IdahoDoug

So my upper strut mounts on the front are visibly worn when I remove the plastic caps under the hood. In fact, it appears so much rubber has been ground up that the metal hat with the nut holding it is raised up almost a half inch from the body colored painted sheetmetal strut tower. Which means the Quattro's nose is down a half inch as well.

I would like to simply sneak a new strut mount in there and here's what I'm hoping to do. I would like to loosen the nut in the engine bay, and let the entire strut and suspension arms sag a few inches so I can reach up into the wheel well and pry the old one off. Then I will simply lay a new one up there, use a floor jack to push the strut back up into place and retighten the bolt. Voila - no more creaking strut mount and the car will be at its correct attitude again.

So far as I can tell, the strut hold the suspension from sagging when the body is jacked up, so if I do this the suspension should sag enough to do this. Might need some encouragement - perhaps a pry bar, but it seems feasible. What am I missing?

DougM

varia

80/90/CQ strut mount will go bad in less then a year unless you have sachs top mount / mance pro mount with mount saver (mance)

IdahoDoug

I'm OK with it lasting a year or so as I'll be back in there for new strut cartridges in a year or so. These look original from the amount of rubber disintegration, so they made it 23 years.

So, is this sneak doable? If so, I'm thinking 90 minutes or less to pull it off. I'll have the car jacked up anyhow for new front CV boots.

DougM

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

ive tried what you are suggesting before... quite a PITA, get a spring compressor before you do the job. also the struts mounts use a special tool to get the nut in and out which i do recommend investing in. $20-30.

IdahoDoug

Are you sure about the spring compressor? The spring is held compressed on the strut by a metal retainer that is part of the strut. I'm talking about NOT releasing the nut that holds the spring, which is farther down the shaft and secures the metal retainer. The strut shaft continues up into the engine bay where it is held from falling down by the nut I am planning to remove. So then the strut with spring compressed and undisturbed and still an entire unit would lower down.

So, if you are saying I need a spring compressor because it will shorten the strut and give me more room to work, I understand. Or if you are saying you tried this and the suspension would not droop far enough down to sneak a new rubber mount in as I wish, so you had to use the spring compressor for that, then I understand. What do you think? It looks to me like the control arms would droop plenty, but I might need to pull down on the anti sway bar a bit to get full travel. Dunno - what sa ye?

Doug

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

picture is worth 1000 words, take a look at this: http://www.auto-parts.spb.ru/cat/au/...xxb9EvgBM8BufN
as soon as you take #13 off, you will release the spring, spring mount and the shock mount #14. basically there is 2 nuts holding the whole assembly together, you have the big nut up top which just holds the shock/spring from falling out of the car, then when you take that off you will c a small nut which takes a special tool to take it off, which holds the spring, shock and the mount together... i hope this helps man

IdahoDoug

Thanks! Yeah I think we're on the same page. I should be able to loosen 1 nut and lower the strut down into the wheel well to switch out the rubber pad. I may even be able to do it literally without removing the wheel/tire! Its weight will help the suspension sag downward more easily and I suspect I'll have room to reach up and loosen the old one. I've ordered the rubber parts, so I guess in the next couple weeks I'll answer that definitely....

DougM

antune

Not really. To change #14 you need to remove #13 and that will release the spring. But you can still do it with a springcompressor.

IdahoDoug

Ah, got it. So the mount is indeed held in tension with the spring. Hmmmm. Makes it a bit more complicated. Thanks, not sure why that did not occur to me at first with the above pic.

Certain type of spring compressor needed? Seems like some have said there is room only for a certain type.

DougM

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

a one you can rent from autozone works just fine