graham tompkins
New member
Over the last year or so I started to notice my car was becoming a bit woolly in the handling and steering departments. MOT time came along and I specifically asked they check the steering, bushes, Arb bushes etc. All OK except a slight leak from one of the front struts, resulting in an advisory.
I decided to change all four.
I went for Sachs inserts at the front and Sachs shocks on the rear. Mine were all Boge originally. I did a bit of research and basically , although you can upgrade the fronts and fit anything you want on the back, the Boges are very good and most people wouldn't really notice any benefit in up speccing for normal road use. Sachs are part of ZF as are Boge. Price wise I found the Sachs were cheaper.
A few things to note:-
Fronts are more of a pig to do, rears much easier.
Like all these things, the books you read, in my case 101 Projects make it sound easy. (3 hours)??????? Hmmmmmmmm
I did the job myself in my home garage. Reasonable space as its a double and I park the car diagonally. I would say I'm a reasonable home mechanic and have a decent set of tools, but I probably have more confidence than ability.
FRONTS
before you jack the car, loosen the top nuts. Under the bonnet, unclip the carpet to reveal the shock mounts. First knock back the lock washer. Now things I'd read said you could lock the strut insert from turning using an Allen key. Mine had no Allen slot in the strut, just a hole with a screw thread in it. I assumed this was to facilitate some mysterious tool I'd never heard of.
My confidence had evaporated and my ability hit the brick wall at this point so early in the project . Time to "phone a friend" Spoke to Northways, who were really helpful as usual. They told me they normally undo these and put them on with an impact socket on an air gun, and unless I could lock the strut from below ,this was the only way to get it off easily without butchery. I borrowed an impact socket gun, re-chargeable Snap On job, and both nuts came off fairly easily
Don't take the nut right off at this stage. Jack the car and take off the wheel. Remove the nut and compress the strut so you can clear the inner strut tower.
You need to support the hub to avoid stressing the brake pipe. Be careful as its heavy and will swing forward. I used an axle stand to help. Take off the dust cover from the top and now re-Compress the strut and push it back into the strut tower. On the top of the lower strut is the lock ring. Which you need to remove. You get a new one with the insert. Big pipe wrench and a lump hammer needed here. Mine took a fair bit of clout.
When that's off compress the strut again this time and you need to clear the wheel arch to be able to get the old strut out. turn the steering lock to help here. As above, support the hub.
Pull out the insert. Mine came out and pissed fluid all over the place so have a bowl handy.
Take out the old strut and grubbins . Put new one in . I found it easier to put the thing back in the tower and then tighten the lock ring and then pull it out to replace the dust cover.. Put it back in and tighten the top nut and re lock the washer. That's the fronts done.
REAR
This is easier..although access to the top nuts is very cramped, but remove the heater blower and feed tube and you'll see the left one. On the right take off athe AFM and air box and bungee the pipes up and you can get to the top of the strut. Jack the car up. You can do this before the first bit.
I took the wheels off and jacked up the hub a small amount to un -tension the strut . Not too much as this defeats the object. Top nuts I used a Mole grip on the strut and a 17mm ratchet spanner to undo the nut. They are no where near as tight as the fronts and mine came off easily. Be careful particularly on the left side as you could easily damage some of the electrical plugs. The bottom nuts Are tight and take a fair bit of torque to undo.
A long breaker bar is preferable here. One of mine came off easily but the other was more difficult but a hard whack on the socket bar got it off (loud crack made me nearly crap myself as I thought I'd snapped the bolt but don't worry, they are very solid and hardened)
Refit is easy, jack the hub carefully to locate the strut in the top to avoid damaging the thread. Put it all back and congratulate yourself..I had a beer!
Now enjoy the difference in the handling.
I hope this helps anyone trying this at home.
Graham
I decided to change all four.
I went for Sachs inserts at the front and Sachs shocks on the rear. Mine were all Boge originally. I did a bit of research and basically , although you can upgrade the fronts and fit anything you want on the back, the Boges are very good and most people wouldn't really notice any benefit in up speccing for normal road use. Sachs are part of ZF as are Boge. Price wise I found the Sachs were cheaper.
A few things to note:-
Fronts are more of a pig to do, rears much easier.
Like all these things, the books you read, in my case 101 Projects make it sound easy. (3 hours)??????? Hmmmmmmmm
I did the job myself in my home garage. Reasonable space as its a double and I park the car diagonally. I would say I'm a reasonable home mechanic and have a decent set of tools, but I probably have more confidence than ability.
FRONTS
before you jack the car, loosen the top nuts. Under the bonnet, unclip the carpet to reveal the shock mounts. First knock back the lock washer. Now things I'd read said you could lock the strut insert from turning using an Allen key. Mine had no Allen slot in the strut, just a hole with a screw thread in it. I assumed this was to facilitate some mysterious tool I'd never heard of.
My confidence had evaporated and my ability hit the brick wall at this point so early in the project . Time to "phone a friend" Spoke to Northways, who were really helpful as usual. They told me they normally undo these and put them on with an impact socket on an air gun, and unless I could lock the strut from below ,this was the only way to get it off easily without butchery. I borrowed an impact socket gun, re-chargeable Snap On job, and both nuts came off fairly easily
Don't take the nut right off at this stage. Jack the car and take off the wheel. Remove the nut and compress the strut so you can clear the inner strut tower.
You need to support the hub to avoid stressing the brake pipe. Be careful as its heavy and will swing forward. I used an axle stand to help. Take off the dust cover from the top and now re-Compress the strut and push it back into the strut tower. On the top of the lower strut is the lock ring. Which you need to remove. You get a new one with the insert. Big pipe wrench and a lump hammer needed here. Mine took a fair bit of clout.
When that's off compress the strut again this time and you need to clear the wheel arch to be able to get the old strut out. turn the steering lock to help here. As above, support the hub.
Pull out the insert. Mine came out and pissed fluid all over the place so have a bowl handy.
Take out the old strut and grubbins . Put new one in . I found it easier to put the thing back in the tower and then tighten the lock ring and then pull it out to replace the dust cover.. Put it back in and tighten the top nut and re lock the washer. That's the fronts done.
REAR
This is easier..although access to the top nuts is very cramped, but remove the heater blower and feed tube and you'll see the left one. On the right take off athe AFM and air box and bungee the pipes up and you can get to the top of the strut. Jack the car up. You can do this before the first bit.
I took the wheels off and jacked up the hub a small amount to un -tension the strut . Not too much as this defeats the object. Top nuts I used a Mole grip on the strut and a 17mm ratchet spanner to undo the nut. They are no where near as tight as the fronts and mine came off easily. Be careful particularly on the left side as you could easily damage some of the electrical plugs. The bottom nuts Are tight and take a fair bit of torque to undo.
A long breaker bar is preferable here. One of mine came off easily but the other was more difficult but a hard whack on the socket bar got it off (loud crack made me nearly crap myself as I thought I'd snapped the bolt but don't worry, they are very solid and hardened)
Refit is easy, jack the hub carefully to locate the strut in the top to avoid damaging the thread. Put it all back and congratulate yourself..I had a beer!
Now enjoy the difference in the handling.
I hope this helps anyone trying this at home.
Graham
