Replacing front struts need help

Ran into some issues replacing my front struts.

I went to loosen the sway bay and I believe the bolts broke or the nut on the frame snapped. Bolts keep spinning either way.

don’t think it’s necessary to loosen the front but figured it was easier. Also when I loosened the sway link it swang way up and it’s kind of stuck there. Videos I’ve seen on YouTube the sway bar usually swings pretty freely.

to top it all off my castle nut won’t budge and it I believe I stripped it.

I know I’m a mess. Any advice?

 

Well I’m putting it back together for now.

having trouble lining the lower bolt

sway bay link went fine after jacking the arm up

 

You might be able to get a good grip on that rounded castle nut with a nut extractor socket

 

Did you hit up those nuts with a penetrating oil? Castle nut is shot, maybe a big pair of vise grips after you soak it, or cut the nut with a tiny Tim saw.

 

I might have to leave it to the pros. I’m having trouble lining up the lower bolt. Any suggestions since I can’t take off the castle bolt.

 

My main problem is I can’t get the lower control arm to stay down to line up with the hole

I need something to push the shock up

stupid me took out. I should’ve left everything loose before removing doh

 

So I've changed out the fronts now three times and have never touched that castle nut on the UCAs. Is this supposed to make it easier?

I just undo the two bolts below the lower balljoint and jam the shock up in there. I typically have to put a little bit of ass behind moving the lower control arm down out of the way, but it is nothing super stressful.

 

For future reference, I only use a 6 point socket on any nut that’s torqued over 20 ft lbs. looking at your castle nut I would guess you used a 12 point socket. Or did you use a wrong size? Either way try heating it and use an extractor.

 

I did use penetrating oil and a 6 pt with a breaker bar

looking back should I have used my impact?

I’ll try the lower ball joint method tomorrow am as it’s already dark

anybody have a pic of that to be sure? I think trying to put the old one back is not the path forward anymore but try to get the new one in

thanks and sorry for the dumb questions

 

Those two outside bolts.

 

really only those two? I was following several YouTube vids and they all take off the sway and upper control.

Anything else I’m missing besides the bolts that holds the strut?

I feel like a dummy now

I’ll give it another shot tomorrow

 

Taking the swaybar off and getting it out of the way is certainly helpful. Same with skid plates.

 

No issues getting the link off but the bar doesn’t budge, plus as I posted earlier it seems like the front bolt and or nuts broke so they just spin

skid plate is off as I did the belt and clutch fan without issues

 

Disconnect sway bar and the two bolts from the lower ball joint adapter. If you have trouble getting it back together you can use your oe bottle jack inside the wheel well to the uca to push the uca down

 

No problem getting the link off as pictures but remove the two fronts

bolts keep spinning

 

If the sway bar bolts are freely turning but not back out....the backing nuts that are welded on the inside have broken loose.

 

Yep I’m pretty sure that’s what happened, guess I’ll have to figure it out tomorrow am

thanks for the tips and by means keep them coming if there are more

 

Other than the seized or stripped bolts.. are you just ultimately trying to get the shock back on but it seems too long?

I was fighting my longer 5100s to get the bottom of the shock back into the lca. I finally got it in with a pry bar on the shock, and stepping on a prybar on the lca while throwing a fit and stomping in it hard.

I later did a shock install on another vehicle using ratchet straps to compress the spring.

Looked back thinking ratchet straps would've worked to compress the springs to shorten the shock assembly.

 

Yea it looks ratchet straps would help to line up the hole

if I can put the new one in easy tomorrow I will, if not the old one will stay on for now

 

Do not try to compress a spring of that size with a ratchet strap that’s just asking for trouble.