rear tie rods and front struts

[Graham Thackrah]

Hi Pat,

I haven't done a front strut insert replacement on a type 44 but the
special tool needed is to undo the strut insert retaining cap from the top
of the strut tower, like you say. You *could* improvise by pulling the
whole strut and dismantling so you can carefully use a pipe wrench on that
top cap, no special tools needed then, apart from spring compressors. Its
a lot more work, granted, and if you're not careful you could end up
needing an alignment, but after replacing your strut inserts it may be
worth doing that anyway <shrug>. How are your strut mounts/bump
stop/piston boot too? If you pull the whole strut out you could check
over/replace them too (though I think you can replace the piston boot and
bump stop without removing the strut too?)

Just a few thoughts,

Graham.