Spring and CV boot/shaft replacing

SunRed · Sep 12th, 2004, 07:42 PM

Hello,

Just found out today I've got a broken spring on the right front, and the outer CV boots on both sides are torn.

I've replaced these items before on my Chevrolet X-11 Citation, and I've done front springs/shocks on my RX-7, so I'm guessing that on a Sentra it should be a similar procedure, right?

Also, does anyone have an idea where to get front springs for a 1993 Nissan Sentra SE? I've checked ebay and everything says they will lower the car, and since this car is driven year round in Buffalo, lowering isn't something I want to do.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

toolapcfan · Sep 13th, 2004, 09:03 AM

Replacing the spring is going to suck because it is a real PITA to get the tophat off. When I sold my OEM struts to a guy to use for his Koni inserts, I ended up cutting the old springs off, and then cutting the strut rods in half, then I ground flat spots on both sides of the rod so that I could clamp it down in my vise and loosen that top nut to get the tophat off (I wanted to keep the tophats in the event that I ever put regular springs back on). So good luck with that part. The rest is easy, three 14mm? bolts hold the tophat into the strut tower and two 17 mm bolts hold the lower part of the strut to the spindles. If you want new springs, you're better off going aftermarket because OEM are going to be a ripoff. If you don't mind tired old used springs I'd bet you can get those cheap or for the price of shipping from someone parting out their car or who has just put on new springs, right here on the forums.

As for the CV boots, to do it right and use a solid boot, you'll have to bust the joints apart, and that's a lot of hassle. I've always just bought new axles but that's $140 you might not be willing to spend.

SunRed · Sep 13th, 2004, 09:36 AM

Thanks for the reply.

I think I'm going to get a used spring, a friend of mine works for a place that deals with junkyard parts and said he could get me a spring for $10-$20 which would include the shipping. If that doesn't work out with him, I'll see if someone on here wants to part with there old springs.

I have access to a Impact gun, do you think this would make removing the top nut a little easier? I do remember a similar PITA part for my Citation, and at the time not having an impact wrench and I think it involved a similar process that you mentioned. Except this time I want to keep the struts in working order. Hopefully the impact gun will have the torque to break it free. I'll also ask my friend that works at a garage how they go about it.

Just did a check on carparts.com for the CV half shaft assemblies, $107 each, I'll have to check locally also. I'll let my girlfriend deceide what she wants to do on that, as I remember that the "slip boots" were junk which is why I did the whole half shaft the last time I had a ripped boot on a car.

Once again, thanks for your reply.

toolapcfan · Sep 13th, 2004, 10:02 AM

My problem wasn't that the nut was on too tight, I could have used my 24" breaker bar if that were the case, it was that the shaft kept spinning and with the spring in place, holding the shaft from spinning is damn near impossible. You might be lucking with a good impact wrench though. I don't know how they do it at shops, you'll have to let me know what your buddy says on that. If you've got Napa or Autozone in your area, they'll have remanufactured CV axles for about $70 each after core.

SunRed · Sep 13th, 2004, 11:10 AM

I talked to my friend at the garage.

The trick to removing the top nut is to take vice grips and clamp the strut rod as high up as possible so that if any scoring does occur, its above where the rod goes into the strut housing part.

Also after checking on prices, half shafts are about $60 each now at all the major places in Buffalo, NY. I can rent a spring compressor for free at Autozone, so I'll probably get the half shafts there.

The spring I'll give my other friend a call about a used one, and if he can't get me one, I'll post a request to see if anyone on the boards will sell me one.

Either way, my friends garage quoted me $956 for the entire job, and I'm hoping to do it all for under $200, and impress my girlfriend with my car fixing abilities.

Thanks again for the assistance.

toolapcfan · Sep 13th, 2004, 01:04 PM

Yikes, sounds like your buddy's shop screws people pretty good! Well, more power to him I guess.

I've tried using curved jaw vise grips at the top of the rod, but I only did that when I was putting the perches back on, and it still slipped and I had them on as tight as possible. Hopefully that will work but I doubt it. Good luck with it. I wish manufacturers would have had the foresight to machine the rods out of a hex blank, so they could leave part of it unmachined up top so you could easily slip a wrench in to hold it. Shit, they could have used round blanks that just had a hex cast in up top. If they can do it for camshafts they can do it for strut rods.

SunRed · Sep 18th, 2004, 08:39 PM

Mission accomplished, car back together in one piece.

Didn't end up having to worry about removing the strut shaft spinning as the spring replacement I got from a junkyard came already installed on a shaft. Really easy to just pull out the whole assembly and plug in the new one.

The half shafts came out pretty easy, little bit of a pain putting back in, still though beat the shop labor estimate of 4hrs and that also included me doing the brake pads since I had eveything accesible anyway.

As a souvenier I've saved the broken spring section, wasn't even an entire turn of the coil that broke. Just wasn't able to seat properly though.

Thanks again for your help and assurance on the job being straight forward.