Hey Chris -

Thanks for the advice. If you don't mind me asking - when you pulled your strut - did you need any special tools. I'm particularly concern about the spring. I thought you need some type of special spring clamping tool to do the job. I do want to do this myself. Thanks again.

Kiet

 

You COULD use a spring compressor to take tension off the spring; but when I worked on my oem struts in the past, there isn't as much tension as you'd imagine. You really only need a way to compress the spring enough to push the strut top down enough to reveal threads on the top of the strut and start the nut. Once you've got a few threads on it you can run it down from there. - Like I said; you could use a spring compressor to do this... But I'm 6'3" 200lbs. and I just used my body weight to push down on the strut top enough to start the nut easily. I had my neighbor (who's also a gearhead) come over and start the nut for me while I was pushing down... - Probably not the recommended method by others but I can tell you that it's very easy to do with a second set of hands. - I've changed fronts in under an hour a side. It really isn't hard.

No special tools needed to R&R the strut assembly aside from a ball joint separator that you'll need to modify to get the ball joint from the LCA separated from the upright. - I bought mine from Harbor Freight for $50 I believe. Everything else is basic hand tools from your tool box and some zip ties to hang your brake calipers to prevent damage to the lines.

shoot me a PM if you have any questions bud, I am glad to help out.

Chris.

 

Chris -

I can't thank you enough for the advice and suggestions. I was really beginning to worry that this was not a doable DIY for the home mechanics but after chatting with you, I feel much more confident. The only question I have left now is the "ball joint separater" that you mentioned. What is this used for? Is this to separate the bearing from the strut mount?

I hope this is not a stupid question but what does R&R mean? Is that remove & replace?

Thanks.

Kiet

 

Kiet,

Ball joint separator I am referring to looks like this:



The link from Harbor Freight to buy it: http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-qua...tor-99849.html


You would use this to separate the tie rod from the upright, and also to separate the lower control arm from the upright. This will allow you to swivel the upright around and slide the strut out of the upright and out of the car completely. The only trick to be aware of is that you'll want to use something like a dremel to grind down the ears of the ball joint separator a little bit to allow you the room to get into the ball joint on the lower control arm. It's not much that you need to grind out; I think it took me 5 minutes of working with it to make it fit into the control arm joint.

The tie rod and lower control arm ball joints are held in with 18mm nuts as I recall. You will want a Torx bit to lock the ball joint in place and then use an 18mm wrench to loosen the nut. You'll loosen the nut to the top of the threads and just beyond so that the ball joint separator applies pressure on just the nut and not damage the threads of the ball joints. This picture is an example of the lower control arm ball joint in the upright; it would be the same for the tie rod as well:





Here is a pic of the ball joint separator on the tie rod and upright:


And here is a pic of the ball joint separator on the lower control arm and upright:





Once you have the strut out of the car, it's simply a matter of removing the top nut from the strut, which is a 22 or 24mm I believe? - It's been a while.

Once you've removed the nut, the strut top, spring, dust boot and all will separate allowing you to break down the strut. The actual strut bearing is located in the strut top (camber plate if you will).




Here is the diagram of the strut and what you're looking for:



The actual strut bearing:



I will say I've seen a DIY write-up that recommends you remove the entire upright from the car, and I will tell you this unnecessary and complete overkill. Once you disconnect the tie rod and lower control arm from the upright, it will give you room to swivel the whole strut assembly back and out to allow you to slide the strut out of the upright and out of the car easily. - Don't remove the whole upright; just not necessary.


This is a picture of my old H&R's in the upright:



I hope this helps.

Chris.

 

Wow Chris - I can't thank you enough. You have been so much more than helpful. I just placed the order for the strut bearing from PelicanParts.com. I will go ahead and order the ball joint separator and spring compressor from Sears. I think Sears have a similar ball joint separator to Harbor Freight.

I have one last question for you... I promise this is the last one until I actually start the work. You mentioned "upright". What exactly is an upright? Is that the body of the car where the strut mount is attached to the car? Thanks.

Kiet

 

Look up above in my picture of the H&R coilovers installed in the upright. The upright is the "axle or wheel carrier" I think others may call it. The strut slides down through it, the axle runs through it, the brake caliper bolts to it.

Number #1 on this diagram:


Chris.

 

There's a DIY thread somewhere on removing a strut and I think it was recent. Do a search here and on Rennlist.

 

Chris -

Did you have to do an alignment afterward? Thanks.

Kiet

 

If you mark the precise position of the three bolts of your strut tops as they are bolted into the strut tower, your alignment would be unchanged as long as you lined everything back up afterward.

- Chris

 

The clicking when turning the wheel could be the end links. Try disconnecting them to see if the noise goes away.

 

Hi -

Sorry to be reviving this thread again but I ended not replacing the strut bearing last winter due to timing issue. The noise that I originally had went away during the summer months and now had reared it's ugly head again with the drop in the temperature. So this is definitely correlated to the temperature. Cold means noise. Warm means no noise. Go figure. You mentioned disconnecting the end links to test. Can you please tell me how I would go about doing that? How do I remove the end links to test if that is the issue? Thank you.

Kiet

 

Kiet,

You would remove the end link off of the lower swaybar. On either end.

Hope that helps.

-Matt

 

So I can do this and still be able to drive the car to test for the noise? Also - I'm assuming the wheels and calipers have to come off inorder to remove the end link. Thanks again.

Kiet

 

End links connect the swaybar to the strut assembly. Disconnecting the swaybar link is very simple. It is held in place with a 14mm nut. If you remove your wheel you will see the link.

Personally, I think your problem is still the strut bearing, but it never hurts to try the endlink.

Good luck.

Chris.

 

Hi all, I know these are old posts, but did you ever resolve the "clicking" noise? What caused it? I have a 2010 997.2 turbo, picked it up with 4000 miles on the clock about 6 months ago. Makes a loud click or pop when you turn the wheel from stop to stop about 45 degrees from hitting the stop. Everyone said it was the springs reseating, but had it in to my dealer for other work and they said that it was not normal, but can't find where it's comming from. Still working on it. Car has 10,000 miles on it now and it's driving me crazy. I think it's the bearings.

Thanks for any input!