Ok, I attempted to do one side tonight, only to be halted by the two bolts on the bottom of the shock tower. Got the nuts off and everything but can't seem to break the rust bond & pull them out. Also, to take the nut off the top, is there any special tool to stop the shock from spinning? Also I'm now thinking if the bolt is really this stuck, I can only imagine how difficult its going to be to separate the knuckle from the shock tower.

I might just unbolt the control arm, sway bar link and tie rod end to move it out of the way instead of separating it from the knuckle..

I'm going to need this fixed as soon as possible...when I was playing around with it, trying to break everything loose I noticed the rubber mount up top is starting to separate.

 

I commented on this earlier in this thread. Those bolts have a spline and press into the steering knuckle when you tighten that nut. I recommend having access to an air hammer with a punch bit.
- Take the nuts "almost" off (put them almost flush with the end of the bolt, helps protect the threads).
- Use a small torch, like a propane torch used for sweating pipes. Heat the head of the bolt, especially where it goes into the steering knuckle. High heat, pay attention not to stray to wires and rubber boots (or anything else that melts).
- Give it about 5 minutes of the heat, then when you take it away, let it cool about 5 minutes. What this does is causes the bolt to expand a little and loosen the rust bond as it cools.
- Use the air hammer (best tool for this) and put the punch bit on the center of the end to the bolts and zip them out. If you don't have an air hammer, attempt to pound on them with a 2lbs sledge or mini-sledge (this can be challenging with out the air hammer sometimes). The nut on the bolt helps protect the bolt from the swings with the sledge or keeping the punch on the air hammer centered.

- Pending you get those out, remove the 3 nuts on the strut tower that go around the strut (leave the center one along). PAY ATTENTION to hold the strut by the strut or coil during this phase (without those bottom bolts she falls straight out without those top nuts).

- Once you get the strut assembly out, you have a couple options.
1 - Replace with a quick strut (I'm sure you've sold these before, strut pre-mounted with strut plate and coil spring).
2 - Remove the strut.

To remove the strut, you can use the loan-a-tool strut compressors from your work. I've never used those. I've had access to a professional strut/spring compressor. Now, I'm opting for the "quick struts" going forward. You can sometimes get shops to dismount/remount your struts for a small fee too. Any case, you compress the springs. Next you MUST have a good quality impact gun. You will need that to break the center nut free. If I recall the Monte set up, it's a bit different here then most struts I've worked on. I think the top shaft has a space for a male torx socket. If that is the case, you can put the torx socket in there and use the closed end of a wrench to remove the nut.

When the nut is removed with the spring compressed, the strut drops out.

Run through these steps in reverse to re-install.

Please, PLEASE exercise caution when doing this. Those springs, if not held properly by a compressor can be dangerous!! Such as, if you don't use a compressor and just pop that center nut off, the spring is still under some tension (I am not sure how much, probably not enough to do anything overly serious). But if you compress them and the compressor slips, that thing can fly with a force (this is why the professional compressor I've used is wall mounted and has a small guard that you pull down, not 100% fool proof, but it helps).

 

Yea, I had a feeling it was something like that. I was wacking at it for a while & didn't move one bit. I do have the spring compression tool on hand. I plan on stopping off at work tomorrow morning to borrow the store's impact gun (thought about it too before I left today...) & getting a few sockets I don't have. I actually had to use my cross bar to get the nuts off the bottom bolts. It had enough space on the inside to remove it (my socket was a tad bit too short..)

I seriously hope that mount holds up..

 

K, first post updated. I took everyone's helpful information and piled it into one post.

Finally got the job done, actually tucked the car around the back of my job, worked out of the back gate.
Here is a few pics...and a video of how BAD the bearing is..



yummy.....
IMG_0293_zps872c4f56.jpg
shock looks good, no leaking.
IMG_0297_zps31e36bc7.jpg
Driver bearing
IMG_0298_zps59d6a230.jpg
rubber mount started to separate...
IMG_0303_zpsdb168c3e.jpg
passenger bearing, began to fray in some areas.
IMG_0300_zps68268e57.jpg
Added some extra grease for protection & prevent my new bearing from failure.
IMG_0304_zpsf5812068.jpg
IMG_0309_zpse5d483d8.jpg
IMG_0310_zpsde1cd051.jpg

 

Congrats on a job well done!!

 

thanks, you were very helpful

 

Jen:
Great Job!
Thats what the Planet needs...
More women like you with ambition and desire and the willingness to do the job herself! You defnately deserve to take pride in your abilitys and acomplishments !!! You could work on any of my rides....Anytime!

 

thanks Its more along the lines I don't have the extra $100-$200 for labor costs, & why bother when I got enough tools to do so!
I don't like other people touching my car, unless I truly trust them.. like my normal mechanic, but yet again...labor.

Speaking of not letting anyone touch my car.. My co-worker was curious with how I was doing and wanted to see if my driver top 3 nuts were tight enough on the other side...When I go to torque them down, guess what! the bastard rounded out the nut! You can see it in one of the end pics..

 

As far as the nuts go, those look a lot smaller then the stock ones. Technically, you are supposed to replace them (as I believe they are slightly oval-ed to help keep them on). But I have successfully re-used them before (heck the ones on my Monte have been on and off multiple times for different reasons). It might be worth switching them out.

BTW - You should get your alignment checked! I forgot to mention, I believe those bottom two bolts are responsible for the camber adjustments on your wheels.

 

I am aware of that. The tires on there are so worn from a bad alignment when I had my tie rods changed its not too much of a worry. I will get it done before my new tires are put on though!
ps, those nuts are bran new. I do admit I should of checked the socket size first before really doing anything, it wasn't loose or anything until he tightened them a bit too much by hand with a small ratchet & deep socket(just begging to slip..)