8 just finally bought the OEM book on repairs ect for my 98 cav. I need to replace right and left front struts. I'm just going with OEM replacements. Question is is it as hard as the book makes it look like or am I just being a noob. Any tips or tricks would be appriciated. Ty

(Edit). I'm just doing the front. And not replacing the spring. Also I did read the sticky but it looked like it was just talken about replacing struts with performance options. Ty

remove the 3 top tower bolts and the 2 knuckle bolt 21mm, squeeze the spring and remove the shaft nut. No alignmetn required if ur using stocker replacments.

Spencer wrote:remove the 3 top tower bolts and the 2 knuckle bolt 21mm, squeeze the spring and remove the shaft nut. No alignmetn required if ur using stocker replacments.

an alignment needs to be done EVERY time you pull a strut out.



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check this guy out www.ericthecarguy.com he has a video of him replacing 01 pontiac grand am front struts which are very similar to the jbody struts it helped me hoped it helps you

Ty all for the info. Ill look into everything. Looks easer then I thought. Do I need a special tool to remone or reinstall spring? Ty

go rent your self a spring compressor from autozone... usually its free. or buy one for under 20.00

Wow ok. Can I just use a large screw type clamp to compress. Ty

no it has the be for the macpherson setup (2 on the outside). And yeah hes right on the alignment, only the OEM ones are not slotted, and i mean the ones that came on the car.

Spencer wrote:no it has the be for the macpherson setup (2 on the outside). And yeah hes right on the alignment, only the OEM ones are not slotted, and i mean the ones that came on the car.

Ok well. I'm just going OEM for replacement. Ty all for input.

A trick to make removing the strut easier is to loosen the nut on top of the strut before compressing the spring. It's kind of a PITA after the assembly is already out of the vehicle.

But other than that it's pretty easy. loosen strut nut, remove nuts and bolts from strut tower and knuckle, compress spring, finish removing nut on strut, pull mount off, take spring off as well as boot and bump stop, put old bump stops and boots (replace if necessary) on the new struts, put spring and mount back on, install back on car, then get aligned. Also since your suspension will be out of the car this is also a good time to replace the strut mounts with new ones. Just my $.02 I hope it helped



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