Front Strut Replacement

[Indycars]

It was time to change the front struts on my 98 Buick Park Avenue with 72,000 miles. The car would walk around on a choppy road and had too much front suspension compression, sometimes bottoming out when going thru dips in the road.

I choose to use the Monroe QuickStrut, since it's already assembled with a new spring and upper mount and new rubbers. It's a fairly easy job, there were only 7 bolts per side to remove including the brake line support and wheel sensor support.

I also wanted to make the Camber adjustable, since it didn't seem to have provisions for such an adjustment. Several companies make a cam bolt that installs in the lower strut mount to steering knuckle. But they didn't seem to fit properly. I would have to grind .100" from the strut, but since this was on a Saturday, I couldn't confirm with Specialty Products if this was the correct action to take. I didn’t use the SP camber adjustment kit. If the Monroe strut didn’t have the elongated hole in the lower mount, they might have worked. But in the end, Ranchwood Autoworks was able to adjust all the different alignment angles, although I’m nut sure how, unless they bend something. So I’m not sure why kits are available.

This is what the kit looks like:




http://www.spcalignment.com/index.php?o ... ;pid=81280





Before I could use the new Monroe strut I had to remove some sharp edges, so I got out a file and my die grinder. Then I shot some black paint on the bare surfaces.



I started the installation by removing the 3 bolts for the upper mount before jacking up the car.



Then I removed the 2 bolts that retain the brake line support and the wire for the ABS sensor.



Then I removed the 2 bolts for the lower strut mount. What the manual never tells you is the bolts have a serrated edges, so you will have to drive them out. They did use bolts with an extended tip that has NO threads, so you can hammer on them without messing up the threads. I still left the nut on until they were almost out, then I removed the nut and drove them the rest of the way out. BTW, the nuts are 24mm or a 15/16” wrench fits very well, neither of which I had. But my neighbor did.



One thing Monroe didn’t do was thread the support holes for the brake line and wire for the ABS sensor, so I used bolts and nuts instead. If I had a metric tap set, I would have tried tapping the holes and using the original bolts.



You will also notice in the picture above how much I changed toe-in, just so I could drive it to the shop. That’s 4 turns out for each side, at ~18 threads/in, that's .056" per turn or .222" total. Nearly a 1/4" change per side. Below is the picture I took before I made any adjustments to the toe-in.



Here is the documentation that I got back from Ranchwood. The Caster was good before they made any changes, but the Camber was WAY OFF. But they were able to adjust it.

I really expected the new struts to help a lot with my problems, but it made only a marginal improvement with the dancing around on a choppy road. I will have to look elsewhere for the instability problem. The amount the front end compresses now is much better when encountering a depression in the road.

 

[grumpyvette]

GREAT WRITE UP!

 

[mathd]

Nice write-up, our F-body grand prix(with 164 000 miles) may need of some front strut in the new years

Isnt me or, on older vehicule there was some way to set the toe with a measuring tape? i think it was 1/4 inch closed at the rear between both front wheel/tire inside(toe out)?
I have seen peole do that when i was young on traditionnal suspensions(not mag pherson, but the upper control arm type).

Opinions on this? My camaro manual also call for this method for the toe adjustment.

 

[Indycars]

Thanks guys!


mathd,

I don't understand the procedure you are talking about, so I'm not sure what to say.

 

[Indycars]

It was time to change the front struts on my 98 Buick Park Avenue with 72,000 miles. The car would walk around on a choppy road and had too much front suspension compression, sometimes bottoming out when going thru dips in the road.

When I replaced the front struts, I fully expected to fix this problem that I commented about in my first post above. It only got slightly better. Every time I encounter a bumpy road the car was alittle unnerving the way it would dart to the right. I have raised the car and was all over the front end looking for anything that could cause this problem.

I had checked the rear shocks before by bouncing the car and looking to see how it responded, but it just didn't seem that bad. It was the only possible area I could come up with, so I tested again and I thought it felt soft on the left rear. I decided to unbolt the bottom and try testing by hand to see if I could fee a difference. Again I thought it felt soft on the left.

Went to O'Reilys and purchased a set of Monroe air shocks for $75 . The Park Avenue has an automatic leveling system, so air shocks are just standard replacement on this car.

When I removed the air line from the left rear shock and saw some orange fluid, it looked like maybe there was some internal rust from moisture. When I got the shock out and took it to the garage for a closer look........It was much worse, it was a total failure of the internal seals.



Wanting to make sure I don't get a air leak from a line that rubs on the undercarriage and develops a hole, I placed vacuum line over the plastic line and zip tied it in several places.




The car is soooo much nicer to drive now...... problem fixed !!! Just in time for vacation!

 

[grumpyvette]

I can,t say enough ho much the posting of clear, well lighted, pictures adds to that post, its both informative and frankly amazing, your skill with a camera makes me feel totally inadequate