Last night I replaced strut cartridges a little differently than as described in the 700/900 FAQ. They were original shocks, the car has about 140 K on it. We tried a few different things on the first side and it took about 3 hrs. The 2nd side took about 1/2 hr. Here's the procedure we used on the 2nd side. We had access to air tools and big stuff like 3/4" drive sockets. After you raise the vehicle, jack stands, block wheels, remove wheels etc.

1. Remove brake caliper and allow it to rest on the nearest steering part, pads will fall out.
2. Remove tie rod end balljoint (remove nut, put nut back on, hit with hammer, hit at 90 deg with hammer, hit with hammer, remove nut, pull it apart).
3. You now have good access to the stabilizer bar bolt that attaches to the bottom of the link. Use the biggest tool you have to remove this bolt.
4. Remove the 2 bolts that hold the balljoint to the strut, leave the ball part attached (don't remove the nut that is at the very bottom of the strut and on the centre axis) and separate the balljoint from the strut.
5. Mark the position of the the strut and hardware in the engine bay.
6. Support the strut assembly from underneath and remove the two nuts that hold the strut to the body in the engine bay. The strut and hub are free to fall. It is nice to have a helper here to support the strut while you remove the nuts.
7. Take the strut to a bench, put in a vice and put the spring compressor on. Compress enough so that the top plate can be moved by hand.
8. Remove the top nut on the strut - easy with air.
9. Pull the top plate etc off - keep track of order and pull the spring and compressor off together and carefully place on the floor away from where you are working.
10. As these were original cartridges, the big nut that holds the cartidge to the strut tube was rusted tight. We heated the area up with an acetylene torch pretty significantly (I don't know if this could be a problem with newer gas filled shocks - safety, but then if they were newer they might not be so rusted), sprayed on penetrating oil while hot - fumes bad - this step might not have been necessary, allowed it to cool for 10 min and turned the nut off with a pair of pliers. I don't think we could have got this nut off without the torch - we tried.
11. Remove the old cartridge and put in the new, everything else in reverse order. I slathered all the strut parts that had some rust on them with grease as I was putting everything back together. I was careful about getting grit into the ball race at the top of the strut - it seemed fine so I didn't monkey with it. If I had extra time I probably would have taken it apart and cleaned and greased it.
12. Use a floor or bottle jack to raise the stabilizer bar high enough to reattach the link.

BTW, the cartridges I put in were mildly used Boge Pro Gas that I bought on the Brickboard classifieds - I took a chance and they are great. The difference in ride and handling is stunning. I did this job at my cousin's moderately well equipped garage, but I was prepared to do it in the driveway - I was glad to be in the garage though. Being able to completely remove the strut made the job much easier and I would recommend it - I don't think I could have got the old cartidge out otherwise or I would have broken something else. We didn't actually end up using that many tools. Here's what we used - I think.

17,18,19 mm 1/2" drive deep sockets
15/16" 1/2" drive socket (for the top nut, didn't have the 24mm)
3/4" drive ratchet with 1/2" adapter ( as breaker bar)
1/2" drive air driver
big pliers
12mm 3/8" drive socket (for brake caliper)
wire brush
marker
floor jack, jack stands, blocks
antisieze compound ( should have had locktight too)
penetrating oil
big pry bar
torches
hammer
drift



Ron Lynes
87 740 GLE wagon 213,000 km
near Brantford, Ont, CAN