OT -- How to empty a strut

I recently bought a Nissan Maxima wagon with a MacPherson Strut rear suspension. The struts are toast, so I went to the parts house, and they sent me home with a pair of cartridges. The problem is, the current struts are not cartridge type units.

I removed the spring, and got the internals to come out. There is a cylinder with a piston, and this is filled with oil that gets pused and pulled through a metering hole. My problem is, I took the stuff out from the top of the shock body, and there is a considerable amount of oilk remaining in the bottom. The new cartridge will not go in because the oil is in the way. I am resisting removing the bolts that hold the strut to the suspension alignment parts, but if I caved in and did this, I could simply turn the strut over and pour the oil out.

Assuming I can get the spring back on going the way I am going, how can I get the remainder of the oil out? I am thinking that I can drill a small hole in the bottom and let it drain. My question is, can I get the struts back together while they are physically mounted in the car, or do I have to remove them completely? It is starting to look like the struts must be removed so that the springs can be taken off and then reassembled. If I must remove the struts completely, then draining the remaining oil is as easy as turning the strut body upside down, but then I have alignment issues to deal with later that I was hoping to avoid.

Reply to
CRWLR
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Well, I have never heard of anyone actually rebuilding one of those. I guess when I see them dead, the suckers are rotted as well as 'dead'.

I would try a rag or old sponge to get the oil out I think. A chunk of sponge works pretty good at soaking up oil.

Something about reusing the tubes just doesn't sit right with me though. I am thinking of wear and micro grooves in the old part. The new pistons might wear out fast, something like a clutch or brake master rebuild. They are a 50/50 deal if they die in 6 months or less....

I don't know for sure, but I would think if you got the thing apart from the top, it should go back together that way. Do you have a spring compressor, or is that the 'catch', you used a jack to unload the springs?

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

CRWLR wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

To be sure, there is an outside case that is in excellent condition. This case is an integral part of the suspension, so replacing it is costly. The shock itself lives inside the case, and must be either rebuilt or replaced. If rebuilt, then the consumer (or mechanic) has to do lots of stuff, but the guts can be removed and a new cartridge installed instead.

My delimna is that once the guts are removed, there is a significant amount of oil remaining inside the case. I think that I am going about this project wrong, I am attempting to replace the guts while the case is still mounted on the car, but I am beginning to realize that the entire strut must come off before the guts can be replaced.

I got the spring compressor, but there isn't much room in the shock tower to work. I think I am doing this job wrong. I should have removed the strut entirely before I started to take it apart. I think the spring compressor is primarily used to release the spring pressure so the bolts can be removed, it ought not be used to compress the spring so much that it can actually be taken off.

Obviously, a zip tie is not nearly strong enough, but I think that if one could put a zip tie or two around a few coils of the spring, THEN raise the car off the ground, one could acheive the same results as the spring compressor should be expected to give. The suspension would be hanging from the zip ties, and the bolts could be removed without the burden of the spring pressure against them, and the strut could be fully removed and disassembled on the bench. Once the car is safely on jackstands, the floor jack, or bottle jack, could be used to load or unload the bolts so they could be removed. The spring compressor, right now, is being used to fully compress the springs, but I am beginning to think this is an error.

Reply to
CRWLR

I have always replaced struts using the entire assembly. OK, maybe this is not the cheapest way to go but you don't see people coming back. I haven't worked on cars for a living for a while, and I have heard that struts can be rebuilt, but I don't believe it.

Earle

Reply to
Earle Horton

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

Me too. I went to get new shocks or struts or whatever it takes, and I got some cartridges. They seem to fit inside the empty case, except that I can't get past all of the oil. If I pull the struts clear off the car, then the oil can be poured out and the cartridges will slide right in, I think.

It appears to me that I am making this job more difficult than it needs to be by attempting to do it without disconnecting the parts that maintain the alignment.

Reply to
CRWLR

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

Mexican Credit Card???

Won't that just make my alignment worse?

reassembled.

Reply to
CRWLR

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

I figured it out. I just took the entire strut off and poured the contents out. The new strut cartdriges dropped right in, and the alignment didn't change at all. I was going about this project from the wrong direction, and that was the source of my troubles.

Reply to
CRWLR

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