My drivers side strut seems to have given up the ghost. Every little bump sounds and feels like I just drove over a curb, and there is a trail of fluid down the side of the strut. I need this expense like I need a kick in the balls right now, but I have a set of inserts that I think will do the job temporarily until I can swing a set of Koni's.

The factory manual talks about removing the strut to replace the insert, but I know I have seen it mentioned that the insert can be done in about half an hour. You sure as hell can't take out the whole strut in 30 minutes, so how the heck do you do it?

Thanks in advance, and yes, I tried to search 1st.

Unbolt the top of the strut, compress it, swing it out from the fender, remove the cover.

Put the strut back into place; no nut needed. Use a pipe wrench to remove the gland nut holding the insert in.

Compress the strut, swing it out, remove the insert.

Replace the insert, compress the new one, put it up into place. Use a pipe wrench to tighten the new gland nut.

Compress the insert, swing it out, put the dust cover over it.

Swing it back in, put it in place, tighten the mounting nut.

--DD

...doing this too...is it easy to put too much tension on the brake line while swinging it in and out. If so, could it be done solo or should you have an accomplice.

with DD. It's even harder with GT flares. The first side will take you and hour. The second side will take you 20 minutes.

I take off the hardline/rubber line clip that holds that union to the body and it gives you some slack in the hydraulic lines.

DD's post is pretty much it, except for unloading the torsion spring. This will make it easier to push the A arm down and swing the strut out.

You'll want to measure your ride height before you take anything apart. This is described in most repair manuals. Basically you measure distance between the centerline of the wheel hub and measure the centerline of the torsion spring. The difference is your ride height. IIRC it's 90-105mm, but don't take that to the bank, check your repair manual and what the car is actually set at now.

Ideally you'd have a half tank of fuel and your weight in the driver's seat. For now you can just use the drivers side as a baseline.

Thanks boys. Seems pretty straight forward.

DD, by "unbolt the top" I presume you mean the three from the body and the strut rod.

No, you can just unbolt the one at the top of the strut. Otherwise you'll be messing with the alignment. Although, if you replace a strut, you probably need to have the alignment checked.

Yup, just the big nut. Very good time to invest in a cheapie impact gun!

It's best to have a buddy there to help. I wound up putting the wheel back on the hub so my buddy would have extra leverage to hold the strut still while I used a monkey wrench on the gland nut.

--DD

Even better. I was a little worried about screwing up the alignment even if I was careful with the body mount.

I'm good on the impact already McMark. I don't have much money, but I gots me some tools. (I wonder if those two things are related? )

Thanks boys. I'm going out there to teach her a lesson right now.