I'm getting a lot of loud clunking in the front suspension of my 99 Lumina LTZ. I want to change the strut bearings but I'm confused about strut removal. When I remove the nuts from the top of the tower and the cartridge rod, what do I have to remove from the bottom to let the strut and spring drop down? The tie rod end and ball joint stud? Do I have to push the half axle out of the knuckle? Do I need a spring compresser for anything?
Bob

 

Welcome to the forum. I hope you aren't serious. Disassembling struts can potentially become life changing (absolutely not kidding). You may want to get a hold of a repair manual specific to your vehicle and size up the task first.

 

Well, I have the service manual. It doesn't address the dis-assembly sequence for the parts at the top of the strut. It says to take off the tower nuts, tie rod and ball joint stud. But after I do that is the spring free to extend itself as the strut is lowered out of the tower? It doesn't say. It's so lame that I don't think anybody proof read it.

I've worked with struts on other cars and the self service garage I'll be doing the work at has a compressor but I can't get the sequence of events from the info I have.

Have you worked with this strut? Thanks for replying.
Bob

 

That doesn't sound like a factory service manual. The whole strut assembly has to come out first but I'm not sure about the "tie rod and ball joint stud." Official factory service manual sets for your vehicle are readily available on eBay.

 

Sadly, it is the factory manual. As you may know the knuckle and strut are one piece in that car. Paraphrasing, it says remove the tower nuts and then disconnect everything at the bottom but I can't see anything in the parts explosion illustration that restrains the spring after you do that. It doesn't say whether I have to remove the spring to replace the bearing, which is what I'm trying to do. If I have to decompress the spring, it doesn't say what to do when it's mounted in the compressor.

I know that what I'm saying sounds silly but that's why I posted. If somebody can explain it to me in English I may be able to understand it. I'm well aware of the danger of working with a compressed spring.

 

Oh, that sucks. Anyway, you don't want to loosen or take off the strut shaft nut in the center. That nut and the retainer plate under it will keep the spring from boinging away. Instead, you'll want to remove the three strut mount nuts surrounding the strut shaft nut.

P.S. And, you do need to take the whole strut assembly out first. Once it's out, I think the rest will be self-explanatory.

 

Okay, it sounds conventional. something was making me think that the bearing was accessible without removing the spring from the strut but that can't be. Thanks for talking it through with me. This is a good resource.

I'll be doing it in a couple of weeks when the parts get here. I think I'll take a chance and leave the ball joints and tie rod ends. I don't see any sign of looseness.

When I had it aligned about 5 years ago there was .5 degree of "cross camber". That is, the difference between the wheels was .5 degree. I notice that Delco has a camber correction kit for this. It is a plate with holes in it that seems to be inserted at the top of the strut. I can't visualize how you can change the camber that way unless it somehow displaces the top of the strut to one side. Have you ever used a device like that?

BTW the last thing I want is for the spring to go boinging away. LOL

 

No, I've never heard of a "camber correction kit" for the front, let alone seen one. You can "adjust" things a little by taking advantage of the play in the strut mount holes. Anything beyond that, it's probably not worth worrying.