27 Years Factory 32″ Large cuff rubber glove to Madagascar Factory

FAQ Content

This is only a How to documentary of what I did. you work on yours totally AT YOUR OWN RISK. Springs are under EXTREME pressure (thousands of pounds), I had to be VERY careful. 1993-2002 same.CAUTION -you can easily lose your fingers, vision, life, etc.. I did not outline all safety procautions here, I did consult all users manuals, because the compressed spring is like a loaded gun. The tool bends and bows under pressure and may instantly slide all to one side, slip off spring, shatter, etc… and take out whatever is in the way. Mine spring tool did slid around once during the procedure and I was careful not to put my fingers anywhere near the compressor — and luckily it popped out away from me. I wore protective gloves, glasses, face shield, proper heavy clothing, fire extinguisher, nothing flammable nearby, etc.. . I’m not responsible for any actions you take or fail to take – this is only a documentary of how I overcame problems changing upper strut mounts on a 4th gen F-body GM car. Your car and results are 100% your own responsibility. there is ONE more all rubber cushion donut that goes between the upper ARM and body to replace too. The spring arms compressor double fingers also were moved to the strut mount top on re-install to further compress the spring in order to get the nut started. I had to keep grease on the tool thread to ensure it turned smoothly. I only use USA made, high quality spring tools. I cleaned up the strut threads with a stiff wire brush and used deep creep penetrating oil on the shaft bolt to remove nut. I had to watch that both ends of the spring were lined up properly in the rubber grooves. I could have also replaced the lower rubber spring seat for even more comfort. The benefit was TREMENDOUS !! The bird drives like a NEW CAR now but it has 170K on the odometer. previous owner 6 years ago had replaced wheel bearings, springs, and strut cartridges, but neglected the strut mount. The old mount “looked okay and intact” but would clank, pop, clunk around when turning, car fished around a little on the road and didn’t feel consistently road centered, ALL a-arm bushings, ball joints, and sway bar links were replaced with MOOG at 150K, but it didn’t completely fix the handling. New strut mounts made it like new now. because the parts references said 93-02 it seems the process is similar for 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002, so I will repeat the same for my 2002 TA. I got my mounts for $18 each on amazon – and $5 ea for the insulator top rubber/steel washer. I will probably get Moog or equivalent for the TA, because these appear okay , but the threaded rear holes BOTH stripped and then the metal grommet broke loose and spun, making it very difficult to remove the stripped bolt on reinstall, I had to get smaller bolts and thread through and put a bolt and nut on end. I was wondering why they sent extra bolts and nuts with the unit…