Hey wanted to see if anyone ran into the same issue as me, and could share a few tips. I was finally able to get my shock/strut assembly off the front left (not before dealing w/a completely seized bolt connecting the assembly to the suspension).

Now I can't get the bolt off the top of the assembly. I was finally able to get it to turn ever so slightly, but its actually just rotating the bolt in the assembly.

I practically gave it a bath in WD-40, and I actually bought an air comressor, and an impact wrench, and still no luck.

Finally late sunday night, I gave up, and put my car back together. I have never felt so defeated by an in-antimate object.

So the plan from here is; I will try to use PB-Blaster, I have heard it does wonders for loosening things. Worst case scenario I can take the assembly to a shop (this is why inexperienced mechanics should tackle jobs early saturday instead of late sunday).

I would like some DIY tips if anyone has them though.

Thanks!

 

you need one of these wrenches. With the offset wrench you can hold the strut in place while you undo the nut.

 

You need to compress the springs before you can get the strut top off. There's 700-900 pounds of force holding that nut in place.

 

The offset wrench set did help, but what I found worked even better was to put the shock/strut assembly back up in the car and just use an impact wrench to "break" the bolt (while not taking it completely off). If someone didn't have an impact wrench, here is where the offset wrench would come in handy.

By losening the bolt while it was still in the car it made removing it when it was out way easier.

 

Impact wrench is your friend... will take you seconds