TL;DR: would love advice on: how to get the steering knuckle onto a bilstein strut while the strut is mounted in the vehicle, which bolt to loosen to allow for more vertical play in the control arm, what is the best way to loosen the control arm bolt, and how to get a rusted sway arm link off without cutting it.
So I undertook my front end rebuild this weekend, including: tie rod ends, sway bar ends, Ball joints, Strut (bilstein), and lift kit (van compass). Getting everything unbuttoned was a breeze, except for the sway bar ends (had to cut one off, haven't decided whether to remove the other yet). Turns out tie rods were recently replaced, as they are new aftermarket of the same TRW brand I got. No play in them whatsoever, so I'll leave them and replace with the parts I have in hand when needed.
Putting it all back together, however, is proving difficult. First, getting the steering knuckle onto the slightly wider in diameter bilstein is tough, especially with the strut assy in place in the vehicle. Reading thru some posts here, someone had the idea to bang the knuckle onto the strut end while the strut was inverted on the ground, then mount it in the vehicle with knuckle attached. They also mentioned that they used spring compressors to reduce the length, allowing them to wrestle the whole assembly over the lower control arm, onto the CV shaft, and into place without having to loosen the rear control arm bolt as mentioned in Van Compass' instructions. This seemed like a good workaround, but unfortunately the strut won't fit in its proper place with my compressors attached.
Since I can't use the compressors, I'll have to loosen the control arm nut because of the extra length on the strut assy from the lift spacer. I tried every trick I had up my sleeve and could not get this to budge. I can spin the whole thing, but can't get the nut to crack loose. I would need to get a deep 28mm socket to fit the top nut for that piece, but VC makes no mention of needing to hold the nut in place. Also, I'm wondering fi they meant to remove one of the mount bolts, rather than the rear control arm blot than runs thru a bushing?
I'm doing this on jack stands, but i do have an impact and such. any help is much appreciated.
So I undertook my front end rebuild this weekend, including: tie rod ends, sway bar ends, Ball joints, Strut (bilstein), and lift kit (van compass). Getting everything unbuttoned was a breeze, except for the sway bar ends (had to cut one off, haven't decided whether to remove the other yet). Turns out tie rods were recently replaced, as they are new aftermarket of the same TRW brand I got. No play in them whatsoever, so I'll leave them and replace with the parts I have in hand when needed.
Putting it all back together, however, is proving difficult. First, getting the steering knuckle onto the slightly wider in diameter bilstein is tough, especially with the strut assy in place in the vehicle. Reading thru some posts here, someone had the idea to bang the knuckle onto the strut end while the strut was inverted on the ground, then mount it in the vehicle with knuckle attached. They also mentioned that they used spring compressors to reduce the length, allowing them to wrestle the whole assembly over the lower control arm, onto the CV shaft, and into place without having to loosen the rear control arm bolt as mentioned in Van Compass' instructions. This seemed like a good workaround, but unfortunately the strut won't fit in its proper place with my compressors attached.
Since I can't use the compressors, I'll have to loosen the control arm nut because of the extra length on the strut assy from the lift spacer. I tried every trick I had up my sleeve and could not get this to budge. I can spin the whole thing, but can't get the nut to crack loose. I would need to get a deep 28mm socket to fit the top nut for that piece, but VC makes no mention of needing to hold the nut in place. Also, I'm wondering fi they meant to remove one of the mount bolts, rather than the rear control arm blot than runs thru a bushing?
I'm doing this on jack stands, but i do have an impact and such. any help is much appreciated.
