So.. i did the rear that was easy and I was thumbing through the haynes manual on how to do the front and it says you have to remove the hub and everything.. So two questions. Is there an easier way and if not does this mean I need to get new bearings if I am going to be removing the hub and all that?

 

No you dont need to get new bearings if the ones you have are still good. Good time to clean and repack them with fresh grease though. ALthough you wont be able to do that with the inner bearings unless you remove the seal, and they usually get destroyed during removal, so just keep the dirt out of them.

 

Carl's right; you don't have to get new bearings. You should rebuild yours, though (unless they're in bad enough shape to warrant new ones).

As far as removing the hub: You do have to remove it , because without doing so, the strut assembly can't be easily removed (not removing it makes the two bolts attaching the strut to the lower arm next to impossible to access, if I'm not mistaken).

However, removing the hub should be the least of your worries, as actually removing the old strut cartridge and installing the new one is many orders of magnitude more difficult than removing the hub, if my experience with the procedure is any indication. I actually ended up doing the rears myself, and then taking the stuts out of the car, and having a shop actually change the cartridges.

 

I did the same. Swapped the rear suspension in myself, removed the front suspension and walked it down to the corner garage $30 CND and they were done. From what I read it was money well spent, even though I have spring compressors, lack of air tools made the endevour less appealing.

 

That is right,,, rebuild the front hubs, clean them all up even paint them. and it would be a good time to check out the spindles'. ****, when i got to that point i ended up cleaning up all the front end and more important inspecting everything too. spring compressers required.
the most diffecult part is the bolt at the top. but i have an electric impact wrench and a deep socket so it was easy. and the 2 bolts by the hub , or behind the hub is kinda tricky. I t sould be around 3 hours for one person
to finish,,, longer if you discover worn parts. also when you rebuild. start it off with new front brake pads too. after you finish and drive it,, it's a whole new car,,,i swear it !!!

 

One more thing. When I was replacing my front struts, I used an aluminum baseball bat to pry the lower arm down so that I could remove the strut assembly from each side. The ball joint underneath the strut has a nut that sticks up into a cavity in the strut housing in such a way that it prevents the strut from moving linearly over its lower mounting plate. In order to remove the strut, you have to lower the arm far enough so the the strut can be pulled out. Either you can undo the swaybar from the arm, or you can just pry the arm down. Either method I think would work, but who knows how hard it'd be to undo the swaybar bolts. Hopo that helps.

 

yay.. i did it.. 2 hours to remove the struts and reinstall them and 6 hours to find someone that could ******* install the new shocks.. I hate this stupid town. The first place I dropped them off at said to come back in two hours.. when I did the guy told me he couldn't do it because his spring compressor was not mounted.... And the second place I took it to it sat there for 2 hours until i came back and bugged the guy about it and then he started working on it.. It took him an hour and a half and he managed to completly **** up the large nut that keeps the shock in there and he ******* took a vice grip to the shaft on the shock and took out a nice chunk of metal from both of them... Atleast it was towards the top so it shouldn't effect the shock's performance but still did he not ******* read the bright orange warning sticker on the front of the shock saying not to do that.. oh I was so mad.. this ******* town sucks everyone is so god damned ******* stupid!!

 

Damn, i did them on my own.... in about 2 hours. I was using shorter springs, so i didn't even need a spring compressor..... Guess im lucky

 

guess so, lol

 

hmm. so does that mean that in a few months when I can afford springs that I wont have to take it back to some jack A$$ to screw up my struts more? Or would I still need a spring compressor to take the old springs off....

 

I guess it's a bit late now but you don't have to remove the hubs. One of knuckle arm bolts is a pain to remove but it can be done.

Natew, you'll still need a compressor to remove the old springs... unless you want the the strut top to hit you in the face when you remove the nut.