Strut job done - my tips & advice

Well, the strut bearing on the passenger side had enough and needed replaced. Symptoms were a bumping noise when turning the steering lock-to-lock. Observing from the wheelwell, you could see the problem at the top of the strut with someone inside cycling the steering. The bearing didn't want to turn and you could visibly see it sticking and not rotating smoothly

When I finally got it all out, the bearing fell apart and rusted ball bearings spilled on the floor....but the driver side was OK....:rolleyes:

I replaced both sides from top-to bottom: new AC Delco struts, mount, bearing, spring seat. Only re-used the isolators and springs. Job took about 10 hours over two days - this was the first time I'd ever done one.

OK, here's what I learned:

You will need to remove the wiper linkage to get access to the nuts holding the strut in at the fender well. This means the wipers have to come off, then the cowl screen, wiper motor, and finally after the screws for the wiper arm towers, the whole linkage is removed as an assembly.

With the struts out, either buy the Monroe Quick-Struts or take everything to a shop to swap the springs. I did it the stupid way with with a set of "suicide stick" spring compressors. I spent a lot of time & effort positioning & repositioning these things to get everything aligned properly.

If you re-assemble yourself, pay attention to the position of the "wedge" to the top mount. It's oriented a certain way, and my Monroe part had arrows indicating alignment. Mess it up and the bottom of the strut won't be anywhere close to the arm off the steering knucle when you go to put it back together.

You're supposed to scribe a line at the knuckle and reinstall the strut to that line; but honestly there's didn't appear to be any adjustment available in the reassembly. It was a pain enough just getting the bolts back in and everything seemed to be set. It drives fine, so I'll keep an eye on tire wear; but I'm not going in for an alignment at this point.

Hope someone finds this useful at some point!

Kornjulio,

Thanks for posting this. I am going to be doing it soon, within the next few weeks. Parts on order. How difficult was ALL the wiper linkage/motor/trans to get off? The manual which is terrible, mentions something about not moving any linkage out of position after removal or the (wiper) transmission will need to be "reset". Did you find any issues with this?

Any further tips you can give me?

Once all the wiper stuff is removed, how is the access to the bearing mount nuts? Free and clear, or do you still have to go through gyrations and contortions to get the nuts of

I am wondering if the job can be done without removing all the wiper stuff?

Thanks.

It was not difficult to get the wiper linkage off. The worst part was removing the actual wiper arms off the posts. It's a splined shaft fit, and I don't have a puller that small. Some taps with a mallet and a lot of yanking to get them off....boy that sounds bad...

I removed the whole wiper motor; and if I remember correctly it does involve removing the cam plate that's bolted with a torx screw to the wiper motor. Doing this means retiming the wipers once you're done. I can help with the procedure to do this; if it's not in a thread here somewhere.

If you pull these parts and remove the cruise control module on the driver's side; you'll have all the access you need. Don't remove the cable from the cruise module to throttle body; just undo the module from the black tube and lay it aside.

Can you get to the top nuts without removing all these parts? Maybe - I won't say no - I just know I tried and couldn't get my meathooks back there and turn the wrench.

That's pretty much all the tips I have

KJ,

Thanks again for the help. I'll search for a wiper timing post here just in case I need it.