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How To: Macpherson strut replacement
Want to get those new coilovers installed but you're scared to do it yourself and too broke to pay a garage? Fear not! I did this on my DC5 with the help of EJ6 (aka Ryan- he took all the pics). I didn't quote torque specs because they're different for Civics so double check your s***!
It's easy and with a little patience the job is quickly done and over with.
Step one: Remove the wheels after putting the car on jack stands.
.
Step two: Take off the brakeline bolt from the stock coilover. I'm pretty sure it's a 10mm nut.
.
Step three: Pop the tie rod. Don't use a f***ing hammer! If you use a hammer you risk f***ing up the threads on the tie rod and then you have to buy new ones. Buy the right tool, it's $12 at Autozone.
.
Remove the cotter pin and then the nut. It shouldn't be too hard to get the nut off but you might have to man up a little.
.
Next put the tie rod popper on. make sure it's centered on the tie rod to reduce risk of f***ups. This is a compression fitting, so as you crank on the the popper do it slowly and eventually the tie rod will pop out.
.
See nice clean threads, no need to spend more money on new tie rods because you're too lazy to do it right.
.
Step four: Time to tackle the big bolts. Get that 2' breaker bar out and a 16mm socket. Air tools are your friend here but if you don't have access to those get some PB Blaster and hit it 15minutes before you attempt to remove the bolts.
.
Be ready to support the hub once you remove the two bolts, it's going to want to flop down and has the capability of slipping the drive shaft, which is a huge pain in the ass to get resplined.
.
Step five: Time to remove the top three bolts that attach the top of the coilover to the car. It's helpful to have somebody hold the strut from below so it doesn't just drop out and smash s*** (chances are you'll have to work it out of the wheel well anyway).
.
Step six: If your new suspension requires reuse of the top bearing and hat you'll need to remove them from the stock unit. If you're just putting in new springs you'll have to do this as well. There isn't much tension on the DC5 units so we just used a large C clamp to take what little tension there was off. The we wrapped the shock in a t-shirt and used a set of vice-grips to keep it from spinning. The t-shirt prevents any marring of the shock. Zip off the top center nut and you're good to go.
.
These are the parts I'll be reusing with my new Tanabe units. You might want to hit them with some white lithium grease, I didn't bother to though and I don't get any noises.
.
Step seven: Reassemble you're new s***. The new coilvers just get the stock bearing and top-hat and get torqued to spec (Tanabe supplies new top nuts but if you're swapping springs save the stock ones).
Step eight: Reinstall the coilvers. This goes the exact opposite as the uninstall. The top nuts get installed first but leave them loose so you can adjust things easier. You'll want to torque them down once the car is off the jack stands anyways.
Then the big bolts go in.
.
.
Then the tie rod goes back with a new cotter pin (these things are cheap just replace the old ones).
.
Make sure you bolt your brakeline back to the coilover.
Adjust the height (trial and error with lifting the car and making an adjustment then setting the car back down). Springs are going to settle some so be ready to get back in there to adjust again after driving around for a couple days.
Now go get an alignment!
PS> Wondering where the rear install DIY is? The bolts were too far gone and I had to bring it to a garage to have them cutoff and replaced. So no DIY for the rear, but it's much easier than the fronts anyways.
It's easy and with a little patience the job is quickly done and over with.
Step one: Remove the wheels after putting the car on jack stands.
.
Step two: Take off the brakeline bolt from the stock coilover. I'm pretty sure it's a 10mm nut.
.
Step three: Pop the tie rod. Don't use a f***ing hammer! If you use a hammer you risk f***ing up the threads on the tie rod and then you have to buy new ones. Buy the right tool, it's $12 at Autozone.
.
Remove the cotter pin and then the nut. It shouldn't be too hard to get the nut off but you might have to man up a little.
.
Next put the tie rod popper on. make sure it's centered on the tie rod to reduce risk of f***ups. This is a compression fitting, so as you crank on the the popper do it slowly and eventually the tie rod will pop out.
.
See nice clean threads, no need to spend more money on new tie rods because you're too lazy to do it right.
.
Step four: Time to tackle the big bolts. Get that 2' breaker bar out and a 16mm socket. Air tools are your friend here but if you don't have access to those get some PB Blaster and hit it 15minutes before you attempt to remove the bolts.
.
Be ready to support the hub once you remove the two bolts, it's going to want to flop down and has the capability of slipping the drive shaft, which is a huge pain in the ass to get resplined.
.
Step five: Time to remove the top three bolts that attach the top of the coilover to the car. It's helpful to have somebody hold the strut from below so it doesn't just drop out and smash s*** (chances are you'll have to work it out of the wheel well anyway).
.
Step six: If your new suspension requires reuse of the top bearing and hat you'll need to remove them from the stock unit. If you're just putting in new springs you'll have to do this as well. There isn't much tension on the DC5 units so we just used a large C clamp to take what little tension there was off. The we wrapped the shock in a t-shirt and used a set of vice-grips to keep it from spinning. The t-shirt prevents any marring of the shock. Zip off the top center nut and you're good to go.
.
These are the parts I'll be reusing with my new Tanabe units. You might want to hit them with some white lithium grease, I didn't bother to though and I don't get any noises.
.
Step seven: Reassemble you're new s***. The new coilvers just get the stock bearing and top-hat and get torqued to spec (Tanabe supplies new top nuts but if you're swapping springs save the stock ones).
Step eight: Reinstall the coilvers. This goes the exact opposite as the uninstall. The top nuts get installed first but leave them loose so you can adjust things easier. You'll want to torque them down once the car is off the jack stands anyways.
Then the big bolts go in.
.
.
Then the tie rod goes back with a new cotter pin (these things are cheap just replace the old ones).
.
Make sure you bolt your brakeline back to the coilover.
Adjust the height (trial and error with lifting the car and making an adjustment then setting the car back down). Springs are going to settle some so be ready to get back in there to adjust again after driving around for a couple days.
Now go get an alignment!
PS> Wondering where the rear install DIY is? The bolts were too far gone and I had to bring it to a garage to have them cutoff and replaced. So no DIY for the rear, but it's much easier than the fronts anyways.
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