Don't try this at home; - Front Shocks - BIG JOB!

[1999montana]

After installing the rear shocks with but a frozen rusted bolt on one side, I decide to tackle the front Mac struts today. Started with the most complicated side first, Passenger side.

You have to remove the windshield wiper motor and arm assembly in order to reach the three mounting bolts in the shock strut tower. What a mess. Resevoir, and the right brace have to come out so that you can rest the wiper arm assembly; - complete with wiper arms, motor and linkage on top of the engine. You also have to remove the cruise control as well.

Then you have to loosen the torsion bar link to the lower control arm before you can get the spindle to move out of the way so that you can slip the shock strut assembly out from under the van. A good set of shop axle stands rated at 4 tons each come in handy, as does a 3 ton floor jack.

Once I got it out and dissassembled using a spring compressor, it went back together fairly easily. Of course they must have a special tool for removing the nut on the shock piston that holds the mount in place. It requiires a hex allen wrench and (in my case a 13/16 wrench which I do not own.)

SO..., I used a set of vise grips and the allen wrench and removed and reinstalled the nut. It only needs to be torqued to 38 Ft/lb so I was able to guess that spec fairly easily.

You should replace the upper shock mount assembly as this is the pivot point for the top of the spindle. The mount on the passenger side was a little dry. The darn things appear to be made from high impact plastic with plenty of lube in between. Go figure!

FIVE hours of cussing and profanity finally got it re-installed in the body. I discovered that the mount has bolts that are splayed out from the center-line of the mount. However, when it was manufactured, the mount had too much of a splay on each bolt and the thing would not line up with the holes in the shock tower. I fixed that by clamping each bolt end-wise in my vise and giving it a little bend inward. Lined up perfectly.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the fourth and final corner of the van and hopefully will NEVER have to do this job again!

[rubberman]

you do mean strut, right? When the strut was bad on my Montana i was happy to pay Raben tire $233 to replace it. and it included an $80 strut with bearing plate.

[1999montana]

Originally Posted by rubberman

you do mean strut, right? When the strut was bad on my Montana i was happy to pay Raben tire $233 to replace it. and it included an $80 strut with bearing plate.

Yes, quite right, front struts, not to be confused with the conventional shocks on the rear. At $233 is sounds like it was a 3 to 4 hour job, right?; - for one shock or two?

I explored the possibility of having someone else do it. I guess my expectations are higher than most shops are prepared to meet. And I have frequently had to return because something wasn't done right. (Now I can only blame myself, right?)

The only guy I would consider is a one-man band and was away on vacation. Besides he would have wanted to charge straight retail for the shocks and I am on a tight budget. SO,...there I was under the van doing it a step at a time (at a snail's pace too!)

Got it all back together and discovered the the springs had preloaded the upper mount (ie.: bearing plate) - Monroe calls it a mount, so that everything seemed tight. When I got the van back on the ground the upper retainer was loose and rattled. The nut could easliy be turned down two or three complete turns. Must be a trick to this phase I guess.

Reason;- the spring pre-load on the upper mount and nut was removed once the springs contacted the mount and tranferred the compression and vehicle weight to the body.

I may have to remove the struts and bench torque them again being certain to remove any spring tension before I torque. Got a good Craftsman wrench last night and will try to tighten the nut while on the car. If not, will have to remove both struts and do it on the bench. Not a lot of room to work in there either.

The shop guys must either have a trick for doing this or just moan every time one of these comes in for shocks I guess.

The shop where I bought ths struts has a call into Monroe to see what I might have missed or if there is some technique I should have used. No parts left over in the box, so it can't be that!

Funny, I did a small import GM car with four of these struts and NEVER had a problem.

[rubberman]

1 strut with bearing plate.

[1999montana]

Originally Posted by rubberman

1 strut with bearing plate.

Well, after 5 more hours removing both struts and re-torquing the strut shaft nut(s), I discovered that the self-locking nut supplied reaches a premature bind at about 60 ft/lb.

The spec calls for 44 ft/lb, (Monroe even stresses that damage to the threads may occur if the spec is exceeded; - actually it would take guerrilla arms to make any impression on these threads!)

So, ... I figured (during the first install) that I had bottomed out on the mount. Actually the nut binds so severally that to get it to bottom out requires in excess of 80 ft/lb as the locking force of the nut increases as it is torqued down.

Good and snug now!

End of job.....