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DIY - Gen3 Strut removal and install


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#1 SUBARU

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Posted 21 March 2009 - 02:49 PM

This DIY is designed to show you how to remove your struts from a Gen3 sedan and replace them with new struts. In this instance the new struts are Bilsteins. The process is similar for a Gen3 Wagon, the only difference being the rear strut access is different in the wagons.

I highly recommend the following tools for this DIY:

1. Trolley Jack (the vehicle coat hanger jack will suffice if you don’t have a trolley jack)
2. Vehicle Stands
3. Torque Wrench (it will be quite difficult without one, but not impossible)
4. Ratchet
5. 19mm ratchet socket
6. 12mm ratchet socket
7. 14mm ratchet socket
8. Ratchet extension
9. Adjustable wrench
10. Hammer
11. Pin Punch
12. OEM tyre spanner from vehicle repair/jack kit
13. WD40/RP7

REMOVAL AND INSTALLATION OF FRONT STRUTS.

Step One – Jacking up and removal of wheel.

I started on the drivers side front wheel (right hand side). Jack up the car and place vehicle stands underneath the car. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of using stands, You will be applying quite a lot of force to remove and apply the nuts/bolts so it is important to make sure that the car is very stable.
Once the car is jacked up, remove the wheel and store aside along with the wheel nuts.

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Step Two – Loosen strut tower.

Once the wheel is off, pop the bonnet and loosen the strut tower bolts. Don’t undo them totally just yet.

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Step Three – Removal of Brake Lines

Take your 12mm socket and ratchet or spanner and remove the brake line hose, followed by the ABS sensor cable.
These will happily sit loose while you are performing the rest of the work. Be sure to save the bolts in a safe place.

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Step Four – Removal of Strut

Next comes the tough part, removal of the nuts and bolts holding the strut to the axle. Here you will need your torque wrench and the 19mm socket. If you don’t have a torque wrench, you can fashion a make shift one out of your tyre spanner and a ratchet extension bar, as pictured.

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I used my trolley jack as a support for when the axle drops down after removal of the strut.

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Here you can see the loosening of the final nut and bolt with a torque wrench.

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Once the nut is loose enough, you will be able to take it the rest of the way with your ratchet and 19mm socket. You may need to brace the other end of the bolt to prevent it from spinning, as pictured.

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Now you can remove the final bolt and push the mount away from the axle. Be careful to support the axle as it will drop down significantly. It is important to note that there are separate bolts for the top and bottom of the strut mount. The longer bolt with the indentation on its shaft is the top bolt and the smaller bolt for the bottom.

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Next you will need to go back to the strut town and undo the three nuts. This will enable the strut to drop down into the wheel well.

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Here you can see the strut being lowered down the wheel well. Be careful not to snag the brake lines and ABS sensor cable while removing the strut.

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Step Five – Installing Strut

Placing the new strut is the reverse of the removal. Once again make sure that you are careful not to snag the brake lines and ABS sensor cables.
You will need to feed the strut up the wheel well and line up the bolts so that they slide through their mounting holes.

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Once the bolts are through their mounting holes, screw on the nuts by hand, just so that the strut is supported at the top while you re-insert the bolts at the mount on the bottom of the strut.

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Now you can insert that axle mount back into the strut mount.

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I found it easier to insert the top bolt first, followed but the bottom bolt.

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Now that your bolts are in and supporting the bottom of the strut and axle, you can go ahead and tighten the three nuts at the top of the strut tower with your 12mm socket and ratchet.

IMPORTANT – Do not over tighten these as it is very easy to snap the bolts! They bolts and nuts are there as a guide and don’t need to be too tight! I actually snapped one of mine and will show you how to replace the bolt at the end of this DIY.

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Now that your strut bolts are tight up the top, you can go ahead and tighten your nuts on the bottom of the strut. Don’t do them up too tight straight away, as you need to make sure that you adjust the camber bolt (the top bolt).

