Serious help needed on coil install*

[xllSkylinellx]

Ok me and my friend yesterday tried to install a set of apex ws coils on his 98 gs-T, figured it'd be cake. We started doing the front struts, and not even 15 mins into the installation we find that there's a nut with an allen key hole in it, that connects the lower suspension mount to what looks like a front sway bar of some sort?? I looked at it and said to my self ok np... tried turning it and the gd bolt just turns with it so then I thought I get an allen key and that's that.

This ball joint nut WILL NOT COME OFF!! First off it's rusted to shit, second no matter how we tried taking it off [air gun, heating it, allen key and wrench] the nut will not come off... we soaked it in wd40 and even some other kind of spray.... and let it sit and no result. Without that nut being loosend the lower suspension mount will NOTdrop down and we can't get the factory struts out... so we figured lets loosen the upper suspension arm [not sure what its called] and maybe the whole system will drop down. Little did we know.... after loosening that the bolt is stuck and the suspension arm will not seperate, so we use a hammer and knock it out. Turns out we strip the threads on the bolt [which is anohter ball joint] while we're knocking it out.... when we tried to put the thing back together the nut won't fit... my friend almost did not have a car... I had to re-thread and tap that thing with one of those nuts and re-thread the nut it self... luckily it worked... we had all the tools in his dad's shop...phew!

So, does anyone out there have a similar experience, recently or in the past with that ball joint nut that connects the lower suspension mount to the sway bar in their 2g dsm?? Can anyone give me some advice or help? Because there's no way the stock struts are coming off without that lower suspension mount dropping down.. and that nut is rounded off now from all the shit we did to it. Thx guys.

[GSX21]

IS there any way to just break it off and throw a new nut and bolt on thier to replace it.....If you
really cant get it off i dont see any other chioce.

[96gsn]

T, when you have the wheel off look at the strut in the middle of the shock it split off into two ( like a wish bone) and there will be a single bolt, remove that bolt and the strut will separate from the a arm, note if the bolt is difficult to remove heat it up, second remove the sway bar link rod( it looks like small rod with two bolts on each end) remove the top bolt, to remove it put an open end wrench on the back side of it so the bolt doesn't spin, third use a ball joint remover to take off the upper ball joint and when that's off separate the strut from the a arm and the whole strut assembly will come off

[96gsn]

Sorry I Wasn't Done
Now I Dont Know How Differnt A 98 Gst From 96 Gst But That's What We Did To Lower My Freind Car And Also We Had Access To A Lift And Torch So I Hope This Helps You Guys

[xllSkylinellx]

The top bolt had a nut in front with allen key hole the nut is now rounded, and I didn't have a ball joint remover... do you think an open end wrench will prevent the bolt from spinning so I can turn the nut hopefully cuz it's kinda rounded out... but I think I can do something with a tighter fit socket or a small adjustable wrench hopefully.

[kjewer1]

The best part is, there is no need to remove the swaybar end links if you jack up both sides at the same time. I'm guessing you jacked up one side at a time. The job of the swaybar is to try to hold both wheels at the same level, yet still act like a spring. If you jack up both sides, both wheels will drop to the bottom of thier travel. If you do jsut one, the swaybar will hold up the wheel that is off teh ground, trying to match its "height" to the side that is on the ground, and pushed up in the wheelwell most likely. I've done several shock/strut installs and never had to remove the swaybar end links, with both sides jacked up.

The times I did have to remove swaybar end links, like when changing swaybars, I used an allen wrnch in the end. Not all cars have those though! Some have a hex on the backside, tight at the "ball" in the balljoint. Either way, they all have something to hold it. If its so rounded off that you cant get it out, I would jsut buy a new end link and carefully cut the old one out with a cutoff wheel and a die grinder. I dont think they are very expensive, maybe 30 bucks.

[xllSkylinellx]

Originally Posted by 95 GSXracer

The best part is, there is no need to remove the swaybar end links if you jack up both sides at the same time. I'm guessing you jacked up one side at a time. The job of the swaybar is to try to hold both wheels at the same level, yet still act like a spring. If you jack up both sides, both wheels will drop to the bottom of thier travel. If you do jsut one, the swaybar will hold up the wheel that is off teh ground, trying to match its "height" to the side that is on the ground, and pushed up in the wheelwell most likely. I've done several shock/strut installs and never had to remove the swaybar end links, with both sides jacked up.

The times I did have to remove swaybar end links, like when changing swaybars, I used an allen wrnch in the end. Not all cars have those though! Some have a hex on the backside, tight at the "ball" in the balljoint. Either way, they all have something to hold it. If its so rounded off that you cant get it out, I would jsut buy a new end link and carefully cut the old one out with a cutoff wheel and a die grinder. I dont think they are very expensive, maybe 30 bucks.

I'll try and jack up both sides of the car and see if the strut can be slid out, if not I'll have to take it to a shop and let them replace the whole sway bar endlinks on both sides because I don't ever want to have this problem again... anyways... I'll give it a try by jacking up both sides of the car and matching height. Thanks for the advice