changing rear struts on a 92

[kpolly]

Hey there! Just purchased a 92 3.8 L a little over a month ago and have noticed that I need to replace a rear strut. Just wondering how hard of a job this is and what does it involve. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[PFJ5K]

Replacing the rear struts on these cars is a pain.

These cars use a leaf spring mounted between the two rear wheels instead of coil springs. There is a special tool that you can use to relieve the tension on the spring or you can just put one jack under the center of the spring and another under the side that you are working on to relieve the tension.

The struts have brackets attached to them which bolt up to the wheel hub. The bolts are very tight and usually rusted. The top strut bolts can be reached through the trunk if you pull the carpet back.

The difficult part is that the camber of the rear wheels needs to be set when you tighten the lower strut bolts. The lower strut brackets have slightly oval shaped holes in them and the camber is adjusted by tightening the bolts when the strut bracket and hub are in the proper relation to each other. The problem is that the leaf spring is always trying to push the top of the hub outward while the strut is off and the bolts need to be made very tight (I think factory spec is 125 ft/lb).

I'm not trying to discourage you from doing the work yourself, just if you do replace the struts yourself you will have to bring the car to an alignment shop to have the camber set anyway. You might as well just have the shop install the struts and save yourself the hassle.

[kpolly]

Thanx for the info. It's very useful. Good thing to know that a wheel alignment needs to be done. Only problem being, we thought it was one of the struts making the noise, when in actuality over the weekend, the noise seemed to be louder. Me and my husband took a look under the car and realized that a bar had fallen from it's normal position. We have no idea what it is. It runs along the width of the car and somehow bolts into the frame. My husband for the time being attached it where it's supposed to go with some wire. But we need to know what this piece is called and what it does. It's situated behind the rear axles, I believe. It doesn't seem to be affecting the driving at all, but who knows if it will start to. Our finances are limited as we have to deal with a 97 Mercury Mistake sitting in our driveway that's been sucking us dry since the day we bought it. Any suggestions?

[PFJ5K]

Originally Posted by kpolly

Me and my husband took a look under the car and realized that a bar had fallen from it's normal position. We have no idea what it is. It runs along the width of the car and somehow bolts into the frame. My husband for the time being attached it where it's supposed to go with some wire. But we need to know what this piece is called and what it does.

The bar you are referring to is probably the sway bar or stabilizer bar. It is usually attached to both rear suspension arms and to the body. The bar helps prevent the body of the car from leaning during turns.

Broken sway bar mounts are fairly common, especially if a car is driven over rough pavement or potholes. Most 88-96 regals did not even come with a rear sway bar so it should not affect the driveability of the car.

Even though a broken mount won't affect driveability much, it would be wise to get the bracket replaced since the bar may come loose and drag or get caught on something.