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The top nut and bolt on the lower end of the strut controls your camber. If you spin it around, you can actually see the wheel hub angling in and out. You will need to make sure that you select the same camber setting for each side. Note also that you only need to do this for the front struts.
On the face of bolt, you will see that one half has some lines and you will also see a marker line on the strut just above where the bolt goes through the strut. You need to line the markings on your bolt up with the marking on the strut.
You will need to make sure that you set some negative camber. Spin the bolt around until you can see that you are at ‘0’ , or no negative camber. Then spin your bolt back again to create some negative camber. I set mine on notch, or line number 2.

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Once you have selected the camber range, you can go ahead and tighten the nuts, ensuring that you are holding the bolt in place with your tire spanner or with a wrench so as to not change the camber setting by spinning the bolt while tightening the nut.

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Now you can go ahead and re-torque the nuts with your torque wrench. It is VERY important to make sure that these things are on tight!

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Go ahead and re-attach your brake lines and ABS sensor cable with your 2mm socket and ratchet. Don’t over tighten these ones too much either.

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Presto! The finished product!

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Repeat this process for the other (left hand) front strut. Once complete, put the wheels back on and lower the car. Go for a quick test drive if you wish, or proceed directly to the removal of the rear struts.


REMOVAL AND INSTALLATION OF REAR STRUTS.

Do not jack up the car straight away! Ensure to put some wedges/bricks e.t.c in front of the front wheels!

Step One – Removal of Boot lining

You will need to remove the floor of your boot lining and fold back the wall lining to expose the nuts on the top of the rear strut.

Step Two – Loosen Top Of Strut.

Here you can see the exposed nuts of the rear left strut. (As seen when looking into the boot from the rear of the vehicle).

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Here is a close up view. Once again, loosen the two nuts on the floor of the boot. These will loosen the top of the rear strut slightly. There is no need to touch the nuts that are mounted to the side wall of the wheel well.

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Step Three – Jacking up and removal of wheel.

For the rear wheels, I only raised one side at a time, given that the front wheels do not have any park brake to help hold the car in place and that I will be accessing the boot, so I thought that leaving a wheel attached to one side would provide more support.

Step Four – Removal Of Strut

As with the front strut removal process, you will need your torque wrench.

You will find a single nut/bolt combo and the very bottom of the strut, this is what you need to undo in order to get the strut out. Get your torque wrench and 19mm socket and get to work.
(You my need to brace the other end of the bolt with your tyre spanner or a wrench to ensure that the bolt does not spin around while you are trying to loosen the nut)

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Once again, I supported the axle with my trolley jack just in case it dropped down once the strut was removed. (as it turns out, this isn’t necessary as it actually goes up a bit due to the tension of the sway bars.)
Once the nut is off, you will see the bolt is ready to be removed. You will need to force this out. I hammered it out with my ratchet extension and a pin punch.

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Now that the bolt is removed, you will see that it is now only attached from the nuts in the boot. I supported the bottom of the strut with my trolley jack so that I could then move into the boot without fear of the strut falling away by itself and potentially damaging something.

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You can now go into the boot and remove the two nuts that hold the top of the strut in place.

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Now go back to your trolley jack and lower it. The strut should fall away easily and be clear for removal from your wheel well.

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Step Five - Installation Of Strut

Grab your new strut and feed it into the wheel well, being careful to feed the top strut bolts into the boot mounting holes the right way around.

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You will know if you have the struts facing the wrong direction as it won’t line up with the bottom mount properly and will not sit properly in the mount up the top!

Once you have lined it all up properly up the top, use your trolley jack to support the weight of the strut so that it doesn’t drop out of its mount.

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Go back to the boot and place your nuts back onto the top strut bolts. Don’t do them up too tightly at this stage!

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Go back to the bottom of the strut and get ready to re-insert the bolt through the axle mount and the bottom strut mount. I recommend feeding the bolt through the strut mount first and then trying to force down the axle mounting hole (that had previously sprung up after the strut was removed) to met with the strut mounting hole.
If you are having trouble, jacking up the strut will compress it a bit and will bring the two mounting holes closer together.

