On-Vehicle Strut Insert Replacement Questions

[JRSIII]

I am planning on trying to replace my strut inserts on my 88 Carrera using the on-vehicle method as described in 101 Projects. I have a few questions...

1) In order to give the strut the necessary range of motion/rotation to clear the fender, is it necessary to disconnect the tie-rod end? There is no mention of this step in 101 Projects, but I've read other posts where users say this is necessary, and it sure looks like this has been done in the photos in 101 Projects, but I can't tell for sure with the angle the photo is taken.

2) Many posts note that the old inserts tend to leak oil and that this oil must be drained before installing the new inserts. With the strut housing still attached to the ball joint, I see no way to drain the oil. I take it this is just a matter of getting a bunch of towels or rags and stuffing them in the housing to sop up the oil until it's gone?

Thanks in advance.

[john walker's workshop]

Leave the tie rod attached. Remove the brake line U clip from the inner fender mount and push the metal line through. Unclip the brake sensors from the strut and body clips so they have slack. Raise the car so there's about 6" clearance below the tire. Always do one side at a time so you don't have to fight the sway bar. Buy a suction gun to get the fluid out.

[JRSIII]

Thanks. I'll be replacing calipers, rotors, and soft brake hoses at the same time so I'll have all that stuff out of the way. Good to know I don't have to mess with tie rods as well. Appreciate the advice.

[toddu]

Tape you fender lip liberally.

Todd

[gtc]

Notes for Bilstein struts:
-No oil to drain
-The rubber bump stops have probably disintegrated in the bottom of the housing. Might need to vacuum these out.

[JRSIII]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure mine are Boge's, as they are black, but I'll verify once I get in and take a closer look as I suppose it's possible that at some point someone painted them.

[Mike80911]

Originally Posted by toddu

Tape you fender lip liberally.

Todd

This. Be very carful when you are pulling the strut down to clear the fender if it slips you have quite a problem for such a simple job.

[JRSIII]

Thanks for the input. Now I'm getting a tad nervous about this. I'm going to be pulling off the wheel hub at the same time, and I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't worth taking the extra step of removing the strut to do this job. I'm pretty confident that I can get the tie-rod end separated, although I'd probably go ahead and buy new ones in case I damaged in the process, but my concern is that everything I've read says that getting the wedge pin out of the ball joint is a real nightmare. Is the on-vehicle insert replacement method more trouble than it's worth?

[tobluforu]

Spray the crap out of it in advance, make sure your dog or kid isnt watching, whack it out and watch it ping pong around the garage.

[john walker's workshop]

Do the insert job first and when it's all bolted back up, do your hubs, etc. The tire is good to lean on as you remove the strut cap with big channel-locks and you can lower the tire to the ground to finish pushing the shock shaft up through the top bushing.

[JRSIII]

John Walker...can you please clarify comment you made earlier about always doing one side at a time so you don't have to fight the sway bar? I read another post that said you had to jack up both sides so you don't have to fight the sway bar. When I'm doing this, do I want the opposite side in the air or on the ground? Thanks.

[tobluforu]

On ground.

[KTL]

Separating the tie rod is pretty easy but like others said, you don't need to do this. If you do choose to remove the tie rod, don't use a pickle fork because the wedging action of it pretty much always tears the rod end rubber boot.

Use a press style tool to push the tie rod end from the steering arm. And you don't have to crank the heck out of the press tool to pop it free. You put a good amount of screwing load into the press and then use a hammer to strike the side of the steering arm eye to pop the stud out of the eye. The stud is tapered and it wedges itself into the eye. Striking it with a hammer shocks it free. If you try to solely press it out, it may come free but it's a bit dangerous on account of how it can "explode" out of the eye from all the stored energy in the press tool.

Removing the entire strut can be tough like you said. Not only because of the difficulty in getting the wedge pin out, but also in getting the ball joint shaft to come free from the bottom of the strut. Here's another place where the pickle fork comes into play and again it trashes the ball joint boot. So if you remove the strut entirely, you can end up destroying both your tie rod AND your ball joint boots.

You may find that the insert you remove is just "guts" and that's OK. Some of the Boges have inserts that are not self-contained. Basically the strut tube itself is the oil reservoir and you'll just pull out a collection of stuff on a shaft like this



Like I said on that other thread, make sure you have the new nuts and the install tool in your Bilstein box. If no tool, let us know and somebody will mail you one to use (or keep if they have extras).

Last time I did these, I just stuffed an old t-shirt in the strut tube to absorb all the oil. John uses a suction gun because he only has so many t-shirts he can afford to waste?

[JRSIII]

Thank you. Good info. Problem is upon closer inspection, the rubber boots on my tie rod ends are already torn, so I probably should replace them. I think I'm just going to have to get after it and see what I can and can't do, and get back with more questions as the need arises.

[rusnak]

I use a tie rod removal tool. It's paid for itself many times over. Certainly, the tie rod separation alone should not be the reason for servicing the struts on car.

[Lake Guy]

I have new ER rubber bushings for the front end was going to tackle this job yesterday. I loosened all the bolts, (broke two) and then decided to start with the wedge bolts. I gave the DS a few love taps, it didn't move and I chickened out. Wasn't sure where to start (and stop!) and decided to work on something else. Last night I read all the horror stories about the wedge bolt removal and ball joint removal. Today I woke up with a whole new plan! I'm going to buy all new parts and do all the wear parts along with the wheel bearings - All in they say.

Really like all the advice we get on this forum. Yesterday I was a bit lost but today I think I'm good.

Mark.

[JRSIII]

Dang that sure was easy! At least the removal part. I don't know why I was dreading this job so much. Thanks to the advice I got from everyone here and having the right tools, I got my first insert out in a snap. I must preface by saying my experience was probably easier than some as I already had the calipers, brake lines, wheel hub, rotors, and heat shield off. So all I had to deal with was the weight of the strut. But really, the hardest part of the job was cleaning up all the spilled oil! A couple of notes that someone may find useful in the future...if you have an impact gun with 22 mm socket, you don't need to hold backup on the top washer to keep the insert from spinning. Just bend down the tab on the thin keeper washer and zap the nut off. Next, I used a 14 in pipe wrench to hold backup on the housing (to avoid putting torque on the ball joint or tie rod) and an 18 in pipe wrench to remove the nut that holds the insert in. Nut came right off. I did also decide to replace the camber plate bushing, and admittedly trimming away the old rubber to get it out is a royal pain. But it's done. Now it's time to watch the Super Bowl and wait for my Bilstein HD inserts and camber plate bushings to arrive from Elephant Racing. Thanks all.