I've read about this topic on the board before but couldn't find enough specifics in the archives to help answer my questions. Can someone help me out?

I'm about to replace the struts on my 1990 244DL. Believe they are original with 209K. What do I need? I am going with the Sachs Advantage. New strut mounts too. Do I need spacers for my year? Anything else? Any other suggestions regarding the job?



TIA,

Jim

I just finished replacing the oem strut cartridge3s in my 78 242. I have also replaced strut cartridges in my 86 245, and the rear shocks in several models I have owned.

The first time I went to replace a strut cartridge, I followed the Haynes manual. NOT!!

That involved removing the entire strut from the car, including dis-assembly of the brake flex-line.

I also tried to disassemble the strut without an air impact wrench. Very difficult without specialty tools. Get access to an impact wrench...

Much simpler is the "compress the spring, and swing out the front assembly.

STEPS

1.) Block the rear tires - both sides front and back. SLightly loosen wheel nuts while tires still on the ground.

2.) Lift the front end of the car (use the jack and place blocks or stands under the jack mounts. Lifting under the oil pan is unprofessional and dangerous.)

3.) Once both sides are securely blocked (test push the car to make sure it will not fall on you at a later moment) remove both tires(save them for later use :) ).

4.) Mark the alignment marks on the top of the strut towers. Use a jiffy pen or paint stick to index the alignment marks. This may save you the hassle of an alignment afterwards.

5.) Loosen the three small nuts - remove two - leave one in place.

6.) Remove the bolt that attaches the brake line coupling to the inner fender well. Located underneath, behind the strut - where the flex hoses couple to the metal brake lines.

7.) Uncouple the ball joint - if you have a ball joint separation tool - much recommended.
Undo the end nut on the anti sway bar - this allows the the strut to drop freely.

8.) Support the strut from below - block with shims, or a floor jack works even better. This keeps the strut from dropping suddenly when the last small top nut is removed. With the strut supported, remove the last small top nut, and lower the strut 1 - 2". Lowering the struts now will allow extra room to install the spring coil compressors.

9.) IMPORTANT!! - install the coil spring compressors NOW. (This the the biggest safety concern when disassembling the strut.) Compress the coil - this will "shorten" the strut slightly - giving more room to swing out.

10.) Attach the "safety" rope. Lower the strut; at this point the strut should be attached to the lower A-swing arm, and the brake lines.

Watch that the brake lines do not hang up on the anti-sway bar.

The spring is compressed - you may have to push down on the strut cartridge to "shorten" the strut so it swings out clear of the fender.

BIG SAFETY NOTE::: Make sure that the spring is compressed enough so that there is no tension against the top retaining plate before you attempt to remove the top plate.

11.) With the strut swung out and suspended from the anchor rope, disassemble the top of the strut assembly. Use an impact wrench to spin off the main nut.


Refit with the new strut - assembly is the reverse of the above steps.


Extra verbose notes (just rambling to cover some "niggleys")

The BIG key in extra clearance is to undo the clip that attached the brake flex-hose couplings to the inner fender well. This will allow the strut to drop down vertically on the lower A-swing arm before having to swing it out. The clip is located just behind and between the two metal brake lines, just below the couplings. I think it is a 12 or 13 mm head size.

By not having to disconnect the brake lines, you save the hassle of bleeding the brake lines. Even though you only disconnect the front lines, it turns into a four wheel bleed.

I installed a pair of KYB strut cartridge inserts.

PROBLEM - When I inserted the left strut cartridge, it sat about 1/4" above the top of the cartridge tube. The oem style cartridges have a convex bottom the nests in the spacer washer at the bottom of the tube. Without the spacer washer, the strut cartridge would rest against a large nut at the bottom of the tube, and eventually possibly wear through or puncture.
HOWEVER - the KYB's have a spacer welded to the bottom of the insert cartridge. So I decided to remove the spacer washer - this eventually led to unbolting the strut tube from the lower ball joint (4 small bolts under the cartridge tube).
BUT - with the spacer washer removed, the cartridge rested about 3/16" BELOW the top of the tube, and would have slopped up and down in use.

What I did was to carefully use a "zip-disc" and sliced the washer down to 1/2 the thickness.

I was starting to disassemble the right tube when I decided to test fit the right insert cartridge. Puzzlingly enough, it fit perfect.

NOTE: - before you remove the old strut insert cartridge, make a note of where the TOP of the tube is in relation to the strut tube.

ALSO - Make a note of how far down the retaining top nut, that holds the strut insert in, is actually turned - BEFORE you begin loosening it. I noticed that the retaining nuts on my 242 were not bottomed out. It is not necessary to bottom out the retaining nut later.

A light turn with a pipe wrench usually loosens, and later tightens, these nuts; another reason to leave the strut in place and drop down.

BIG NOTE - have a safety rope looped around the strut, put a soft blanket over the fender and attach the rope to the motor lifting lug located near the top front of the engine. This keeps the strut from dropping down and OUT and dinging your shin (don't ask how I know this detail) as well as limiting the strain on the brake lines.

THis is a long post - I hope I have covered the niggleys that can ruin an otherwise easy task.

