AGARubberDuck

Hey guys, you may have seen another thread I had about blowing out a strut while hunting this past weekend. I'd strongly prefer to replace the damaged/blown out bag and aluminum piece myself, vs flatbedding to a dealer, paying the price, and still being without my truck who knows how long.

I've searched here and renntech but I'm not really finding any info on the specifics of removing and replacing that strut or possibly just the air spring. Any pointers? Or better yet, instructions? Maybe it's so painfully simple and obvious no one has bothered to do a tutorial? (wishful thinking)

XR4Tim

It's a pain, but doable. I believe the axle has to come out to give you enough room to get the strut out.

Travis

Replaced a leaking strut on my cayenne last year. Took the whole unit out without disconnecting axle or control arm. Granted this was a steel spring strut so it might be different than the air strut.

I did disconnect the upper A-arm joint, sway bar and the three (or four) nuts at the top of the strut. The trick that I found was to turn the wheel to the right to wiggle the strut out.

Hope that helps,

-travis

bdtzmaru

https://www.arnottindustries.com/part_PORSCHE_yid22_pid163.html

Download the instruction manual from that site...it looks pretty straight forward. Good luck!

AGARubberDuck

This has pictures and everything! Couldn't ask for more. Thank you.

AGARubberDuck

Okay, I can ask for more. The aluminum piece that blew apart and subsequently ruptured the air spring doesn't appear to be part of the replacement units. Is this a design revision? Or perhaps Arnott expects you can salvage the old aluminum piece and reinstall it?

I've attached a Porsche replacement image (apparently with the aluminum piece) and the Arnott replacement. If the aluminum is a separate piece that is needed, can someone provide the part number?

mudman2

you will not know all the parts until its out since it can go in an explosive sort of way

AGARubberDuck

For the record (or others stumbling across this thread in the future) this is a reasonably doable project. It did take me 6.5 hrs, but that included a few beers and 2hrs-worth of looking for the $@!# 3rd bolt for the top of the strut mount. Hint, removing the passenger-side wiper arm is required. ARRG!

I used an Arnott replacement air spring. Their directions are useful, but too vague when it comes to finding the location of the top mount bolts. You need to remove a small section of the 2nd firewall, between the fuse panel and main engine compartment. There are 3 T25 (maybe T30) screws and the panel slides straight up. One on the screw is all the way to the right (standing in front of the car, looking at the metal panel to be removed) and the other two are on the left part of that section - one horizontal and one vertical. The vertical screw is under the plastic cowling, thus requiring the removal of the wiper arm to lift up the cowling.

I can elaborate, but I hope that saves someone some time down the road.

Dan87951

A Durametric tool wasn't required to reset the air suspension after the change out? I thought this was required as a new air strut could sit higher than a old one?

AGARubberDuck

It does sit higher (slightly - probably not even an inch) but I chalk that up to the old springs being weak. It's level front to back and no codes after the first ignition cycle. It came up with a yellow air suspension fault while inflating the first time I turned it on after the repair. I backed it out of the shop, turned it off to go close the door and after restarting the error was gone. I assume it wasn't happy to put so much air into the completely depressurized front bags.

andrewjt19

Did you have any issue removing the old air fitting on the air line? Or did you leave it the old one in? I can't seem to get it off. Also for anyone trying to get the bolt out of the upper mount the tool you'll need is a pitarm puller. $15 at the auto store.

AGARubberDuck

I don't recall having any difficulty at all with the air fitting. In fact, I do vaguely recall being surprised how little effort it took.

Not sure about the pitman arm puller. If you are referring to the bolt on the top of the shock holding the bushing in place, an air wrench was sufficient to break it loose. I know the shock will spin freely using a normal wrench at slow speeds, but there is enough inertia at rest for the air wrench to do it.

andrewjt19

Thanks for the reply. I actually was able to get the fitting off by pulling the end of the metal which kinda Acts like a Chinese finger lock (the one way lock on the fitting). Now I'm trying to get the bolt out with the pitman. Thanks again. Will report back.

RAudi Driver

subscribed!

andrewjt19

So I finally got the new a spring installed. I initially planned on taking pictures throughout the process more so for my ability to reference the original state of the parts, but due to my work schedule I was not able to do so. This project ended up taking about 5 days. That's not because it was very difficult, but because I was working doubles for 4 days straight in between working on the vehicle. So here's what happened.

We (one of my brothers and I) used the supplied instructions and the tutorial video posted on Arnott's website as a guide. It was pretty accurate except for the air line fitting removal and the pitman tool needed for the ball joint nut. The air line fitting would not come off. I ended up finding the replacement brass fitting which appeared to have a snap like fitting inside of the brass fitting which protruded past the threaded area slightly. I had the idea of crimping that protruding part to see if it would release the line- It worked! 😉 The next issue was just how we would remove the pressed bolt that attaches the mount to the hub arm (ball joint nut). The instructions don't mention the name of the tool and the idiots at Advance and Auto Zone had no idea what we were talking about when we described the tool. They rented a ball joint puller to my brother which was entirely the wrong tool. I ended up finding the tool on Harbor Freight's website by searching puller. The part is a larger size OEM Pitman Arm Puller. Other than that everything else went well.

The only other two things to note is that when you install the air spring and town the shock nut you'll see that the air spring doesn't initially go over the bottom o-ring. This doesn't happen until you install it and the air spring is charged. Make sure it's clean and lubricated after installation. The same for the top o-ring. Also I couldn't find the manufacturer's torque specs for any of the bolts and nuts. So I tightened up and snugged a little more after that. Usually that's pretty close to specification. Maybe if someone finds that they can post them up here. Hope this helps someone. Best of luck.

I'll probably change the driver side soon just as a preventative measure.

http://m.advanceautoparts.com/p/auto...Q&gclsrc=aw.ds