[1966er]

I'm wanting to change the rotted strut rod bushings & need to know if this is just a simple unbolt and remove job? Or, is the strut under any torque/spring pressure I should know about?

[Putt]

It is best to support the upper control arm, since that is where the spring pressure is, that allows you to unbolt the entire strut rod from the lower arm and replace the bushings. It could likely be done without propping up the upper arm if you are careful. Make sure there is no weight on the tire and the car is properly supported with jackstands under the front frame rail.

[blea9082]

You may need to get a front end alignment after you replace the bushings. If you measure very carfully how much strut is sticking out with the old ones, and then make it the same with the new ones, you might not have to. But an alignment might be a good idea afterwards anyways.

[1966er]

Thanks. The old bushings were so bad that I knew I would have to get it aligned. Going to be doing that on Friday. Thanks again for the help......

[Jonk67]

Get a large enough wrench or crescent to turn the big nuts on the ends of the strut rod and spray down the threads ahead of time so they can soak (now). The nuts do not move easily even when the bushing pressure is off of them and they are hard to move once you unbolt the rod from the LCA so loosen the bushing end nuts first.
The nuts are hard to get on as there's not a lot of space around there to get the wrench on, try that now before you start. A really long socket would help on the front nuts.
Jon

[thetvirus]

I did mine with the car on the ground, loosened the bushing nut and the two nuts on the LCA, took out the strut rod and put it back in with new bushing and just torqued the bushing nut to 40 foot pounds on each side, and the car drives straight. I was able to pull the LCA with my arm forward enough to get the nut started on the bushing side.

[havoc65]

I was also able to change mine while the car was on the ground. I put pu bushings in made a huge differance. I did not get an alinment afterwards. That was 2 years ago and no odd tire wear and goes down the road strait.

[The Greek]

Only use rubber bushings. The poly bushings will cause the strut rod to break because it doesn't flex like it's supposed to. The same thing can be said with poly bushings in the lower control arm. They are supposed to flex in a fore and aft direction to absorb road shock. Personally I think that the poly strut rod bushings should be taken off of the market. Breaking a strut rod at highway speed could be deadly. NPD sells them with a disclaimer notice in their catalog.

[1966er]

Finished the job with no problems. I had plan on doing an alignment anyway. Wanted to install new bushing before hand. BTW, here's the part number for the bushings. They are TRW #HB1019K. One kit does one strut. These are the rubber ones & are much beefier looking than the original ones.