Why does Bentley warn against widening slit at bottom of strut assembly?

[Mike Arman]

>From: "Bill Rowe" <browe58 at netzero.net>
>To: "Quattro List" <quattro at audifans.com>
>Subject: Why does Bentley warn against widening slit at bottom of strut
assembly?
>Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2000 18:15:04 -0400
>charset="Windows-1252"
>
>on type 44's there is a an opening at the bottom of the strut assembly/wheel
>bearing housing that the control arm ball joint stem slides into.  this is
>one tough connection to disassemble.  as mr. bentley recommends, i wedge use
>a long concrete-filled piece of plumbing pipe betw stabilizer bar and the
>subframe and bounce on it w/ all my 185 lb weight and it doesn't even budge.
>no amount of lubricant seems to help either.  mr. bentley cautions against
>widening the slit but i've found that's the only way it will come out.
>besides the risk of breaking it, what is the real risk/concern?  is it
>because no matter how much you torque the bolt it will never close back to
>it's correct position causing the ball joint stem to move up and down which
>may result in premature failure or clunking?  thanx.

This is the hard way to do it. I've found that by removing the anti-sway
bar bushings (four bolts), you are taking the load off the entire front
suspension and the stem slides into and out of the strut housing with MUCH
less effort.

Jack up the car, support the front end on stands (one on each side, if you
only use one stand there will be torque on the sway bar), remove the sway
bar bushings at the front of the bar (good time to replace the rubbers!),
front end becomes much easier to work on. I was totally unable to get mine
back together again until I released the tension on the sway bar, then it
was easy.

Best Regards,

Mike Arman