Assembly of front suspension

[stonedrive]

Hi chaps, hope you are all getting through pandemic as best you can, and keeping well. I am now going to start putting front suspension back on car, it only started out as a sump gasket replacement, but decided to refurbish front suspension and replace all bushes and ball joints.I have put cross member and steering rack back on car but only loosely tightened nuts, am I able to put steering column back on when steering rack is in place.And also what’s the best sequence for fitting suspension and do I tighten and torque everything when it’s all back in place.I know I will have to raise wheel hub to align everything. Many thanks in advance Steve.

[Stag-Victor]

Just replaced the struts on mine last weekend. I put the strut back with a combination of spring compressors to reduce the length of the strut, and levering the track control arm down to engage the balljoint. I didnt remove the drag strut though, I guess you might find it easier to put the drag strut on after the strut.

once the strut is on I refitted the drop link to the ARB and connected the track control arms.

When using the spring compressors, my mistake was to compress too many coils - which then fouled on the inner wing when releasing them...

Also useful to have a helper to thread on the nuts on the strut tops - it is possible on your own but I found it awkward holding the strut in place and threading the nuts on simultaneously!

I was planning to torque everything up once the hubs and calipers are on and the car is back on the ground.

Hope this helps

Kevin

[stonedrive]

That’s very helpful, thanks very much Kevin.

[dasadrew]

Bit puzzled about this "spring compressors fouling on wings" thing. The complete front strut 'package' with dampers, spring, washers, bearing, top mount) comes out of the car as one assembly. Easy then to dismantle and reassemble on the bench.

I know reading instructions is out of vogue nowadays, but are you guys doing stuff on a road vehicle suspension without any manual?

[Fortyfiver]

Took the struts of mine and back on without compressing the springs
Alan

[Fortyfiver]

Haynes manual tells you to, but no need

[Stag-Victor]

Hi Dasadrew,

I make a point of reading all the manuals well before undertaking a job, so I know what to expect, and what parts I may need in advance. My other classic is a 1967 Vauxhall Victor, a car for which there is no online community, and with most spare parts being seriously rare or just simply unobtainable, any cockup may lead to several months off the road. So the only way to minimise that risk is to read up what is available, and that habit extends to any job on any car.

Both Haynes manual and rom suggest splitting the strut from the vertical link, which is nice and simple for removing the strut, but certainly I found on reassembling, trying to align the four bolts to the vertical link was impossible to do accurately, when working on my own. Haynes makes reference to use of either spring hooks (which sounded somewhat terrifying) or spring compressors to ease the job. So therefore, I tried to compress the spring and lever the track control arm downwards while simultanously while trying to align the bolts. The only other way, which I ended up doing, was to loosely reassemble the vertical link to the damper off the car. Even then, the assembly is too long to easily fit and still required me to compress the spring and lever the track control arm down to get it in. And therefore, if you are using spring compressors to shorten the strut to enable it to fit back to the car, it is very easy to misjudge and end up catching them against the strut tower when the time comes to remove them..

I suspect the job would have been easier with the radius rod/drag strut disconnected and allowing more movement, and I know if I had someone helping me, the compressors probably wouldnt have been needed.

I was simply sharing my experience, rightly or wrongly; if I have missed something, please do share so that I can refer back if and when I need to do the job again (and kick myself for not thinking of it in the first place!!!)

cheers
Kevin

[NeilR]

Never had any real difficulty myself in removing / replacing struts over the last 13 years, sometimes it can be fiddly but never needed to compress the spring.

[trunt]

Kevin, you say you did not remove the drag strut (I'm assuming radius rod?), maybe that was why you could not fit the strut easily?

I may be corrected but if the radius rod is still connected to the wishbone then as you say, you may not be able to lower the wishbone enough to fit the struts easily?

Like others I certainly had no problems at all..