well i have read the chiltons manual on taling out the springs on my 71 240z. it sound easy until you get the strut out. i have new springs to put in. it says the special tools are neded and should be done by a mechanic. what tools do i need? should i even bother trying it myself. should i just take it in to the shop.? has anyone done this and know how to do it? tks

how do you get the gland nut off? i think thats where i might have trouble.

NOTE: SERIOUS INJURY INCLUDING DEATH MAY RESULT IF YOU SUDDENTLY REMOVE THE TENTION FROM THE COIL SPRINGS!!!

The big thing to be careful of is not to take the big, top nut off the strut cartridge before you have secured the spring. I usually brake it loose before removing the three bolts that hold the top of the strut assembly in place. If not you will have to use a pipe wrench or some other tool to keep the strut cartridge rod, the shinny one, from spinning when you try to remove the nut. Once you drop the strut you can put a spring compressor, available at most auto supply stores, on to hold the spring tention while you remove the large strut cartridge nut. Then slowly remove the spring compressor tool.

There is more to it than that, but the rest is not as dangerous!

Hope it helps!

and is there a way of doing it so that i dont have to disconect the brake line? i dont want to have to bleed the brakes if i dont have to.

I don't think you can do it without disconnecting the brake lines. I have taken a lot more appart than I have put back together these days. In other words I am usually removing the entire strut assembly anyway and have not tried to do it without removing the brake and steering hardware.

Hmm... still thinking about this one. It may be possible if you can compress the strut cartridge enough to get the spring out??? Anyone else done it?

The front and rear struts can be done while still on the car, however, not without unbolting the T/C rod and sway bar on the front and the sway bar on the back and unhooking the brake lines. You'll need to put a foot on the top of the brake rotor or on the hub to "persuade" it to go low enough for the top of the strut to clear the strut tower lip at the top.

If you don't have access to a coil spring compressor, you can use one of my cheap tricks. Use 3 large (2 1/2 inch is what I use) stainless steel hose clamps, take them apart and thread them around 3 coils of the spring and tighten them with a socket on the 5/16 head of the clamp. They will hold if you use 3 of the best you can find. Compress the spring and get it off and then relaese the pressure as soon as possible. If you overtighten the clamps, throw them away and get another one, if you strip out the slots in the clamp overtightening them, they can and will let loose and you'll have a dangerous situation on your hands... or on your chin....

The reason I like using the clamps instead of the compressors is this, 9 times out of 10, the clamps try to turn as you tighten them, you run one down, then another and by that time, the first one is trying to turn on the coil. The hose clamps never do that... I've had more springs jump out of compressors more than once, one time it caught me in the chest.... hose clamps never have let me down yet.... Just be sure to use the heaviest duty clamps you can find and you should have no trouble.

thanks guys i am still having trouble disconnecting the brake line. it is seased. and i dont want to strip the nut anymore than it allready is.

i have got the brake line now. on the next problem. it says to take out the spindle. how do you do that? how hard can i hit it? there is a bolt that they say to take out but it looks like a nut not a bolt. how do i get that bolt out of there?

Originally posted by echocluster

i have got the brake line now. on the next problem. it says to take out the spindle. how do you do that? how hard can i hit it? there is a bolt that they say to take out but it looks like a nut not a bolt. how do i get that bolt out of there?

The locking pin in the middle keeps the spindle pin from rotating. You remove that first and then hammer on one end or the other of the spindle pin. You can easily damage the threads so unless you have a new pin you'd need to be careful.

You may not want to even try to remove the spindle. It may slide right out or it may be stuck. The main reason that I'm still waiting on my car at the shop is that the left pin came right out but the right wouldn't budge. They ended up sawing the pin in two places but the center section still wouldn't budge even after heating the outside and placing it in a two stage press. The only solution at that point was to get a new assembly from a junkyard. Luckily that spindle pin did come out.

Even though the manual says to remove the pin you can actually compress the spring enough so that the whole assembly rotates outward past the wheel well where you can get the strut out easily.

it does not look like the spindle is going to move at all. so i compress the spring then what? do i have to unbolt the driveshaft flange? or can i just go an disconnect the top bolts in the luggage area?

Go back and read 2ManyZs post earlier in this thread as he explains it better than I can. But yes, you just compress the spring, take off the 3 nuts, and rotate the whole thing out. The spindle pin is actually the axis of that rotation.