Once you have managed to feed the bolt through a little, you will most likely need to hammer it through the rest of the way.

From here you will need your ratchet & 19mm socket and your tyre spanner or a wrench. Attach your ratchet to the nut and your spanner to the bolt side to stop it from spinning.

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Once these are tightened, get onto it with your torque wrench once more and then get back into the boot to make sure that the top nuts are tight enough. (Don’t over tighten them though!)

Presto! The finished product!

Now go and get a wheel alignment ASAP!

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What to do if you snap a bolt from the top of you front strut. (thanks to CRUISN for these tips!)

So here it is, you’ve snapped a bolt from the top of your front strut. A real pain in the butt to say the least.

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Never fear! You can replace that snapped bolt!

Firstly, you will need to remove the strut with the snapped bolt.

Here’s the process to get your new bolt. Get your old struts, or source a strut from a wrecker and locate the bolt that you want to remove.
Take the nut that attaches to these bolts and screw it onto the top of the bolt.

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Don’t screw it down too far as you don’t want the tope of the bolt to be exposed. Following that, place a 12mm spanner over the end of it.

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Next, holding onto the spanner, whack the hell out of the top of the bolt. These things are pressed in, so it may need a few whacks to get it out.

When successful, your bolt will be hanging loose like this

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Now you need to get the snapped bolt out of your strut!

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Take your strut and get yourself a pin punch and start hammering away at that snapped bolt.

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Once it’s out, you can take your new bolt and seat it into your strut.

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You will need to push it into the strut, otherwise you will not be able to tighten the nut as it will just keep spinning!
Take your strut and turn it upside down. With my ratchet extension and a hammer, I pushed through the bolt until it was in there tight enough to not be sitting loosely.

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Once this is done, go back and install your strut as per the instructions above. Be careful not to over tighten those top strut nuts!

#2 B4TT

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Posted 21 March 2009 - 04:49 PM

pretty cool DIY, cept I dont like the use of the word torque wrench on something that doesnt appear to have the torque measurement on it :P this will be very usefull to people :D

 


#3 Blaeven

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Posted 21 March 2009 - 06:50 PM

pretty cool DIY, cept I dont like the use of the word torque wrench on something that doesnt appear to have the torque measurement on it :P
this will be very usefull to people :D



breaker bar may be better?

2mmwi1w.jpg


#4 SUBARU

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Posted 21 March 2009 - 09:38 PM

pretty cool DIY, cept I dont like the use of the word torque wrench on something that doesnt appear to have the torque measurement on it :P
this will be very usefull to people :D


Thanks mate... Though I'm not sure what it wrong with refering to it as a torque wrench when that's the implement I used??? There is a torque measurement for these nuts, just can't recall it at the moment. I'll pull it out of the Gen3 workshop manual next time I'm looking at it.

#5 B4TT

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Posted 21 March 2009 - 09:44 PM

yeah hehe, I was just beeing silly but making fun of that because everything else in the DIY seemed so good! I like how you made mention of not overtightening the top bolts on the strut, that is so important.... first strut I ever done years ago I overtightened one and snapped the bolt :( Thinking of taking my front struts out when I do my bearings... just to give them a health check :D, now seeing this DIY I am a lot more motivated :D Oh did you actually use a proper torque wrench?? sorry if you did I just didnt see it lol

 


#6 SUBARU

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Posted 21 March 2009 - 09:46 PM

Haha... It's all good. Glad you like it and are motivated to get yours out and check them over. It was a lot easier than I anticipated. Yep, those top bolts are surprisingly weak!

#7 Scuba-Roo

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Posted 21 March 2009 - 10:12 PM

Would it be possible to use higher tensile studs or somthing as an upgrade if u do break one?

