Rear strut replacement problems - '05 BP6

[music.to.kill.yourself.by]

So...

 

The most condensed version I can:

 

I wanted to replace all four struts, front LCAs, hubs and tie rod ends. The front end job turned out to be a considerably bigger job than I ever anticipated, but it's done.

 

The rears, I had hoped, would be much easier and more straightforward. Here is my problem:

 

I did the right rear first, and I thought that my fatal error was that I only jacked up the right side of the car and supported it with two jack stands. There was so much negative force being applied on the strut assembly and rear suspension unit (RSU) in a static state (the strut was being pulled up), then when I reinstalled it, I had to use a 5-foot long iron pinch bar to push down on the RSU to get the bottom of the strut clevis to line up with the boss of the rear knuckle. I had even tried disconnecting the sway bar, thinking that its natural spring effect might be pulling it up. No dice.

 

I got that side back together, and nothing seems wrong with it; everything moves and works as expected.

 

On to the left... I figured that if I lifted it from the rear cross member, and then supported it with two jack stands -- one on either side, I'd have both rear wheels unloaded, and they should drop completely to unload the rear suspension.

 

I haven't yet pullet the lower strut bolt out, bit it seems like I have the exact same problem on this side. Of all the walkthroughs I've read, where people are swapping struts (stock or otherwise), this doesn't seem to be a problem. In fact, they almost always mention lifting the RSU to unload the shock bolt. Mine wants to do the opposite.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Thanks in advance...

[ping]

From what I remember (wagon), when the rears are completely unloaded with the car in the air, the rear spring/damper are a little longer than what's required to simply bolt it in. In order:

1) I bolted the top hat to the upper mount on the body - loose enough for slop in the spring/damper.

2) With the spring/damper hanging approximately in place, I had to use a jack to compress the spring/damper assy about 1" so the eye lined up with the hole in the rear hub. I used the car's scissor jack - the assembly has to be compressed at an angle, not perpendicular to the ground. I had the scissor jack working at required angle by shimming one of the shorter edges of the base with 0.5" of plywood.

 

(sorry no pix)

[m sprank]

All Legacies, Outbacks, etc have rear struts longer than the arm falls.

 

The eye is always about 1 inch or so lower than the bolt hole on the arm. This is normal.

 

The easiest, safest way to raise the shock is to place a bottle jack under the eye of the shock. Then lift it straight up until the holes line up. I use a 20 ton jack. The one from my press. Works like a champ and takes 1 minute to line up the holes.

[AZP Installs]

Yup that's what we did before we had the lift. Now we use a pry-bar gently placed to pull down the LCA.

 

-mike

[m sprank]

I am so jealous of the lift. Got to get a lift. Damn I need to get a lift.

[AZP Installs]

Do It!

 

-mike

[music.to.kill.yourself.by]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

 

I found that the jack option didn't work. I tried a bottle jack, a floor jack, and the supplied scissor jack, and all of them simply lifted the car up, and didn't compress the shock at all.

 

Because the shock (strut) needs to be pushed forward slightly, I couldn't get it to stay forward *and* lift at the same time. So, as I said (and as others seem to have done as well), I used the 5 foot-long iron pinch bar I got from an old friend who used to be a rail yard work worker.

 

The final result is that I have a car with 131k miles on it that now feels absolutely brand new. The only hiccup I had was complete operator error. I didn't tighten the bolt holding the left front wheel speed senor in place, and it threw the ABS, CEL and cruise lights. It's amazing how much that pisses off the ECU.

 

4k rpm rev limiter, cooling fans on max, fast idle and no cruise. But that's sorted now...

[m sprank]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

 

I found that the jack option didn't work. I tried a bottle jack, a floor jack, and the supplied scissor jack, and all of them simply lifted the car up, and didn't compress the shock at all.

 

 

Thats a first. What springs are you using?

[music.to.kill.yourself.by]

Stock.

 

I'm probably the first person ever to replace all the main suspension components with stock parts, but as much as I'm on the road, I find the stock profiles to be exactly what I'm after.

[m sprank]

No. I just replaced the knuckles, tie rod ends, struts, lower control arms, hardware, half shafts, etc. on an 05 Forester XT Stage3 w/ custom FMIC. Everything was replaced with new OEM. Car was rusted BAD from the East Coast.

 

Customer was very happy with everything after bringing it back to OEM greatness.

 

But even that beast used the bottle jack to replace the struts. Plus those springs are longer and stronger than LGT.

[music.to.kill.yourself.by]

No. I just replaced the knuckles, tie rod ends, struts, lower control arms, hardware, half shafts, etc. on an 05 Forester XT Stage3 w/ custom FMIC. Everything was replaced with new OEM. Car was rusted BAD from the East Coast.

 

So this sort of thing probably looks familiar to you:

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Js1rl6hOsSo/TG2E2tv5xVI/AAAAAAAAAnA/vLH3XqopOQA/s800/DSCF4480.JPG

 

As for the jack-trick not working for me... It's also entirely possible that I just didn't know what I was doing. But once I got the bar in a place that wasn't pinching anything vital, and wasn't going to hurt the body (too much), I felt better about it.

 

I actually recruited my wife to push down on the bar, and I pushed the lower shock bolts through. But you know... I think the most frustrating part of the whole affair was spending as much time taking apart and putting back together the interior, as performing the r/r operation.

