[philthyphil]

How in the hell do you get the bottom of the strut free from the clevis mount? We took the bolt out, sprayed it with PB Blaster, removed the nut from the fork attached to the LCA, BUT THE STRUT WONT COME OUT?! We already tried hammering on the bolt to get that out and it wont budge. We tried using a c-clamp on the top of the clevis mount and the bottom of the strut but the tightening bar for the c-clamp is just bending. I don't have an impact, so thats not really an option. Help me out guys!

 

[cmn1]

You need that impact unfortunately. Mine needed one and Glorysends went to the dealer to get his out. It sucks.

 

[Mongoose9400]

I'm not sure if I understand this correctly, but is it the clevis bolt you are trying to get out? Are you installing lowering springs? If so this may help you.

http://www.cherokeesrt8.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56062

Read the second paragraph down and look at the last picture. I had issues trying to remove the clevis bolts to install my lowering springs and this was my solution.

 

[LoudPedal]

Where are your jack stands and does their placement allow you to lower the jack to take the load off the strut?

 

[philthyphil]

We could get the lower control arm down all the way and rotate the strut outwards to try and get it out. Wouldnt budge though, the clevis bolt came out all the way fine but the bottom of the strut was seized in there. We ended up just removing the springs and replacing them without removing the struts.

Tomorrow will be the fun part...removing my coilovers and putting stock stuff back on. Then throwing the coilovers in the TRASH!

 

[ekaz]

Did you remove the 3 bolts on top of the strut?

 

[philthyphil]

Yeah everything up top was removed.

 

[ekaz]

I had to push the lower arm down a bit and just keep wiggling it around until it popped out.
It's hard to pull out when it wants to stay in. LMAO

Seriously though, once that lower bolt is out, it should slide down and then you can move it around until it slides out....you popped the upper ball joint too, right? Just covering all the bases.

 

[philthyphil]

We did finally get the springs installed but never got the strut completely out, just left the bottom in the mount. It was really easy once we figured out that you don't need a spring compressor.

I guess we'll go for round 2 on my truck tmrw morning. I have to pull the entire strut out, so no shortcuts this time.

 

[ekaz]

We did finally get the springs installed but never got the strut completely out, just left the bottom in the mount. It was really easy once we figured out that you don't need a spring compressor.

I guess we'll go for round 2 on my truck tmrw morning. I have to pull the entire strut out, so no shortcuts this time.

don't forget the sway bar link.

Top bolts
upper ball joint
sway bar link
lower bolt
I think that's everything...good luck!

 

[philthyphil]

We even went as far as removing the upper control arm since the strut wouldn't come out of the lower mount and we couldn't get the bolt that holds the fork to the kcal out of there. Thank though

 

[Mongoose9400]

http://www.cherokeesrt8.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29459

 

[philthyphil]

http://www.cherokeesrt8.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29459

Thats what I went by.

 

[ekaz]

If you can, bend that metal tab that stops the bolt from spinning. Soak it in PB Blaster or something. Then do a combo of hitting the bolt with a hammer on the nut end and trying an impact on the other.

Just trying to think here....

 

[philthyphil]

We did mine today and one of the bolts holding the fork to the lca came right out. The other wouldnt move much so I ran to home depot and picked up a 4lb hammer to massage it out. Got my whole stock suspension swapped out in under 4 hours. Not bad considering I also had to swap the rear shocks.

 

[camuman]

don't forget the sway bar link.

Top bolts
upper ball joint
sway bar link
lower bolt
I think that's everything...good luck!

badabing. takes like 20 mins for each front corner doing this. ask me how long it took me to figure out how to do it this way on the first corner

 

[ekaz]

The top bolts on the driver side are a paint to get to, can't quite get the fuse boxes completely out of the way.