Corey Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Right now, what I am mostly afraid of is shearing off one of the bolt-heads while trying to remove the stuck bolts. I think I need to get some spare hardware on hand for peace of mind (and - might as well replace it while i'm in there). The lower hardware is super tough, doubt you could break it with hand tools. I didn't mention: if something is going to break, it could be the three upper strut mount bolts. People overtorque them. The little bolts that hold on the ABS and brake lines in the front are tiny and prone to rusting. Zipties can patch things together in a pinch. I've heard those springs can do some pretty serious damage if you get hit by one The biggest fear is it launching the top hat/strut/whatever into your face. If it's all laying on it's side it's actually not that dramatic. I like to step on the middle of the spring when undoing stuff, if possible. At least point it away from you, like a mortar. I was wondering which was the more difficult job ... you say getting the rear struts installed is a pain, which was surprising to me since I figure all the steering components on the front end would make the front extra hard. When you factor in both the assembly and disassembly, is the rear end still more difficult? I am trying to figure out which axle I should begin with. Haha, they're different. The one that's got the most stubborn bolts is tougher. ;) The front isn't bad as it moves freely around to line things up. I'd start with the rear. The only tricky part is getting those top bolts lined up. Make sure the entire axle is in the air. If you only jack one side up, the swaybar will try to hold up the side you're working on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted November 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 The lower hardware is super tough, doubt you could break it with hand tools. I didn't mention: if something is going to break, it could be the three upper strut mount bolts. People overtorque them. The little bolts that hold on the ABS and brake lines in the front are tiny and prone to rusting. Zipties can patch things together in a pinch. I've been trying to predict different situations that I could find myself in if things go wrong. The first one is shearing off bolt heads with the breaker bar. So I've got to have a full set of spare hardware on hand to prevent that from being a problem. The second situation that occurred to me, is if I were to start working on the rear (or front) axle, get one side taken care of but then be unable to detach the other side. So I think I'm going to break the job up into two separate parts: First go around to all four axles and loosen and then re-tighten all bolts involved to make sure that I am able loosen everything that I need to, without shearing bolts etc. I'll have spare hardware on hand in the event that anything gets sheared. If I can get all of the bolts loose for all four struts, I know it is safe to move on to the next operation, of actually replacing the struts. It'll take a bit longer that way but I think it'll help me minimize my risk and will provide a good sanity test before I actually begin the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Best vehicles ever to work on are my Mercedes every bolt comes apart with hand tools, must be the plating they use, bumper bolts come apart with open end wrenches. Electrical parts are silver plated and wires are mostly soldered. You get what you pay for. I regularly undercoat my Subarus with an organic undercoating AD2000 it helps prevent corrosion as well as lubricating moving components. Still didn't help with rear wheel bearing last weekend required making a plate puller out of 1/2" steel to seperate axle from bearing hub as 3 jaw puller couldn't produce enough force. Should have simlply removed hub with axle attached and put it in the 40 ton press but i was preoccupied with defeating this beast. Presently replacing drive train in our Outback with a JDM Drivetrain due to arrive tomorrow. 6 Subarus in the family and this is the first to require repowering had 329,000k but early signs of antifreeze leak with left headgasket and a pain in the --- to do headgaskets on it was decided to replace entire drivetrain. Almost the same cost as having heads resurfaced and buying stainless three piece headgaskets. Subarus are almost as much fun under them as it is to drive them. Unless your Fin i hear he likes to replace everything with billet aluminum. Not here in salty Ontario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 The day before I do the job I plan on hitting all relevant bolts with some de-siezing fluid and tapping them all a bit with a mallet to work it in. Hopefully that will make dealing with the bolts the next day a bit easier and quicker. I'll repeat the process in the morning before I begin. Jose, don't be afraid to soak them WELL a few days ahead of time & don't use a mallet, use a hammer, the 'shock' is what helps loosen them. IF you feel (which comes from experience mainly) that something ugly is going to happen, it probably is. If you feel the fastener tighten up after it has initially broke loose, don't be afraid to stop trying to loosen it and tighten it back up, spraying it liberally with penetrating fluid (PB Blaster seems to work as well as anything I've ever used) and work it 'back & forth' (loosening & tightening) until it starts to 'free-up'. Good Luck, enjoy the broken knuckles :D......