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#8 SUBARU

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Posted 21 March 2009 - 10:15 PM

I suppose so.. If you can source the right size in a 12mm bolt. The only issue would be locking them into place I suppose. Either way, these don't need to be too tight as they are just there to hold the strut in place as all the pressure is directed upwards.

#9 Matt

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Posted 22 March 2009 - 03:41 AM

Fantastic DIY mate!! If only you put this up a few months back when i got mine?? haha

#10 CRUISN

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Posted 22 March 2009 - 05:40 PM

Good stuff Chris. :D

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#11 buddylove

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Posted 22 March 2009 - 06:41 PM

snapped one of those 12mm bolts on my old gen 2 wagon 3 years ago. still hasnt been replaced.... ha parents still use it as a daily driver on 15ks of crappy gravel back roads.. never skipped a beat.

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#12 cracka

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Posted 22 March 2009 - 07:43 PM

very very nice D.I.Y , i'll use this one day when i get coilovers. so wots the verdict , how much improvement are the billies over stock ?
Nothing left to break .


#13 SUBARU

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Posted 22 March 2009 - 08:28 PM

very very nice D.I.Y , i'll use this one day when i get coilovers.
so wots the verdict , how much improvement are the billies over stock ?


Thanks Cris... Glad to know that you'll use it!

Mate there is no comparison compared to stock! The car handles and sits on the road so much better. It sits a bit higher than it did before, but I don't really care given the handling that has come from installing them.

#14 Merlin01

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Posted 27 November 2009 - 06:56 PM

Thanks for this! :drinks:
Do you know where I might find torque settings for a 99 Liberty RX??
The owners manual has nothing listed under specifications...

Maybe here.

#15 Merlin01

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Posted 30 November 2009 - 10:09 PM

Don't know if I'm allowed to post this (Mods please delete content if this amount is in breach)
But from the workshop manual..

Front Strut:
Questions:
C: Disassembly / 2) Using ST, remove self locking nut.
It looks like they are using an allen-key, didn't see this in the DIY - Optional???
D: Assembly / 9) Using hexagon wrench to prevent strut rod from turning, tighten self-locking nut with ST.
This doesn't sound like it's optional??

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Rear Shock Absorber:
Questions:
B: Installation / 3) Place jack upside down and position it between link rear and sub frame. Adjust jack position so rear shock absorber is aligned with rear arm at their corresponding holes. Install lower shock absorber bolts.
Is this jack thing really necessary? Didn't see that in the DIY.
B: Installation / 4) Using transmission jack, support rear arm horizontally and tighten shock absorber nuts and bolts to specified torque.
Is this just the same as using a trolley jack under the shock/strut?

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Does anyone acquire NEW self-locking nuts where applicable???

#16 SUBARU

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Posted 30 November 2009 - 10:20 PM

No allen key.. From the pic it looks like the tyre iron or a breaker bar. Yes, it's all optional. I didn't even look at the manual when I did mine and it turned out perfectly. When I took it in for an alignment afterwards, the guys didn't need to change anything!

#17 Merlin01

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Posted 30 November 2009 - 10:30 PM

So you omitted the new self-locking nuts??

#18 SUBARU

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Posted 30 November 2009 - 11:02 PM

Just used all the original nuts. Get new ones if you really want, but it's not really necessary. I've had mine checked over by a suspension place and Subaru and there are no issues.

#19 dmt

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 05:58 AM

you need to make the tool, from memory its an allen key and a bolt. you need to grind down a socket of the right size to fit a spanner over so the allen key can fit in at the same time. make sense? either that or pay lots of money for the genuine tool.

#20 buzzda

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Posted 01 December 2009 - 07:40 AM

C: Disassembly / 2) Using ST, remove self locking nut.
It looks like they are using an allen-key, didn't see this in the DIY - Optional???

Does anyone acquire NEW self-locking nuts where applicable???


I used an offset ring spanner and an allen key for the top nut, worked fine.

I didn't replace any nuts either and likewise have had no probs with them.




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