rear strut disassambling

[Motor Sport Visions Photography]

In a message dated 6/7/2001 Konstantin Bogach <kbogach at home.com> writes:

<< I remember one posting where a lister described how he did it using
couple of locking pliers to hold the shaft.  But I am afraid it will
ruin the strut. It is not that bad and want to have it until I finish
with Bilsteins, just in case.  Any other advise?
Can I find a special tool in parts stores like Pepboys? >>

I recently did this job on my 1987 5kcstq and I used vice-grips up close
to the top of the strut shaft (where it is highly unlikely that the
shaft will ever go inside the shock best I could tell). Also, the shaft
material was so hard (Boge TG shocks in my case) that no marring occured
that could notice anyway. I found the trickiest part of the job was
reinstalling the lower strut bolt where I needed to pry the control arm
downwards, not up as described in book-o-Bentley. I was not able to
install the lower bolt first. I installed the top plate onto the three
studs first and then the lower bolt.

Overall a pretty easy job. You will want to use a spring compressor when
taking the struts apart though.

HTH

Mike Veglia
Motor Sport Visions Photography
http://www.motorsportvisions.com