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This weekend i will be replacing my struts, springs, mounts, ball joints, and tie rod ends. I have never done any of these before so it should make for some fun times. I have read my chiltons manual and the online manual many times and figure it shouldnt be a big deal. I was wondering if anybody had any tips to make the job easier, or things to watch out for before i start. Thanks.

Nate

Get penetrating oil and a large breaker bar... That is my best advice, it will come in handy, besides that, you should be ok, good luck.

make sure you have a friend... some/most suspension stuff can be a pain to line things up and get bolts in/out. A friend makes things go a bit more smoothly.

penetrating oil and a large breaker bar...

I second that. When I first started doing the work on my car I had to go back to the autoparts store 3 times, first time I got the parts I needed, then went back cause everything was rusted and got some liquid wrench, then went back and got a 17" breaker bar.

The right tools always get the job done. If you need to look into renting what you dont have (ie: pickle fork, spring compressor, jack stands...)

Good luck, hope you have fun and learn alot doing it. I always learn something new.

Go get a loaner strut compressor at Autozone or Advance or wherever.

You'll probably want a hammer for the ball joints and tie rod ends. I've found that's easier than using a pry fork.

I agree with the friend and breaker bar comments. I did my suspension solo and could have used some extra hands when putting everything back on. Breaker bar helped out a lot, and even a pry bar helped me out on the rear suspension...trying to get the lower strut bolt holes to line up was kind of annoying. That's where some extra hands would have been nice. All in all it was a relatively easy job though.

Goodluck

i rented a coil spring compressor and pickle fork from autozone. i already have a can of pb blaster and a breaker bar. So i think i am ready to give it a go. I will be picking up my parts as soon as i get off work today. I will let you guys know how things went once i am done.

Nate

lets hope those tierod ends spin off easily , i had to use torch on mine to get it spinning

Well it was a late night, but i got most on the work done. Struts, springs, mounts, and tie rods are all done. Over all it was a pretty straight forward job. I love the way the car looks and feels now. However there are two things i have noticed already. The left side of the car sits about a 1/4" lower than the right side. Not a big deal or noticable to the average person. I hope it will go away once the car settles. Also the front springs, kind of sounds like maybe only the front left, make a slight noise when going over a bump in the road at a slow pace. Hopefully just the noise other people have complained about with H&R springs.

The only thing i did not get done were the ball joints. I was not able to get the nut and bolt off that pinch the stud on the ball joint. The nut was rusted and kind of rounded off even before i tried to remove it. I am not sure what i am going to do about thing, but hopefully get it done soon since i want to get an alignment as soon as possible. Any suggestion would be appreciated. I just want to say thanks to everyone on the forum because without it i dont think i would have ever tried doing this job or may others on my own.

Nate

I've got two ways to deal with rounded bolts. Either grind a flat spot on top and bottom for a box wrech to get a grip on it,

.......or if I'm going to replace the part that the bolt's on anyways, grind the whole damned nut off.

And the height should even out when they settle.