Good Luck.

Goldy,,Good work,,well written..GREAT!
--
john,,1985, 245:GLTi 241k mi..so.california

I drop thge assembly, swing it out and THEN comprss it. So much easier to work the compressor outside of the wheel well. It helps nothing to install it in the wheel well since it does not affect the length of the assembly at all.

Yup - if the strut cartridge has much pressure left in it - then there is no advantage to compressing the coil inside the wheel well.

I have had one or two cartridges that were flat - no pressure at all, and compressing the coil first did give a bit of extra room.

Either way - and yes it is easier to work the coil compressor outside of the wheel well.

I asked a mechanic a my Volvo specialty shop about the top bearing. He said the replace maybe 10% of the bearings - only if they are rotating rough. Many front end shops tell you to replace it - it is not always necessary. Save the $$$'s.

My 78 242 with over 250,000 miles - the bearings were in great shape.

I asked a mechanic a my Volvo specialty shop about the top bearing. He said the replace maybe 10% of the bearings - only if they are rotating rough. Many front end shops tell you to replace it - it is not always necessary. Save the $$$'s.

Jim:
I'm not sure if your 90's strut is the same as my 83's. Anyway, I just did my whole front end (inner & outer tie rods, balljoints, all suspension bushings and of course the struts) a couple of weeks ago. As far as the struts. I only replaced the upper mounts/bearings and the cartridge. I believe the spacer is at the bottom of the tube but I didn't bother fishing it out. Struts seems to be working fine. Make sure you tighten the upper mount nut. Makes for some loud clunks if you don't. How do I know? Anyway, I ended up using an impact wrench to tighten.
Denny

Denny,

Bet your front end feels great now! How many miles???

I've done the rack, tie rods, ball joints and one steering universal joint on my car. Going to do all four shocks and any bushings as necessary. Have you done the rears? They look pretty straight forward.

Jim

Jim:
Yes to all of the above. Except for tiny, tiny, tiny clunk (like something catches) when I turn the steering wheel to the right at really slow speed (0-maybe 5 mph).Negligible IMO. I'm beginning to think it's somewhere on the column. Car tracks and handles really good. Also, I replaced the sway bars with a set from a donor turbo model. Good luck on yours.
Denny

The rear shocks are very straight forward to replace. The rear bushings are harder. The rear trailing arm bushings are mounted on the rear axle and reaquire a special tool to remove and replace. Check the archives on making your own tool. The bushings on the front of my trailing arms were fine at over 200,000 miles so your's may be also. The bushings on the torque arms and the track rod need to be pushed out with a shop press. I did mine with a Harbor Freight 12 ton press but I wished that I had bought the 20 ton size instead. It might just be better to take the arms and rod to a machine shop and pay them to press out the old bushings and press in the new.

The spacers should be in the bottom of your tubes already. Keep an eye on them. Whatever you do, don't re-assemble the strut with any slop, or free play in the strut (up/down, I mean). It might be a good idea to have a pair on hand. I have seen cars with only one side having a spacer, but most have them.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm going to do the rear shocks too. They look pretty straight forward. Anything I should know???

No, not really. Unless the upper nut or stud is rusted or shot. It is screwed into the car frame and can be romoved, but I doubt that will be an issue. Also, don't lose the spacer in the lower section. I am really reaching here though, since shocks are straightforward.

Jim,

I recently replaced all 4 shocks on my Volvo. I replaced the original Boges with KYB GR2's. All I needed were the shocks. The fronts are not struts, they are shock inserts (look exactly like the rear shock, but bigger). I am assuming you will need the four brake lines in the front (2 on each side) as these are probably 'rust-welded' and are very difficult to remove. My mechanic had a tough time removing them off the strut housing and had to cut them off and replace with new ones.

Cheers,
SM
--
90 BMW 325is, 98 BMW 528i, 90 Volvo 240DL

SM:
Just curious, was it really necessary for the brake lines to be removed from the housing/tube? When I did mine, one of the frequent posters on the board reminded me that you can actually replace the struts just by swinging the whole assembly out while still attached to the system. And that's how I did mine.
Denny

I asked my mechanic that same question when he had his flame torch, trying to 'burn' it out. He claimed that this was required as it would be much easier to remove the shock. It is possible do it without removing the lines from the housing, but it'a little tight.

-SM
--
90 BMW 325is, 98 BMW 528i, 90 Volvo 240DL

Removing the brake lines is NOT necessary. The Bentley manual documents the procedure. You only need to disconnect the brake line connector bracket. Use a jack under the control arm to raise/lower the strut. After the strut is free of the fender, tie it up with some heavy wire. If it flops over, the brake lines may be damaged.

The whole job is much easier to do if you have a helper. It's hard to hold the whole thing still while you are wrenching on the spring compressor.

Professional mechanics usually have a bench or wall mounted strut compressor. Maybe that is why they prefer to remove the strut from the car. Perhaps one of the pros on the board can comment.

The rear shocks are dead simple to replace. Use a jack under the axle to help line up the mounts when you install the new shocks.

-Ron
'89 244 203Kmiles
'90 245 185Kmiles