OK, Sunday morning project, replacing front springs. I've followed the service manuals direction and even unbolted the sway bar end link. The front strut is loose, but I can't get the bottom U bracket of the strut over the bottom control arm in order to remove the strut. I can get it close but just can't get it over. Any tricks or do I need a bigger pry bar?

 

Is everything unbolted? Pix would help too. Try to Tap the bottom of the strut the way you want it to go with a rubber mallet or the wood handle of a hammer. I had to angle the top in towards the center of the car, then right towards the back, then pull the bottom up and out. Spray WD40 at tge bottom to let it lube up too! Hope this helps. Post pix of all the bolts being removed and trouble area

 

Unbolt the spindle from the upper control arm.
Make sure both wheels are in the air.

 

OK, thanks. Miracles of Miracles. Removed the two inner upper control arm mounting bolts (didn't want to mess with tapered spindle bolt) and then had plenty of movement/play to remove strut. Thanks!

 

Talk about doing it the hard way, the single bolt on the taper is easier to deal with than the other bolts.

 

^no kidding

I helped a member install some SPC upper control arms and man were those 2 bolts a pain to do. They were too long and made contact with the oem springs on one side.

The castle nut on the upper spindle is only 45ftlb or so iirc. It is easy as cake to remove and put back on. Then again I have done my suspension a few times.

 

Hey guys, thanks for your help. I had the first strut free on the top and bottom, so all I had to do is move the top of the strut to the rear or the front, giving me plenty of room to remove the inner bolts of the top suspension arm. I use to race 510's many years ago, and my experience and memoryies with tapered shafts with castle nuts are not pleseant ones.

I will definitely try the single bolt removal next go around. It took 2 hours to do the second strut including removal, spring swap and installation. Thanks again.

 

I had this advice in the back of my mind when I replaced my shocks. I couldn't get the upper arm bolts out because the shock was in the way - bolt hit spring and wouldn't come all the way out. It took me an hour to get the upper tapered joint free due to the corrosion of the cotter pin. I tried and tried to tap it out, push it out, pull, etc because it was rusted in place and broke from moving it. I fianlly drilled it out and since it was so rusted only about 15-20 seconds of drilling did it and the bit went straight through without damaging the stud. Finally put it all back together and took off the sway bar end link and the frame bolt in the middle of the car on the transverse link. Pulled the arm straight down using the ball joint in the knuckle as a pivot and the strut literally fell out faster than I could grab it.
When I got to the other side of the car I had that shock out in less than 2 minutes! One nut and a nut/bolt and it falls out. Of course if these haven't been taken out for awhile use PB Blaster and air tools or it may take a little while...