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I did the struts on my 940 recently, after reading FAQ and getting helpful tips on the board to my follow-up questions. Here're my suggestions:
- Since you're doing the ball joints, you might as well do the struts too because with the ball joints removed it's simple to pull the struts.
- To loosen the nut at the top of the strut assembly, you'll need an air impact wrench, or the strut tool that IPD just started selling ($20), or a friendly garage willing to break it wiht an impact wrench
- Or, as a time-saving alternative, remove the strut assemblies without loosening the top nut, take them to a repair shop and let them install the cartridges for you
- I found an extender bar for my breaker bar helpful R&Ring the upper bolts on the ball joint
- sequence I followed was: (1) loosen top nut (2) remove and "tie-up" brake & ABS parts* (3)separate ball joint from bottom of strut (4) disconnect tie rod from strut (5) remove two nuts on upper bearing support and remove strut from car (6) install and tighten spring compressor ---DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THIS WITHOUT A GOOD SPRING TOOL--- (7) remove top nut (8) remove bearing support & hardware (9) remove spring (10) remove "gland" nut - I use a chisel to loosen - and remove old cartridge (11) separate upper bearing races & clean and repack ball bearings. As they say in the manuals, reverse this sequence to reassemble
- Without air tools, I suspect you'll need a lot more than moral support to finish this project in a less than a full weekend. Just to do both struts took me a full day - and I didn't hit any snags.
Hope this helps.
* with front calipers disassembled, this is a good time to replace pads/lube guide pins, etc.
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