I have a newbie question.

How can you tell if the struts have gone bad?

How hard are they to change if they are bad?

The car is a 1984 944 NA. Do not have pictures yet.

 

Chances are the struts are bad. If the car bottoms out, is real sloppy in the turns, or if the front end bounces, then the struts are shot.

The good news is changing the inserts is fairly easy. Unlike later cars the early cars use a replaceable catridge, and if you know what you are doing you can change the inserts without removing the actual struts.

 

There are two easy ways to check if they are blown. First go to each corner fo the car and push down on the car. If the car bounces more than once you probably have a blown shock. The other thing to look for is a a shock that leaks oil. Take the wheels off and have a peek.

 

Just curious...how?

 

How? By removing the front sway bar, you can undo the upper shock mount and swing it down allowing room to work.

 

Do you need to muscle the arm down with a bar or anything? Also does it effect the camber at all doing it this way? I took them off last time just so I could drain out that nasty cushioning oil in the bottom of the tube. I'm doing struts/ball joints on the 83 this weekend and this might save some time if the alignment isn't effected.

 

I just replaced 2 springs that way last week. You are better off air gunning the 24 mm strut top nut off before jacking the car up. That way you don't even need a spring compressor. You don't have to touch the alignment at all. You also don't have to remove the complete sway bar, just the side vertical bracket to the frame with 2 13mm head bolts. Use a spring compressor if you are not familiar with this process but you can have both switched out in about 15 to 20 min.

 

That's amazing. Are you saying there is enough threaded shaft at the top to release spring compression and that the plate won't shoot up at me when I impact the nut off? I would rather avoid the spring compressor also. Could you check out and comment on this step by step to see if I understand you right?

1. Loosen shaft nut(do not remove) with car on the ground, jack up car and support by chassis (wheels hanging free); release sway brackets at front mounts;

2. Use impact to back off top nut( verify that the spring has slacked enough before completely removing the nut!); pull strut assembly down and away, remove top supporting pieces and spring;

3. Remove threaded cap; remove old insert, vac old fluid out of case, recharge with correct amount of dampening oil in case, drop in new insert and cap;

4. Install spring, replace any worn upper support pieces, boot, etc;

5. Rotate assembly back into strut tower, attach 4 nuts, torque shaft nut.

6. Enjoy that first beer I thought I couldn't have for another 2 hours

This just sounds too simple compared to removing the whole strut assembly.

 

1. Remove the top nut of strut of the side you are working on.
2. Jack up the car on that side (most likely the strut rod will remain in the hole though a collapsed shock won't - jacking up the car will allow a very slow release of spring tension).
3. Remove wheel.
4. Remove 2 13mm head bolt holding sway bar to the frame.
5. Push the hub/control arm down and depress the strut rod to clear the fender and swing the strut top outwards past the fender lip.

6. Remove spring and upper spring perch.
7. Uncrew the strut insert retaining cap (no need to clamp it down in a vice since its still attached to the suspension so all you have to do is put the wrench on and turn).

8. Remove strut insert and install new one.
9. Screw the cap back on and replace spring/upper perch.
10. press down the strut rod and swing the whole assembly back under the fender.
11. Reinstall sway bar mount.
12. Reinstall the wheel and align the strut rod into the hole using the wheel.
13. Lower the car slowly making sure the strut rod goes in the hole and impact the strut nut.

If you do use a spring compressor, you can take the whole top of the strut mount off with the 4 13mm head nuts so you won't have to lower the car down onto the strut rod.