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted November 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 The day before I do the job I plan on hitting all relevant bolts with some de-siezing fluid and tapping them all a bit with a mallet to work it in. Hopefully that will make dealing with the bolts the next day a bit easier and quicker. I'll repeat the process in the morning before I begin.Jose, don't be afraid to soak them WELL a few days ahead of time & don't use a mallet, use a hammer, the 'shock' is what helps loosen them. IF you feel (which comes from experience mainly) that something ugly is going to happen, it probably is. If you feel the fastener tighten up after it has initially broke loose, don't be afraid to stop trying to loosen it and tighten it back up, spraying it liberally with penetrating fluid (PB Blaster seems to work as well as anything I've ever used) and work it 'back & forth' (loosening & tightening) until it starts to 'free-up'. Good Luck, enjoy the broken knuckles :D......... Thanks John--noted about the hammer. I had been planning on using a hammer that I have with hard plastic heads ... so not really a rubber mallet I guess but something in between. I'm not really sure what it is for but it seems ideally suited for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Not a bad plan to check before you start the work. One other scenario is where the small bolts break off because the thread is seized in the hole/nut. That requires a drill and some other fancy work, that's where my poorly worded note about zipties above comes in. You can ziptie the ABS wires or brake hoses to the front shock. Then again, if you're buying new struts and have extra hardware, you can bolt things together just fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted November 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 Got started today just by making sure I could get all the bolts loose. No problems there. Brake line seems to be routed through the front struts, but as I understand it, there is a trick that you can do to avoid having to remove/bleed the brakes ... dremel out the tab that is holding it in place so that you can bend it open and closed. I'll be doing that tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beckmann AG Posted November 6, 2011 Report Share Posted November 6, 2011 ^ Diagonal cutters or tin snips. Sever in the middle of the most accessible side, bend each tab in opposite directions. For your own future benefit, grease all threads and shanks on reassembly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted November 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2011 ^Diagonal cutters or tin snips. Sever in the middle of the most accessible side, bend each tab in opposite directions. For your own future benefit, grease all threads and shanks on reassembly. Thanks! Yes! I'll be greasing everything. Incredibly —*NONE of the tutorials I have seen mention greasing threads ... maybe it's considered so obvious that nobody would think not to do it, but I would certainly mention it if the write up were mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted November 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2011 Well ... Day one went pretty well ... just went around the car loosening up bolts so that I could be sure that all parts that I needed to remove were removeable with the tools I had. That went really well ... none of the bolts were so seized up that I could not get them on the second or third attempt with the breaker bar. Cake. The second day is a different story though. It started off well enough but I ran into a fairly significant obstacle right away. I did my work at the local pep-boys parking lot (they let you work on your car in the lot at the location near me ... apparently that is uncommon). I thought I would begin with the rear brakes. I started with the passenger side. Everything was going really well, right up until the last step of dissassembly. Just could not get the rotor off the hub. I had the parking brake off, and had used some M8 screws to thread through the old spent rotors (which were SERIOUSLY in need of replacement). It wasn't that I couldn't break them off the hub (this was easy with the m8 bolts). The problem was that once they were free of the hub surface I couldn't pull them off the threads. I tried for at least an hour to get them off. So I reassembled everything and drove it over to the pep-boys garage and had them take a look at it. Turns out: some pins and springs in the parking brake hardware were in really bad shape and so even though the brake was not engaged it would still not let the rotor slip off. The mechanic was nice enough to say that hd didn't think I screwed anything up, and that there is no way I could have known that the parking brake hardware was this deteriorated (since it is hidden behind the rotor). So it looks like they're going to replace the parking brake hardware for me (gotta order parts though) and the rear rotors and pads. Next weekend I will press on with the front rotors and hopefully: struts. I'm a little discouraged because I was hoping to get this all done today but well ... I'm just looking at it as a learning process. It seems like this is exactly what happened to me: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/235800-post6.html It looks like there is an adjuster screw hidden behind a slot in the brakes that will permit you to manually adjust the position of the parking brake drum calipers, I probably could circumvented today's little obstacle with that adjustment (which was not mentioned in any of the articles/write-ups that I read) and saved some damage to the parking break assembly ... but it was so rusted out it is probably best to replace it anyhow. I'll try again next weekend, with a little more knowledge under my belt this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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