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Might've bitten off more than I can chew on this one...

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42
23
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
Tennessee
Hey guys,

I took a brief hiatus from car stuff while I pursued some other hobbies, and finally said "screw it" and got pretty much a whole suspension overhaul, minus sway bars, and took to installing it today. My brother and I, both definitely amateur mechanics, spent about 8 hours today, including a trip to the hardware store, trying to disassemble stuff. Long story short, we loosened the rear strut bolts in the trunk, but couldn't find a way to finish getting them off, gave up and got the front drivers side removed, realized I bought a wrong part (oops) and began to assemble the front strut and spring. So, essentially, a pretty successful day...NOT.

The main hiccup we faced was the shock and struts turning with the bolts. I scoured the interwebs, and found some solutions, at least for the rear. We tried holding the shock tip with a small wrench, vice grips, loaded and unloaded, pretty much everything we could think of to no avail. On the front, when assembling the struts, we ran into the same problem. We had the bolt that cinches down on the strut mount just spin with the strut itself. We tried holding the top with a wrench again while using a wrench to tighten, to no avail, and tried pulsing an impact gun, also to no avail. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with these issues? I may be doing some of these techniques wrong, or may be on the wrong path all together, so testimonials with your process would be incredibly helpful. Also, as you may imagine, my brain is fried so some of the technical names of bolts and what not are escaping me right now, so I hope this is clear, but if not please just ask for clarification.

P.S.: If it matters, the springs are BMR handling springs on koni STR.T shocks/struts with the stock strut mounts in the front (I bought the gt500 ones not realizing you needed 05-10 shocks, and I bought 2011 shocks, so the mounts are going back lol).

Thanks y'all!
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
I use an O2 socket with an outer hex. Hold the hex with a box end, ratcheting if you have them. The shaft is held with a 1/4" drive and 10mm? socket going through the O2 socket.
Final tightening done with a torque wrench...not "torque wrench".
From my post here:


I thought I had a post on this with pictures…but Xenforo doesn’t make it easier for me to search my own crap! Lol. So not sure the words alone are gonna make up for the pics and their proverbial worth.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
I was able to install my Koni oranges using a Craftsman Max Access socket set. It allowed me to tighten the nut while holding the shaft with a small wrench. I though I could do the same thing when I moved to Koni Yellow's and found out it was not possible. I bought this set of strut sockets from Steeda, which worked perfectly. I just had to leave the car apart and wait for them.

 

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