I'm out of ideas..

I'm trying to do a front suspension tear down on my 89 formula and I CANNOT get the strut nut off!

I've tried using a jack pole on the ratchet on the 10mm post on top of the strut and a 21mm wrench on the nut. I bind the ratchet against the A pillar and pull on the wrench, but it keeps slipping off, I almost fell on my butt a couple times and I've cut my arm 4 times.

I've used wd40 to try to loosen the grip, I've used an impact gun (2 in fact, on the 10mm) NOTHING WORKS!

I'm about ready to take a sawzall and just cut something off.. but I dont even know what to cut.

I'm out of ideas! The thing wont move ONE BIT. I haven't even gotten 1 thread out of this!

 

Or remove and replace the strut mount along with everything else. Probably needs it.

 

Isn't that nut something like 190 lb/ft of torque??

 

Strut to spindle bolts are SAE (15/16"?)

 

yeah, those were the ones I was thinking of....my bad.

 

If I can replace the perch it sits on thats fine, but then I have to get the lower bolts off at the spindle, which seems equally, if not more daunting. I don't even have a socket or wrench that large, and if my impact (I'm starting to wonder why I even have an impact if it can't remove anything.. this is probably the 40th time its let me down. Maybe my air pressure is too low or something?)


I thought about cutting the strut but that metal looks pretty hard. Separating the 2 pieces of the shock would certainly get it out but.. how? Torch? Seems like a good way to burn my shop down though..

Worst thing is.. if I get one off I'fve still gotta do the other side.

This car hasn't had a motor for a number of years, I dont even know when it was registered last but I suspect its been about 7 years.



This is what I'm talking about. This is the only thing holding the spindle on at this point.

 

If that spring is still under compression consider yourself lucky that it didn't come loose. If that's the case please stop what you're doing until you understand how dangerous what you are doing is and why the nut doesn't want to budge. Even if you take the pressure off of the spindle nut and you don't support the spring properly, it can shoot out the side a few feet.

 

Place a jack under the lower control arm and raise it a bit. That would help and prevent injuries

 

The spindle is not connected to the lower control arm. The sway bar end link is holding the spring in.

I was hoping to get the spindle out of the way to compress the spring and remove it safely.

I know thats a lot of pressure for the sway bar end link, but considering it won't budge AT ALL either.. I'm not horribly concerned. I tried doing this the right way and it didn't work Nothing budges. So I've been trying to sort of hack my way through it to get it done. I can't get the spring out with the spindle still on because I can't get the caliper bolts loose to get the caliper and rotor out of the way.

 

You must use a PENATRATING oil. PB Blaster is the one I use and can be found at hardware or auto parts stores. Its a must have item when breaking any stubborn nut or bolt loose.
And clean the threads. The nut has to get passed that.


If there's any weight pulling down on the strut it should be lifted to remove that weight.
The weight is acting similar to a jam nut.

 

Having the full pressure of the spring pushing the nut against the threads certainly isn't helping. I'd go with what some others suggested and jack the control arm up to remove the pressure, which should help at least a little with getting the nut off.

 

I'm going to see if I can get a neighbor involved today. I saw on youtube a video of removing a spring with the use of a floor jack and the balljoint nut.

I think it'd be a good idea to "Disarm" this spring before I continue.

From there, jacking up the strut to relieve the pressure will be where I go next.

I didn't know when I bought this car that it didn't have upper control arms. I was getting quite frustrated the first day or 2 looking for upper balljoints. So this is a new suspension experience for me. I'm used to upper/lower control arms, even in a strut/coilover configuration.

 

definetly put a jack under the control arm!

i put a chain on the spring to control arm when changing springs just in-case it wants to go flying.

watch a few videos first. its actually very simple.

 

While you're there, go ahead and remove the brake caliper and rotor. It will give you better access to everything. Reman calipers are like maybe $13 each anyway. No telling how crudded up your old ones are.

Even if you cut the strut, you'll still not be able get it off the strut mount unless you cut the nut. Consider throwing the entire assembly (strut and mount) into the trash. Save the bracket that goes underneath and attaches the strut mount to the inner fenderwell. A new strut mount will not come with it or the three nuts.

The two lower bolts and nuts should be a 15/16. They attach with 150 ft-lbs.

 

195ft-lbs according to GM specs

 

In order to get my upper strut nut off, I had to go to homedepot and buy a pipe wrench. I put the pipe wrench on the strut,(to keep the strut from spinning) then used a ratchet and LONG breaker bar to unscrew the upper strut nut. Only do this if you are replacing the struts, as it will ruin them.

 

Just to give yall an update. We offloaded the springs using a floor jack and decided not to take the strut mounts off. We just disconnected the struts from the spindles and pulled them through the towers and I'll just buy new caps.

Thanks for the help yall!

K member is out and ready to be sandblasted.

 

Glad you got it taken care of.