'98 Legacy L wagon- preloaded struts?

[Stevo F]

My car rides like you can feel every little bump in your butt (the driver's seat is well stuffed and in good shaped). Thinking struts are a bit tired (only 137K on the clock).

 

I was interested in preloaded struts as I want to do it myself (assuming I can get all the bolts loose) and don't want to mess with compressing springs.

 

Until recently, I only saw no name strut/ springs available, but recently saw these Gabriels at Rock Auto.

 

Anyone have any experience with these, know of prods and cons with Gabriel, etc...?.

 

http://gabriel.com/light-vehicle/products/readymount/

[Brighton96]

I couldn't find any complete strut units when I did mine a few years back and I wish I had, taking them apart and assembling them is a total pain. Also Gabriel is a legit brand, just small and not well carried by distributors.

[Jadu108]

Mine were pretty dead in the back, i ended up just doing an Outback swap to my L Wagon to avoid taking stuff apart, ended up breaking a strut mount bolt on one and had to spend the better part of the day getting another strut mount on... there just really isnt enough coils on the spring to get it back together easily.

I ended up having to compress the spring, dissassemble the unit, uncompress the spring and recompress it in a different spot, reassemble, and methodically untighten then move one of the compressors at a time with a hammer until i could freely uncompress the spring all the way and pull out the compressor tools.... shit was a total pain...

14ft/lbs is all the strut mounts need. no more... theyll snap clean and flush at the mount >

[Stevo F]

Mine were pretty dead in the back, i ended up just doing an Outback swap to my L Wagon to avoid taking stuff apart, ended up breaking a strut mount bolt on one and had to spend the better part of the day getting another strut mount on... there just really isnt enough coils on the spring to get it back together easily.

I ended up having to compress the spring, dissassemble the unit, uncompress the spring and recompress it in a different spot, reassemble, and methodically untighten then move one of the compressors at a time with a hammer until i could freely uncompress the spring all the way and pull out the compressor tools.... shit was a total pain...

14ft/lbs is all the strut mounts need. no more... theyll snap clean and flush at the mount >

 

I would LOVE Outback struts and springs on my car, but am concerned with extra wear and stress on the CV joints and other suspensions components. Also your experience sounds like you had a pretty tough time with the conversion!