installing strut inserts on my A2

[sciroccos at earthlink.net (Jim R)]

OK.  I'll give it a shot.

On each side:
With the car on the ground, crack the axle nut loose (30 mm socket, breaker
bar) and remove it.

Jack the car up and remove the wheel.

Use channelock pliers or a pipe wrench to crack the strut cartridge
retaining nut loose.  This will save you a lot of trouble later as the nut
is usually pretty tight.  This is the large "cap" you see about midway down
the strut housing.  In some cases, there's not enought room between spring
coils to do this, but it's worth a shot.

Remove the caliper (17mm?) and brake rotor (#3 phillips).  Hang the caliper
nearby with some mechanic's wire.

Disconnect the tie rod end from the hub carrier (remove the cotter pin and
the retaining nut (19mm?)).  You may need a puller to get the end unstuck
from the carrier arm.  Do not use a hammer on the threaded part!  You can
tap on the side of the tie rod end to loosen it, though.

Loosen and remove the ball joint bolt (17mm?)

Tap a little on the end of the driveshaft to loosen the splines from inside
of the hub.  Tap it gently towards the trans.

Use a huge screwdriver or prybar to disconnect the lower control arm from
the hub carrier, while pulling the entire strut assembly away from the
wheelwell.  You can also just bang the control arm down (towards the ground)
with a mini sledge hammer or big hammer to get the balljoint to release.
Pull the strut housing towards you while pushing the driveshaft end all the
way back out of the hub.

Remove the two 13mm strut bearing nuts while supporting the strut and remove
the strut.

Compress the spring securely with a good compressor.

Remove the upper strut insert retaining nut.

Keep track of the relative location of the nut, washer, bushing, etc.

Remove the spring and stuff.

Remove the strut cartridge nut and the cartidge can be replaced.  Make sure
there's oil or power steering fluid in there to help conduct heat away from
the insert.

Installation is the reverse of removal.  No need to do an alignment this
way!

Takes about an hour and 15 mins to do both sides if you have the right tools
(incl air tools), are comfortable with the job and you hustle, assuming
there are no snags.  I would allow 3 to 4 hours or more.

Possible snags: breaking the tie rod end free from the hub carrier, getting
the ball joint loose from the carrier, a possible sticking of the driveshaft
in the hub, loosening the big strut retaining nut, remove the rotor
retaining screw - hammer around the hub a bit to shake things loose before
you try to remove this - make sure you have a #3, rather than a #2
phillips - a motorcycle shop hand impact driver works best to crack this
loose (uses a hammer - tool costs about $10).

Use a little anti-seize lubricant on the driveshaft splines when you
reassemble.

HTH
Jim


>-----Original Message-----
>From: David Brown [mailto:sharpshooter33@roadrunner.com]
>Sent: Friday, April 06, 2007 9:54 AM
>To: scirocco scirocco
>Subject: installing strut inserts on my A2
>
>
>Ok I have a nice set of Bilstein Strut inserts HD's from Potterman
>at Parts4vw(gratuitous promotion).... I've looked at my Bentleys
>but it's not really clear on replacing the inserts.
>
>Can someone throw me a basic procedure and were I'm probably gonna
>run into the pain in the A$$ part and how they got it done and how
>long it takes.
>
>Thanks
>David