground into them for left and right..)

one last thing.. when i put everything together, i was thinking wow..i wish the car were still a little lower in the front.. after driving it around and measuring the fender to ground a few times, the car settled from 3/8-7/16 all around (the rear less than the front). so if it isn't noticably lower at first your car should settle down.

good luck-

The Plate

I also have a set of Carl N. springs and the fixed camber plates. This project is on the back burner for now...too busy with other stuff and was going to tackle the install this fall. I never did get instruction from Carl as to the plate install so I will be very interested as to how this turns out for you. Thanks for the pre-run!

Offset plate installation

The next step is to install the offset plat at the top of the strut for some negitive camber (hope I like this). The first mistake I made was not to remove the studs while I had the upper bearing out and in my hand. These studs don't just "pop" out, I had to Dremel them off then drill them out. Would have been easier to just press them out when the bearing wasn't attached to the shock (I didn't want to remove that big nut again).

Also, a big air impact hammer/wrench is your friend. I used it to get the nut off the original strut and again to tighten the new nut back on the top of the shock. Otherwise you have to make (or possibly buy) a cunning tool that will fit your ratchet and have a hole in the top of it so you can hold the Allen socket with an Allen wrench. Then unscrew the nut while holding the Allen wrench (yea, right). When I put it back on, I just snugged the nut up against the top flange/land of the shock rod. No idea of the torque, somewhere between "loose" and "tight enough but not too tight"



Herozeros mentioned the plates are "handed", i.e., left and right so after much hunting I found what I believe to be the "left" mark. You can barely see it to the right of the stud.



This is what it looks like bolted up. I checked with La Jolla and yes, since it's an "offset plate" it's gonna looks kinda weird



I didn't like the way the totally flat offset plate fit up agains my beat up old strut top but I think it will work, at least it's all real tight.



Next, reinstallation of the whole assembly.....

Strut bearing plate

Jeff,

The short stud nut; double check to make sure there are enough threads on the nylocs or take out the washers. Looks close in the picture.

The large studs- did they come with new acorn nuts? Sometime back when, the studs go up a size 10 to 11 or 11 to 12? Arizona Parts Hauz makes note of the change. Maybe they came with the kit?

The plate- mainly to get back close to original camber, since a shorter spring changes the geometry.

Bearings in good shape?

Looking good though.

Jerry

61porsche said:

Jeff,

The short stud nut; double check to make sure there are enough threads on the nylocs or take out the washers. Looks close in the picture.

Click to expand...

Good call, I hadn't thought about that, will check tonight

61porsche said:

The large studs- did they come with new acorn nuts? Sometime back when, the studs go up a size 10 to 11 or 11 to 12? Arizona Parts Hauz makes note of the change. Maybe they came with the kit?

Click to expand...

No acorn nuts in the kit, just another set of ny-locks. I was thinking about that too, the nylocks will look bad compared to the acorn nuts. Hadn't thought it through, possibly safety wire the acorns nuts? Might look kind of retro...

61porsche said:

Bearings in good shape?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't trust them to drive around the block if they actually turned while in service but in a relatively "static" service, they should be OK. How would I know that they have to be replaced? Other than the obvious such as laterial or axial play (none right now, just a little rough when turning them on the shock)

Strut Bearings

On the nuts- I'd use the Acorn. Just a drop of blue sealant.

Bearing- If minor on the rough- should be ok.

Sway Bar

OK, finished the struts, did the blue Locktight as suggested, all's good.

The sway bar was again a bit different. After a trial fit, I determined that it wouldn't fit! The bushing brackets were too big. Turns out Carl has his own to fit the couple but Ben forgot to ship them. So Ben sent them out (no charge, thanks Ben!) and a few days later and in it goes.

The bushing bracket from Carl's sub-supplier



Sway bar installed. I bent the little slot do-dad out towards the front a little to ease in installation, don't think it hurt the install at all.



Done :-D