hey guys im having troble removing the struts on my TH magna. im just unsure exactly what i gotta do. does someone know, that can walk me thorugh. thanks in advance

Remove tyre.

Undo 2 bolts connecting strut to hub (17mm nuts), remove 1 10/12mm bolt holding something else to the strut. Also remove the little metal shim holding the brake hose to the strut.

Undo 3 nuts in engine bay.

Remove strut.

hey guys im having troble removing the struts on my TH magna. im just unsure exactly what i gotta do. does someone know, that can walk me thorugh. thanks in advance

Too Easy if it's the fronts you're talking about,
Take your front wheel off after you jack the car up nice and high....
Remove the wire for the ABS sensor, and undo the clip for the brake line by sliding the clip off, move them clear of the whole assembly, I tuck the ABS sensor line around the steering tie rod end ball joint the brake line just move it out of the groove in the strut where it sits.

3 bolts on top of the strut in the engine bay,14mm ring spanner. back them off to start,

two really big bolts that hold the knuckle to the bottom of the strut.. 17mm ring spanners... you'll def need two. hold one side while undoing the nut.
Get a block of timber or jack stands to support the lower control arm/brake/knuckle assembly, when it flops down. if you dont you may damage the CV boot. it needs to get fairly low to get the strut out.

Undo the two big bolts down the bottom of the strut and whilst supporting the lower arm jiggle the whole lot to help remove the bolts. let the lower control arm rest on the block of timber etc then while holding the strut (by the spring etc) undo the 3 nuts on the top of the strut and be ready as the strut weighs a fair amount, you might want to get someone to undo the nuts on top while you hold the strut.
Once it's free be careful as you move it around as you may damage the CV boot or damage the ABS sensor wires. usually you can carefully guide the strut toward the rear of the car in a vertical position (ie: don't lay it over flat keep it upright)
And lo and behold... a strutless magna!!

Steve

Too Easy if it's the fronts you're talking about,
Take your front wheel off after you jack the car up nice and high....
Remove the wire for the ABS sensor, and undo the clip for the brake line by sliding the clip off, move them clear of the whole assembly, I tuck the ABS sensor line around the steering tie rod end ball joint the brake line just move it out of the groove in the strut where it sits.

3 bolts on top of the strut in the engine bay,14mm ring spanner. back them off to start,

two really big bolts that hold the knuckle to the bottom of the strut.. 17mm ring spanners... you'll def need two. hold one side while undoing the nut.
Get a block of timber or jack stands to support the lower control arm/brake/knuckle assembly, when it flops down. if you dont you may damage the CV boot. it needs to get fairly low to get the strut out.

Undo the two big bolts down the bottom of the strut and whilst supporting the lower arm jiggle the whole lot to help remove the bolts. let the lower control arm rest on the block of timber etc then while holding the strut (by the spring etc) undo the 3 nuts on the top of the strut and be ready as the strut weighs a fair amount, you might want to get someone to undo the nuts on top while you hold the strut.
Once it's free be careful as you move it around as you may damage the CV boot or damage the ABS sensor wires. usually you can carefully guide the strut toward the rear of the car in a vertical position (ie: don't lay it over flat keep it upright)
And lo and behold... a strutless magna!!

Steve
awesome thanks mate, is it much different for the rear cuz i gotta take them off. dismantling the car

awesome thanks mate, is it much different for the rear cuz i gotta take them off. dismantling the car

PM me your email and I'll forward you some pics for the suspension..

Steve

the rear struts have one large bolt through the bottom.

remove the upper section of the rear seat to get to the top nuts (3 again i think or possibly only 2)

then drop the strut out. you may need 2 people to help put the rears back in though.

If you have troubles with the 17mm nuts, just use the appropriate end of a wheel brace to undo them... I freaking love those things after lowering my car.

And changing my steering wheel :P

Careful with the rubber boots at front, when lowering the strut. Place folded towel or something to protect them in case the strut drops on the rubber....

Careful with the rubber boots at front, when lowering the strut. Place folded towel or something to protect them in case the strut drops on the rubber....

Good call, Killer....
Definitely do that for sure!

Apologises for the thread mine...but is there actually a technique to loosen the bottom bolts (2 at the front, 1 at the rear)?

My old boy and I have tried twice to undo them (as I'm wanting to put stock suspension in my magna) and so far have broken a few tools (1 spanner and a wrench so far) because theyre so bloody tight.

Anyway, the rest of the install seems quite easy but as much as we have tried, the bottom bolts do not want to move. We have thought about getting a rachet gun in there, but again access is restricted to the rear.

PS: Access to the rear bolts is slightly impeded as my sway bar is slightly in the way. Would it be advisible to undo it to get better access? (even though the spanner fits fine - cant get a ring spanner in there though)

Hey dude, hold a ratchet on one side while cracking the other side with a breaker bar.

you might actually want a spanner on it, not a ratchet when youre cracking it. long spanners are awesome.

