dporto

As the title suggests, I'm changing out the struts and shocks on my '99 C4. I'm using Bilstein B8 sports with H&R lowering springs. The rears went very smoothly at about an hour and a half to two hours for the first one and around an hour for the second. The fronts are a little more complicated as I had to drop the coffin and control arms, the brake calipers etc., in addition to removing the axle nuts. While this was certainly more time consuming, it's all fairly straight forward. The struts are out. Now the problems:

1) I can't remove either of the top nuts so as to remove the top mounts. The Torx sockets at the top of the rods stripped out almost immediately...I'm thinking the only way is to drill the shaft/rod out of the nut. I'm certainly open to suggestions.

2) I can't get the through bolt out of the wheel carrier (the one that holds the strut in the wheel carrier) - these seem like they should come right out with a drift, but no luck. It seems like there may be very fine grit that's been packed in there over the years. My gut says just keep working on them and they'll loosen up eventually...I'm just wondering whether I'm missing something in this connection?...

Sneaky Pete

Can you post some pics of the issue? Is there any tension on the parts you are trying to get out?

Food for thought I have the front strut assemblies (including springs and perches) from my old '99 996 C4 sitting in the garage from when I added the X74. Worse case is mangle what you have to get it out and use mine.

Ahsai

1) impact wrench
2) pb baster/kroil and try to release tension betwwen the strut and the wheel carrier by lifting the latter a bit.

dporto

Hey Guys, thanks for the quick replies. No photo's at the moment, but I'm not sure they'd help even if I had them. As I explained, The struts are for all intents and purposes "out" of the car (the tie rod ends are still attached, but of course I can remove them if I think it'll help). I've tried an impact wrench (approx. 300 ft lbs), but the rod just spins. I've tried holding the rod with vice grips, pipe wrench etc... no luck. My next step is to just use a whistle grinder with a cutting wheel and cut the top nuts off. The problem is I don't want to damage the cup washer - I guess I'll just have to be really careful! The bolt that hold the strut to the wheel carrier is just a total mystery...I can't figure out why it's stuck in there...

alpine003

x2.

Since you are replacing the struts, I also recommend getting some flat piece of scrap rubber, wrapping it around the piston shaft and putting a vise grip on to prevent it from turning. Impact gun is the best way to go. Even the electric plug in ones or a good quality 18+v cordless impacts would do in most cases.

As for your through bolt, try wiggling the carrier while you take a mallet and pound it through. You can also relieve some tension if you have a spare jack by lifting it up some.

mcfisticuffs

I just put H&R CO's on mine this winter. If I understand this correctly, you're trying to remove the triangular strut mount from the old strut?

First, I would have recommended replacing the strut mounts. They're rubbery and deteriorate. This also means you don't have to remove the old ones.

I ended up using a box wrench on the single nut, while keeping a flat side of the mount pinned against the concrete, with a beefy allen key holding the center pin. Are you sure it's Torx? I'm pretty sure mine was Hex.... maybe that's why it stripped?

You may have to try clamping a pair of vice grips onto the shaft of the shock absorber...

dporto

Ah Alpine ! The ^scrap rubber^ is a great idea, I'll definitely give it a try ! The strut rod is so hard and polished, the vice-grips didn't even scratch it...seriously slippery stuff! For those of you who've had that strut to wheel carrier bolt out, can you confirm that it's a plain shouldered flange bolt (M12 1.5 x 85) and that it's not threaded into the wheel carrier?

alpine003

Exactly, I had the same thing happen before and took me many hours of cursing before I came up with the idea. This has always worked for me in the past.

You may want to get some of those rubber jar openers, the next time you're at a hardware or grocery store. They come in handy.

dporto

Hmmm yeah judging by the new struts, it seems it is indeed a hex socket... I tried the Hex key socket on the strut rod as well (It's strange, the rear shocks use the simple two flat sides so you can put a wrench on the rod) - it stripped also - granted it was after the torx had already stripped out, but I really pounded it in with a hammer and it seemed tight enough to hold...no luck. The bottom line now is that I can no longer use that "socket" to hold the strut rod. I'm going to give Alpine's suggestion of "rubber" a shot...

dporto

Also, does anyone know where to get the hardware - specifically the M12 1.5 85 Strut to Wheel Carrier bolt(s) ?

Ahsai

Part #14 here? It's an M6 x 55 though
http://www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-p...section=402-01

mcfisticuffs

My experience with German / Japanese cars, is you're stuck with either the dealer or bulk distributors like Gregg or Acklands, or specialty shops. The fine threaded metric stuff is hard to find.

dporto

No, that's the spring perch. I'm talking about the bolt that connects the strut to the wheel carrier. It's missing from the Auto Atlanta diagrams...

alpine003

Grainger, McMaster Carr, and believe it or not some Ace Hardware stores carries quite a bit of Metric specialty stuff as well.

DBJoe996

I followed these instructions and did not have the problems you mention: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...nd_Springs.htm

Is something different?