Considering our generation of cars were made from 1998-2005, I can't say that I'm surprised the 1991 model has different specs...

 

Sure this is creative but by the time you do all that jacking and trying different stuff you could simply take off 3 nuts and one bolt and take the shock out.

 

I changed the left one out last night. What a PIA. So I would be curious what 3 nuts and one bolt (pictures would help) to take off? I had to get very creative and lucky to get the door side bolt in. I am not very mechanically inclined. However, I did get one done, and not looking forward to the other one.

I appreciate any help I can get to make it easier.

Thanks.

 

BTW - After I posted here a week or so ago, I realized I'm in the GS - 2nd gen forum, and I've got a Gen 1 LS, but most of this should be close to interchangeable between the two platforms.

The 3 nuts + 1 bolt correctly refer to:
- the 3 nuts holding the top of the strut to the chassis - pop the hood, look for where the top of the strut would end up, and you'll see a rubber disk surrounded by 3 nuts on upward-protruding studs. Don't touch the rubber disk, but remove those 3 nuts and the top of the strut will have been loosened.
- the 1 bolt refers the one horizontal big bolt holding the bottom of the strut (the shock absorber part) to the knuckle.
- If you remove those 3 + 1, in theory the strut assembly is free to be removed. In my experience however, from replacing all struts in my car a while ago, that bottom connection is not the easiest to get back in and aligned, etc. Certainly possible, and if the UCA replacement is turning into a real PITA, this may be the easier route. But in my case, since I had a little spring compressor on hand and I knew I just needed to pull that one obstructing coil a little out of the way, I did that (after removing the 3 top nuts and finding that did not give me the play I needed).

 

Awesome. I thought those were the nuts and bolts you were describing. I did loosen the strut bolts. But I ended up doing what you did; compressing the spring enough. I jimmy rigged a channel lock and a wood clamp on the channel lock to hold it. Not ideal, but it worked. I'm going to autozone to see if they have a spring compressor I can borrow.

Thanks Bro.

 

Glad to be able to help (I hope).

If you got it to work with channel locks, you'll definitely be able to get the spring compressor to work. I was unable to get my C-clamp to do it, so I reached a little deeper into my toolbox for the spring compressor. Mine is a fairly light duty one. When I changed the struts for real on this car, I rented the more solid version at Pep Boys.

In this case, you don't really need to pull that hard on the spring, and it may be tough to put the compressor on the coil while still installed (generally you'd do that with the strut assembly removed from the car). So what this means is that if you have a choice between a big beefy compressor and a thinner one, the thinner one will be better in this case. Also, you'll only need to use one of the two in the pair. Attach one end on the very bottom coil and the other end on the obstructing coil, right near the point of obstruction. That will allow you to pull it out of the way with minimum force (easier and safer).

Good luck.

 

Hi guys, just did my driver side tonight. gonna add a little tidbit from my experience. so those two bolts that thread through the bushings are a *****. I wish I would've figured this out in the beginning instead of struggling, but here's the quickest way to get them to line up and thread in with 0 resistance. I'll assume you have the new control arm roughly in place already.

I started by popping the hood, and used a small magnet to get the square washers out of the little retaining brackets on either side of the strut tower.

now take a small Allen wrench. I believe I had a 5/32", any size close should be fine. wiggle it through. this can be the hardest part. take your time, don't get frustrated. (I did lol).

once the tiny Allen is through, look at the bracket where you removed the square nut. you should see the Allen, if its long enough. if not, repeat with a longer one. now you should be able to grab the Allen side sticking through the hole in the tower. push it until you feel the sleeve shift enough so that you can move the Allen in a perfect circle. you're basically just nudging the sleeve/bushing so that it aligns.

once you feel it shift (should just be a strong little wiggle/nudge to do the trick), go ahead and try the bolt. mine threaded in perfectly after I aligned the sleeve like this.


good luck!

 

Gonna replace my uca hopefully tomorrow.
Will try this when I do.

Thanks for the heads up

 

I remember replacing mine a few years ago and not removing the coilover. I did have to turn the spring to fit the socket in there.. Yes the spring will rotate if you use two hands.

 

Hey Tony...when you did yours, did you preload them before torquing them down? If so how did you do it?

 

i believe i did.. Its been a few years and looking to replace them again since i used a cheap set from Taiwan.. Rock auto sells the MVOtech brand so will get those unless you have a better option..

 

I went with Detroit Axel for both upper arms. Only had the passenger side done since that one squeaked and now after one day the new one is squeaking.

Had my neighbor install it the other night but I have a feeling he didn't preload it and now I need to go back in and redo that part.

Will update you in a day or so afterwards. If I could do it again I'd press in figs bushings and call it a day.