 

And not having a 17mm offset box wrench -- with a deep-enough offset -- made things a little more difficult as well when it came time to remove and replace the tophats of both the front and rear.

 

I'm not a car-wrench. I don't pretend to be one. In another lifetime, I was service manager of a high end motorcycle shop. So I know my way around a toolbox, but I really hate working on cars, and I don't think I'm even that good at it.

 

The impetus for all of this was that my dealer quoted me $2100 *IN LABOR ONLY* to do the front and rear suspension job. The independents I trust wouldn't even quote it. Everyone said the same thing: A car from NE Ohio with more than 130k miles on it will look like it has sat on the bottom of the ocean. They weren't wrong.

 

So typically, I don't work on cars. But I just couldn't give away that kind of money.

[m sprank]

Yes, very familiar. I actually reused the wheel bearings. Yeah, I got them out of the rusted knuckles without damaging the bearing or ABS pick up inside. I then installed them in the new knuckles. It was the only part I reused up front. LOL.

 

Oh, and I charged the guy $630 for everything. He had the KYB's, so $630 for everything else and all the installation. Plus, I did the install at his work. I went to him.

 

I wonder if my customers realize how low my parts and labor prices are?

[music.to.kill.yourself.by]

Yes, very familiar. I actually reused the wheel bearings. Yeah, I got them out of the rusted knuckles without damaging the bearing or ABS pick up inside. I then installed them in the new knuckles. It was the only part I reused up front. LOL.

 

That sounds pretty familiar. I hadn't intended to replace the knuckles, but when I couldn't get the pinch bolt for the ball-joints out (heat, Kroil, 600+ lbs-ft gun, 2-stage compressor, etc.), it pretty much required it. So when I took it all apart, it looked like this single-unit mess:

 

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/187533248.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1291033068&Signature=v3Yr43w1S8s%2B9CO4d3Qdk2B6XbQ%3D

 

I wanted to replace the hubs because since day one of ownership, when the car had 250 miles on it (it was driven from another dealer), I had a wobble in the front end that remained after several sets of tires, two sets of wheels and multiple sets of brake rotors. Even if I wanted to reuse the hubs, I doubt I could have gotten them apart. In fact, I know I couldn't have, because I had to buy new inner disc covers, because I couldn't get the hubs apart. But hey, when it all went back together, it all looked so shiny and new:

 

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/194376498.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1291033261&Signature=og4AG%2FPP6GXSJFTj9ZT9HT8QJZU%3D

 

... all shiny and new except for the left tie-rod end, which, I rounded the jam nut. Same deal, tho... plenty of heat and a 6-point flare-nut wrench turned up nothing. That, my independent alignment shop said he'd be willing to deal with...

 

Oh, and I charged the guy $630 for everything. He had the KYB's, so $630 for everything else and all the installation. Plus, I did the install at his work. I went to him.

 

I wonder if my customers realize how low my parts and labor prices are?

 

They ought to. If you were here, I would never have fooled around with this. And I'm by no means a big shot. But my car was on jackstands for four weeks. Fortunately, half of that time, I was driving my dad's car (he vacations in Florida), and for one week, I drove my wife's '04 BH6.

 

For the rainiest and coldest week, I rode my Suzuki Burgman 400.

[AZP Installs]

Yes, very familiar. I actually reused the wheel bearings. Yeah, I got them out of the rusted knuckles without damaging the bearing or ABS pick up inside. I then installed them in the new knuckles. It was the only part I reused up front. LOL.

 

Oh, and I charged the guy $630 for everything. He had the KYB's, so $630 for everything else and all the installation. Plus, I did the install at his work. I went to him.

 

I wonder if my customers realize how low my parts and labor prices are?

 

That's real low, low overhead does that.

 

We charge $200 for strut/spring swaps and $75/hr for non-standard work.

 

-mike

[m sprank]

I know. No overhead, so I give the customers a break.

 

Once the full shop is up no way can I keep doing it this cheap.

 

Right now its parts at cost plus $50 an hour for labor. Struts or springs are $180 installed. PLUS, I come to you! House calls. Who does that?

 

My prices will be more in line with yours Mike once I am paying more rent. But still way better than dealerships and shops that dont know anything about Subarus.

 

If in the Tri-State area AZP ROCKS! Use them for everything.

[AZP Installs]

Yeah we used to do house calls when we were working out of my parent's driveway in '01 and '02. We would load up my Trooper and go wherever to do installs. Heck it took us almost 8 years to actually get a lift, even after we had the shop we still used jack stands for everything.

 

Overhead sux! Also don't forget to get liability insurance, in case something falls off and they want to sue you, at least that will somewhat help cover your ass.

 

-mike

[m sprank]

I hear you. Trust me. Loud and clear.

[AZP Installs]

You have a website up yet? I'd like to add you to my AZP page, we always like to add on other installers out of our area (and some in our area) that we can refer folks to if they stumble on our page but aren't local.

 

http://azpinstalls.com/index.php?option=com_weblinks&view=category&id=19&Itemid=102

 

-mike

[m sprank]

Website does not advertise installs/maint/repair (yet). But I am selling parts online.

 

http://www.infamousperformance.net

 

I wanted to get off the road before advertising on the webpage. But I might just make a page anyway. Business is good just from advertising in the local forum here, LOL. Can't wait to market the WRX crowd.

 

As always, if you need anything (Mike at AZP) I have suppliers on the East Coast and can help you out wholesale.