Re: Help.. Struts are rusted to the steering knuckle
Quote:
Originally posted by carzoni trying to install drop springs..The two 17 mm bolts holding the lower end of the strut to the hub assembly are completely rusted--- tried PB blaster and liquid wrench... what else, I dont have a pneumatic /hydrualic torque wrench or any torches to heat it up... I got a quote of $250 (5.5 hours labor) to install the 4 drop springs, which is way more than I can pay... any ideas?
Two words...TQ WRENCH!
That thing will come off in two seconds rusted or not!!!!
You don't need hydraulic torque wrenches...get an electrical one!
It's well worth it!!! Trust mE!!!!
__________________
Electrical Engineer in da his house.
"If you eliminate the impossible then whatever left, however improbable must be the truth!"
To make it simple:
Impact Wrench = Piece of cake
Torque Wrench or Breaker bar = Alright<------->PITA
Ratchet or Wrench = Back Breaking<------->Impossible
Originally posted by UNISH25 Two words...TQ WRENCH!
That thing will come off in two seconds rusted or not!!!!
You don't need hydraulic torque wrenches...get an electrical one!
It's well worth it!!! Trust mE!!!!
Wtf! I meant to say impact wrench...
200ftlbs of tq!!!! That thing will come off in two seconds!
Theres no such thing as a electrical tq wrench(or is there?)
__________________
Electrical Engineer in da his house.
"If you eliminate the impossible then whatever left, however improbable must be the truth!"
Hi 1997 GA16DE. Thanks for the advice, I'll try to compress the spring and knock the bolts out with a hammer. It looks really tough to compress the spring while it's still in there since it's very tight but it might be well worth trying. I just got a bottle of wd-40 from bigK today. Hopefully, this stuff works better than 10w30 oil. I hope it works cuz I am dying to get that darn bolt out.
Originally posted by Mervic So a lot of people are having problems with removing shocks and springs.
well, the biggest issue is the years of sand, grit, and rust that lock up the lower bolts. My car is a 97, therefore, when I had to remove the assembly, it already had over 5 years of crud to work through when I had to get those bolts off.
OMG!!! DEJA VU! I just had the same experiences everyone here is talking about! This weekend I tried to replace my suspension and didn't get very far at all. I managed to get only one strut/spring combo out of the car only to find out that it is nearly impossible to get the strut piston rod nut off! I will definitely be taking my car somewhere for someone to loosen the piston rod nut with an impact wrench.
In the process of trying to get the 17mm knuckle bolt off, I broke 3 ratchets...all differently. (Only now do I know that you simply DO NOT use a ratchet to torque a bolt off!) What a PITA the removal was! I finally went out to SEARS and bought me a $28 Craftsman 1/2 drive 26-28" long breaker bar. Along with some PB stuff, the breaker bar, and tons of elbow grease and swearing did that damn knuckle bolt come off!
I will probably give it another go this weekend.
Wow fellas. I'm glad to find out I'm not the only one! I feel much better now!
Originally posted by 1997 GA16DE well, the biggest issue is the years of sand, grit, and rust that lock up the lower bolts. My car is a 97, therefore, when I had to remove the assembly, it already had over 5 years of crud to work through when I had to get those bolts off.
I agree. I guess it is a good practice to loosen some bolts on your suspenson and torque it back again to make sure the time you need to replace parts it will be easy enough to do it. Heck I am rebuilding the suspension of my car, Pulsar 1989, and I removed every parts at the front suspension. Not easy but I have no choice.
Damn, that SoB strut-to-knuckle bolt still won't come out. I have beaten the crap out of it, rounded it head badly, and I have been driving with no nut on the its end and it still doesn't move over a week now!!!! I am thinking about removing the whole entire spindle along with it and get another spindle from the junk yard. So, guys, how hard is it to take the spindle off? Do I have to mess around with the CV Joint and it's boot? I have no problem bleeding the brake hose but there is some huge joint there... Any suggestions?
Originally posted by bvtran Damn, that SoB strut-to-knuckle bolt still won't come out. I have beaten the crap out of it, rounded it head badly, and I have been driving with no nut on the its end and it still doesn't move over a week now!!!! I am thinking about removing the whole entire spindle along with it and get another spindle from the junk yard. So, guys, how hard is it to take the spindle off? Do I have to mess around with the CV Joint and it's boot? I have no problem bleeding the brake hose but there is some huge joint there... Any suggestions?
