So I thought I would share my experience from this past weekend.
I was hearing a "loose" "clunking" noise coming from the front end. I had just replaced the tire rods and checked the ball joints so I was pretty sure it was the strut mounts and maybe the strut itself because it looked as f it were leaking little and kinda old. I decided to purchase new front struts and new strut mounts.
The reason I did this is because they do not make a "quick strut" assembly. This may or may not be news to you. I figured like most cars these would be available but after a lot of searching I realized there is not one made for the Lincoln LS.
Ok no big deal I can assemble a strut. Well I can when they provide me with all the right parts.
So on to my experience and some pics:
New strut "assembly" notice how bare it looks...
New Strut mount "kit." comes with the spring isolator for the top.
Old bottom spring isolator or clip or what ever you want to call it. This part can be found, not super easy to find though, for about 6 bucks. The strut nor the strut mount kit come with this.
Old spring and strut boot or bellow. Boots/ellows can be found as can springs:
(on a side note. Notice how the ends of the springs are not tapered like some have thought. This means if you wanted to cut your stock springs you would not run into the issue of the spring not seating right. )
This is where it gets to become a PITA! This is my stock bump stop. It is worn decent amount. Most strut mount kits do not come with this (Raybestos is the only kit I could find) I called every parts store around me and even ford. Not one place had the part. I talked to a Ford dealer parts department and they even sent me the break down of the assembly and I don't really see it. Well I reused mine but I didn't really want to.
On the new strut:
Compressing the spring to put it all together:
A little tip:
IF you just remove the sway bar end links from the bar itself you can get the strut out pretty easy but putting it back in can be a little more challenging. I had to loosen up the bottom of the end link to clear the bottom strut bolt in order to get the top of the end link back in to the bar. No biggie though.
All put back in.
Why the yellow marks? Well you have to line up the assembly just right to get it in and I didn't know this before. The strut mount studs are not evenly spaced so you have to have them set right then turn the strut so that the bottom mount sits right and will slide in to the control arm
Bottom line is it is a relatively easy job to do but you must either reuse a fair amount of parts or make sure your order a kit with the bump stop, bellow/boot, etc. It was just aggravating not having these parts and really aggravating how hard they would be to get if I wanted to...
cruising home:
I was hearing a "loose" "clunking" noise coming from the front end. I had just replaced the tire rods and checked the ball joints so I was pretty sure it was the strut mounts and maybe the strut itself because it looked as f it were leaking little and kinda old. I decided to purchase new front struts and new strut mounts.
The reason I did this is because they do not make a "quick strut" assembly. This may or may not be news to you. I figured like most cars these would be available but after a lot of searching I realized there is not one made for the Lincoln LS.
Ok no big deal I can assemble a strut. Well I can when they provide me with all the right parts.
So on to my experience and some pics:
New strut "assembly" notice how bare it looks...
New Strut mount "kit." comes with the spring isolator for the top.
Old bottom spring isolator or clip or what ever you want to call it. This part can be found, not super easy to find though, for about 6 bucks. The strut nor the strut mount kit come with this.
Old spring and strut boot or bellow. Boots/ellows can be found as can springs:
(on a side note. Notice how the ends of the springs are not tapered like some have thought. This means if you wanted to cut your stock springs you would not run into the issue of the spring not seating right. )
This is where it gets to become a PITA! This is my stock bump stop. It is worn decent amount. Most strut mount kits do not come with this (Raybestos is the only kit I could find) I called every parts store around me and even ford. Not one place had the part. I talked to a Ford dealer parts department and they even sent me the break down of the assembly and I don't really see it. Well I reused mine but I didn't really want to.
On the new strut:
Compressing the spring to put it all together:
A little tip:
IF you just remove the sway bar end links from the bar itself you can get the strut out pretty easy but putting it back in can be a little more challenging. I had to loosen up the bottom of the end link to clear the bottom strut bolt in order to get the top of the end link back in to the bar. No biggie though.
All put back in.
Why the yellow marks? Well you have to line up the assembly just right to get it in and I didn't know this before. The strut mount studs are not evenly spaced so you have to have them set right then turn the strut so that the bottom mount sits right and will slide in to the control arm
Bottom line is it is a relatively easy job to do but you must either reuse a fair amount of parts or make sure your order a kit with the bump stop, bellow/boot, etc. It was just aggravating not having these parts and really aggravating how hard they would be to get if I wanted to...
cruising home:
