Report on replacing struts and shocks
 

Well this weekend I finished installing the front struts on my 1970 911T. I bought all new Boge front and rears. I replaced the rears first. This proved to be very easy and only took about an hour for both.

The stuts were a different story. I jacked the front end and rested on jack stands. Removed the wheels, removed the nut on top of the strut with no problems. Lowered the strut by hand (totaly dead original struts!) removed the large flange holding the strut into the strut casing. Then I simply pulled the strut up and out. It was totally shot and left the majority of the oil in the strut housing. I was able to mop out a good portion of it but there is still some remaining.
I hope this doesn't prove to be an issue!

Getting the new strut connected up proved to be a real pain in the butt! After inserting the strut, I tried several times to push the strut up through the strut tower but with limited room this proved to be impossible. I did notice that there were threads internal to the strut shaft. It turned out to need a 6mm bolt but really needed to be 2-3" long, (which no store carried of course!). I settled for a 1 1/2" bolt and was able to thread it into the strut and pry it up through the strut tower and bolt it down. Once I figured this out it only took about 30 min to finish the other side. All of this initially took a couple hours of various attempts in pulling the strut up!

I would much rather paid the shop the $120 to have the fronts done! Next is to have all wheels aligned.

--Dan

Heh Dan,
Am conciderring doing my rear shocks, you mentioned it is easy!, roughly how long and what if any, major tools needed?
How much were the shocks and where did you get them from?
Mine is an 86 so may be a bit different price wise.
I may take your advice with the fronts though!.
Thanks in advance of any info.
Ben

I paid about $80 each for the rears. No need for any special tools at all. Simply jacked up the car, placed jack stands under the torsion bars, and removed the wheels.
Then I removed the air box to get at the nuts on top of the shocks. You will need to use a small wrench to keep the strut from spinning while you use a wrench to loosen the nut. You can also do this first part with the car on the ground. In fact, I believe you can replace them without jacking the car at all if you're nimble enough to get to the bolt at the bottom of the shocks.

Once the tops were removed, I then took a wrench and a hammer to loosen the bottom bolt. Simply drop the shock down and then insert the new one. you may want to recruit a helper to guide the new shock up through and get the nut started at the top. Then insert the bolt and nut on the bottom. Tighten and move to the other side and that's it!

With my 1970, there is a lot more room in the engine compartment where you may have difficulty getting to the top nuts due to more 'engine and components'in an '86.

--Dan

Isn't the remaining oil in the strut case for cooling purposes? I refilled mine with antifreeze, following advice somewhere/sometime on this board. I can't see how it could do any harm, regardless.

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'72 911 TE

More than likely the oil in the front strut housings was put there for cooling purposes. The concensus here is to put around 1 oz. in each strut housing. If you didn't do it, I don't think it will be a problem under normal use.

Kurt V
72 911E