I would put the other bolt you removed back on while you haven't removed the bottom one. It is pretty dangerous to be driving with only one bolt and without a nut. If that bolt comes off, well lets just say you will have more expensive parts to replace and possibly of getting into an accident once that happen(hint: your car will drop like a bomb and you will have no steering whatsoever since the strut acts as a steering pivot like the lower ball joint and those strut to knuckle bolts holds the weight of the car to the spindle and connects the upper and lower suspension). Since you removed the nut off the bolt already, take a center punch and hammer it out. You probably replacing the struts anyways so damaging it should be fine. Once you remove the bolt, I suggest to use an anti-seize compound for ease on future repair.
Last edited by Mervic : Aug 8th, 2003 at 02:42 PM.
Actually, I'd finally got the damn thing off with using two huge hammers. The darn mechanic lied to me that I needed to have the whole spindle replaced. What a bastard. Luckily, I got it off myself. This past weekend, I'd finally got the whole four corner completed and installed.
So, now that I got the whole gig installed with both springs (lowered) and struts. I just brought my car to Sears for an alignment but those damn mechanics told me they can't do anything to my car since it's lowered not unless I could give them the spec given by Eibach on how much Camber and Toe to adjust. Then again, my Eibach box didn't came with such info, neither did their website has it. I called Eibach today and they told that they have never included or knew of such spec and Sears had lied to me since they didn't wanted held responsible. Is that true guys?
I heard that it's better for the mechanic to align the wheels since they got the machine to spind those wheels. So what is the best ways to approach a mechanic and talk to them? I don't think Eibach support staffs knew what they were talking about either. They kept telling me to have a mechanic put it back to the factory spec but then again, my car is lowered by their springs. I don't see the point here.
The guys at sears just didn't want to deal with your car... take it to another place that does alignments.
Fixing the alignment specs don't have anything to do with what springs you have on the car. However, changes to the suspension can cause alignment changes (toe in/out and negative camber).
Most cars now can only really adjust the front toe, and maybe the rear toe. If its a B13 sentra/nx, both front and rear toe can be adjusted. This the alignment tech should be able to correct. If you lower it and have too much negative camber, there isn't much anyone can do unless you put in camber plates or other camber correcting parts.
I'd say generally you don't want more than a degree or two of negative camber, and a little (if you are autocrossing or racing) to no toe out.
Aaron
Quote:
Originally posted by bvtran I just brought my car to Sears for an alignment but those damn mechanics told me they can't do anything to my car since it's lowered not unless I could give them the spec given by Eibach on how much Camber and Toe to adjust. Then again, my Eibach box didn't came with such info, neither did their website has it. I called Eibach today and they told that they have never included or knew of such spec and Sears had lied to me since they didn't wanted held responsible. Is that true guys?
Sears is lying to you. I took my car to sears for an alignment not too long ago and they did it. I had the agx/prokit combo. The only thing I needed to add was a special lower bolt on the front struts to add negative camber (I think).
2 reasons they might not have wanted to do it. 1. if the car is more than 2" dropped, adjusting the camber to stock might be impossible w/o a camber kit. or 2. If the car is too low, they are afraid it will scrape the body when driving it onto the ramp. If they think they are gonna scratch up the lower body, they probably won't do it.
Most will ask you how much it was lowered, but that's it. They don't have to know anything about the suspension except "is there a camber bolt or kit" and "what are the stock alignment numbers (found on their computer)."
My car is only lowered by 1.2" with Eibach springs. The Kyb Gr2 Gas strut is exactly like the OE struts, so it shouldn't matters much. I did told them that I have it lowered by 1.2" and so and so.
And the only reason why I would wanted to go to sears is becuase they're about $30 cheaper than most of the local places.
So, would you suggest I lie to them by telling them that I haven't changed the spring? Then if they were to put the alignment back to the original setting, would I recieved more negative cambers, then? If so, would they be able to use their computer to figure that out and fix the problems then?
not really sure what you should tell them. If they won't do it, let some other company get your business. If they ask all that shit again, tell them all they need to know is: >"It will drive up onto the ramp no problem," >"it can be adjusted without a camber plate," and >"Set it to the specs the computer gives you, you stupid wrench monkey."
OMG!!!!
Linear Mode