Spanner one side, Breaker bar other side. but if not you can put a ratchet on it....only 1/2" stuff though...don't use 3/8" and defiantly not HRD2GT spec 1/4" stuff :P

lol quarter drive. gunning for warranty?

Meh, I don't own a set of spanners yet :P Speaking from experience, 1/2 drive set is fine.

Meh, I don't own a set of spanners yet :P Speaking from experience, 1/2 drive set is fine.

That's poor form, good set of spanners (and a 10mm pipe spanner for brake lines) is vital for home mechanics!

;1274569']That's poor form, good set of spanners (and a 10mm pipe spanner for brake lines) is vital for home mechanics!
Home mechanics isn't how we roll Paulie, it's carwash mechanics in our part of town :) If anything is missing we just share tools!

Cheers guys. Can see that breaker bar will easily fit in the front now...will just need a smaller one than what I was using. I'll just have to stuff around with the rear one as theres SFA room to play with seeing the sway bar is in the way. If it fails, I'll post up again with some pics :P

If there is a will there is way. Breaker should fit in the rear aswell. Only need to crack the bastards though, then you can use a ratchet

remember to crack the NUT and not the head of the bolt, ive had people say it was to tight to find they were holding the nut and heaving on the bolt. sounds obvious but yeah lol

hey guys, im trying to pull the CV out, but i need to remove the lower control arm etc to make room to pull it out, im replacing a gearbox seal, but the nut on the lower control arm on the end ( Pivot) isnt coming out....is it a taper fitting? and any tips on getting the bastard out? cheers!

Nope, not a taper fitting. Its a 24 mm nut at 100 Nm and you cannot get a socket onto it. The lower control arm doesn't need to come off if you are pulling drive shafts, but if you must - just undo the 2 17 mm bolt and 2 14 mm nuts that hold the rear pivot to the body work. The front one is a long bolt and you will need to hold the head of the bolt to undo the nut, both 17 mm.

Got mine in bits because I'm putting new ball joints in. Fun!

if you are absolutely stuffed trying to get it out, its prob easier to remove the intermediate shaft and knock out the pass side with a screwdriver via the diff.

if you are absolutely stuffed trying to get it out, its prob easier to remove the intermediate shaft and knock out the pass side with a screwdriver via the diff.

Wooow. I dont like the sound of that. I wouldnt be hammer anything in the diff with a screw driver. From what i can gather its the two bolts in the bottom of the strut that he is having issues with. Until he pulles CV out of the Hub(brake Caliper Spline, bottom of strut) that thing will never come out even with a jack hammer and wrecking ball. Oh maybe will a wrecking ball but the whole car wont come out in good shape..:) He is having trouble undoing the nut.

You only need to pull out the bolts holding rotor and strut together and you can get CV out. Like Madmax said.

Im assuming you dont know once you have undone the strut bolts you can maneuver the CV out. Think you need to unclip the Brake line off strut to get more movement. CV should just slide out if CV Nut is off. If you need to hit anything with a hammer make sure it is a Mallet only..

Nope, not a taper fitting. Its a 24 mm nut at 100 Nm and you cannot get a socket onto it. The lower control arm doesn't need to come off if you are pulling drive shafts, but if you must - just undo the 2 17 mm bolt and 2 14 mm nuts that hold the rear pivot to the body work. The front one is a long bolt and you will need to hold the head of the bolt to undo the nut, both 17 mm.

Got mine in bits because I'm putting new ball joints in. Fun!

Sorry mate, what exactly are you talking about, there is not a 24mm nut on the lower control arm, it is a 19mm and it IS a taper, rest is exactly right however and what are these 2 14mm nuts you speak of lol, guessing there must be some things in there I have never taken notice of as the lower control arm is actually attached to the k frame on the third gens over here lol

In short, if you have abs, for safety of the wire, undo the 12mm bolt at the strut
Remove the 32mm nut on the shaft, tip, use a screwdriver in the vents of the rotor against the caliper bracket to hold the rotor in place thus no shaft spin
remove the 2 17mm nuts and bolts that hold the strut to the stub knuckle
Pull it out towards you, you will see the outer shaft joint slide out, sometimes they do get rusted in, grab your main nut, put back on backwards so the slots are facing in, gently hit the shaft so it moves out

Inner joint, remove the intermediate shaft 2 14mm bolts if you are doing the RHS side
Inner Joint LHS, use a crow bar between the trans and the shaft and lever sharply, sometime are a bif of a bugger especially if you have a crap jack like we had in MMX and had to do a shaft there.

Do not put something through the diff as there is a shaft that holds in your spider gears, damage this and she is all over for your diff

Do not put something through the diff as there is a shaft that holds in your spider gears, damage this and she is all over for your diff

I've only had to do it once and was very careful it how it was done. The circlip had stuffed up so there was no way it was coming out any other way. It is always a last resort (I had spent about 5 hours trying to get this damn CV out, using every pry bar, screwdriver, and whatever else you could think of).