Strut removal/installation help

Alright so rn I'm in my garage trying to remove my stock strut and install my bilsteins but I'm stuck. I have the spring compressed and the top bolts off and I just need to have the lower control arm down so I can take the strut out but these bolts connecting them are extremely tight. If anyone knows whats going on or any tips please help me
Thank you

 

Remove the two bolts out of the bottom of the LCA (the two in your pic without the pin) that connect it to the hub and that should give you the play you need to get it out. An impact or large breaker bar will make easy work of them.

 

Uhh.. I didn't touch those when I did my struts/UCA's.

I removed the castle nut off the UCA that connects it to the spindle and removed the sway bar. This allows plenty of room and you will be able to push the LCA down enough no problem. It's an easy job.

So may folks here remove tie-rod ends, and mess w/ the Lower Control Arm bolts. Leave em' be, and save your alignment.

WARNING: Take the strut off first, then compress the spring to swap the coil and buckets over to your new strut.. DO NOT REMOVE THE NUT IN THE CENTER OF THE TOP OF THE STRUT. This can literally kill you.
Instead, remove the three (smaller) bolts that attach the strut to the shock tower. and remove the entire assembly first.

 

Remove the nut on this bolt, pound the bolt out. It will allow your LCA to be pushed out of the way.

 

Alright so to take the strut out I need to take the 3 bolts off on the top and then it'll just come right out?

 

Yes, the strut assembly comes out in one piece. Once you have it out you can compress it to remove the top plate and then you can take the coil off the old strut. Be careful compressing these coils. That's A LOT of energy built up in them when you have them compressed. And as was said above, DO NOT remove that center nut until the coil is compressed and the pressure is off of that top plate.

 

So just for clarification what holds the coil in place is it the middle bolt? If I knew exactly what holds it up then I can be a little less cautious as well as what not to do so I don't hurt myself

 

NO, you don't even need to remove the upper or lower.

If you have both sides of the truck off the ground and no wheels on it, disconnect the sway bar ends and swing the sway bar up or down to gain clearance, you have to disconnect both ends ( left and right sides ) at the same time to allow the bar to pivot.

I installed my Bilstens 3 weeks ago, took us 45 min from the time we had it on the lift to the time we put the tires back on, struts and springs were already assembled prior to this.

If you were 4wd you would need to separate the lower control arm from the spindle to gain clearance

 

Yes, that center bolt on the top plate is what holds that assembly together. The other 3 are to bolt the top part of the strut assembly to the truck. I typically remove two of those three completely and leave one nut on there but loose. Then I remove the lower bolt and free the strut from the LCA. Once that is out I remove that last nut, while holding the strut and it will simply come down, fully assembled.

 

alright so top 3 bolts are off and sway bar is moved a little bit and the spring is not compressed and the middle bolt is on so what is the next step is should do?

 

Here is a pic of my stock strut next to one of the SAW coilovers I installed. You can see the entire thing is one self-contain assembly.

 

Yes and DO NOT REMOVE THE CENTER NUT as stated already. You don't need to do anything to the lower control arm. Put a jack under the LCA just to support it and disconnect the upper control arm ball joint. First remove the nut then strike the knuckle with a hammer. Remove the bolt holding the lower shock mount and the spring/shock assembly will come out.

 

push the lower control arm down so strut pops out of the pocket there,

 

Is that sway bar loose? Can you swing it up and out of the way? If no, you will prob. need too. You need to pop the bottom part of the strut out, but be careful, once that happens the full weight of that coilover will come down on you, so make sure you have a very firm grip on it. So once loose it's just a matter of seeing what is in your way so you can disconnect whatever that may be and move it so you can get the strut out.

 

So now I just try to take it out? And the coil won't hurt me even if it's not compressed?

 

IF you haven't removed the center nut you can take strut and spring out as one unit and you'll be good

 

Yep. As long as you HAVE NOT touched that center nut on the strut assembly it will hold itself together. Once you pop it out it will come out like the one in the pic I posted. But again, this is assuming you have NOT touched that center nut on the top plate.

 

Nick just watch the first part of this vid: http://youtu.be/bbsTJgb6S_c

 

Hey man, what are you using to compress the coil? When you get to that part you need to be VERY careful bro. No joke this shit can hurt or kill you when it's under the amount of pressure it takes to squeeze those coils. I USED to use the threaded bars with hooks that you could hit with an impact, but I didn't like how they bent so much under load. Since at the time we were doing a lot of Taco lifts at my old man's auto shop I got him to order a hydraulic press-type compressor that held the entire unit in place was much sturdier/safer than the threaded rods. PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THAT PART or take it to a local shop to have it done if you can.

 

^^^ This
The last time I compressed springs with hook and screw compressors they were 400 lb OME springs for a jeep liberty. It was scary as shit. Stock taco spring are fivehundredsomething lbs/inch.