Struts, front and rear and general info on a newbie! UPDATE

[Afubar]

Good Morning Gentlemen, welp you guys have inspired me. I'm going out in a few to replace my struts, rear and front. From all the great info on this site, I feel comfortable enough to give this a try instead of paying 900.00 to someone to do it. (this is what I was quaoted, 250.00 each rear and 200 each front) Now I'm not cheap, but I can't see paying someone that kind of money when I might be able to do it myself and thanks to this forum, I'm ready to try. I got the struts and strut tool from ebay at good savings.

 

Oh the car? A 1994 Olds Cutlass Supreme 3.4L DOHC convertible, Red body, dark grey leather interior. Loaded. I've owned tis car twice, once in 1997 when it had less than 23000 miles on it, sold it in 1999, then bought the car again in 2001, it now has 120000 miles on it. I just had the timing belt replaced, not due to a problem but because I felt it was time to do so.

 

The only problems I've ever had with the car was when I had owned the car less than 4 months the first time and the heater core went out, Oldsmobile covered it, even though it had just gone out of factory warrenty, wonderful company!

 

The next problem was an iginiton problem, seems that the guy who had the car in between the times I owned it had a key ring from hell and messed up the lock, first it had times I couldn't get the key to turn past the accesory mark and then once I couldn't get the key to turn off, Let me tell you, it's fun getting to the battery cables to disconnect.

 

One other tiny problem is the rear window, I've had it come unwelded from the window hanger at the bottom. Am working to overcome that.

 

Anyway, thanks for all the great info and please be kind to a newbie here and one that really doesn't know a lot about cars but is willing to learn.

 

Off to play with the car, will take picts of the process, wish me luck.

[Brian P]

[cutlass1991]

good luck! be careful not to strip the T-50 nuts on the front struts, they strip easily and are very tight. On the rear struts, the only problem I had was tapping out the bottom mounting bolts. When I tapped them, I damaged the thread on one of them and I couldn't get the nut back on without cross threading. Make sure when you are tapping them, you use a block of wood or something in between the hammer and the bolt. Other than that, you should be fine. I did the front and rears last month just by following instructions and tips on this site and it worked out great.

[Afubar]

First probelm, of course you knew there would be. I have the strut covers off, am trying to get the top nut off, have the 'star' attachment, but how the heck do you keep the nut from turning? Also, the 'rubber' item that is around the nut and shaft, can and should that be removed first, seems to be in the way of anything I can put around the nut to hold it still. Just pry it out? Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks and thanks for not laughing, I'm trying.

[Brian P]

I assume the car's on the ground (as it should be) with the top strut plate off, push down on the car so it bounces a little, the rubber mount should lift out. If not, try to pry it a little without damaging it. After it's up, you can hold the old strut shaft with vise grips. The easiest and yet never spoken of way to get the top mount nut off is to hold the shaft with vise grips and zip off the nut with an impact gun- air or electric.

[Afubar]

Yes, the car was sitting with all tires on the ground. I've tried gently prying the 'rubber' thing out, no luck, so I decided to try doing the back struts, had the car jacked up with jack stands in place, wheel off, rotor off, can't budge the bolts at all, tried spraying with brake free (can't remember the exact name but one that was suggested) no luck. The car is not rusted like those from the northern states that use salt and other de-icers on the roads, car is in Oregon. Back strut boots in good condition, car does not bounce when you press on the fenders. I do have a slight clking noise from the front while sometimes turning the wheel and at low speeds.

 

I'm at a loss.

 

So at that point I put it all back together. The instructions that came with the struts was no help, my Cliton's service book was no help, and any other info I've found seems to contradict all other info. Not sure what to do at this point.

[Brian P]

well the rears- you don't turn the lower bolts. You turn the "nuts" since the bolts are splined. But regardless you'd have to use a breaker bar or air tools to get them off.

[DiscoStudd]

I do have a slight clking noise from the front while sometimes turning the wheel and at low speeds.

Sounds like one of your CV joints is shot. If you can isolate which side of the car the noise is coming from, you can determine which axle needs replacing (it's easier to grab up a complete axle from the boneyard to swap in than trying to rebuild the CV joint on the old axle...)

[Afubar]

Thanks guys, I've got the front ones done. Yep, BrianP, vice grips work well. I also went and bought an impact gun for my air compressor, that did the trick. Will try the backs tomorrow.

 

The fronts were non existant. Once I pushed down on them to use the 'special' tool to take them out, they pushed down and stayed down.

 

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks. Wish me luck on the back ones.

 

You guys are great!

[Afubar]

Just wanted to Update this thread. I finally got the rear struts done this past weekend. While I was at it, I did the rear brake pads as well.

 

I lucked out, the bolts were tight but not rusted. Had only one bad experience, on the drivers rear, couldn't get the bolt in to hold the rubber spring (or whatever it's called) for when the struts come off, it was a bear to get compressed back, had to take off the lower bracket and clean the hole out good, then used a big vice, put in retaining bolt then back on the car.

 

Thanks Guys, without your advice, I would never have gotten the job done. And I didn't even break a nail.

[94CutlassSLCoupe]

Fronts are actually pretty easy...I used the Autozone strut tool. It comes with an offset adaptor for the front nuts...went very easily, except you will almost definately need the individual plates (as opposed to the strut tower brace) to get the upper mount back in...I was glad i had my original plates hanging on the wall (you won't have it being a convertible).

 

if the supplied bolt with the rear struts wont fit into the auxillary spring, put a 1/4-20 carraige bolt in the bottom of it, compress the spring, installl on the vehicle and then just take the retaining nut and washers you used to compress it off and leave the carrage bolt in.