the sucker king Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 i know this aint good but.... today i went to replace an axel, on my 4wd '80 hatch and i broke the axel castle nut on the ground and lifted the car in the air and when i went to remove the axel nut the rest of the way, the top strut mount ripped completely and separated from the car. it was ripped before, but i had no idea it was that bad. so i don't have a spring compressor, but i have a couple of strut assemblies complete that were on the same hatch when i bought it, but it was 2wd then and they were marked "sedan" on the top rubber mounts. they also had an indicator for forward. i know i've seen struts that you mount one way for 2wd cars and turn them around for 4wd, but these ones i had would only go on the forward way and still mount up to the wheel bearing housing right. i saw no indication of what side they should fit on. so i replaced the entire strut assembly. now i don't want to do the other side with the matching 2wd assemble since in the next few weeks i will just replace both front strut assembly's (the ones on the car have 300k on them). so for the next week to two weeks, my 4x4 hatch will have the left front strut be a 4x4 strut placed for a 4x4, and the right front strut a 2wd (non adjustable) from a 2wd sedan, placed the same as a 2wd sedan. i know that i can adjust the left (4wd) strut down, as the 2wd strut makes the car sit 1" lower than the left, which is adjusted all the way up right now. so i should adjust that tomorrow. i drove the car, and it drove fine, so am i only going to burn tires quicker with this set up, or do i NEED to put the other 2wd strut on the other side? i notice that the toe in is drastically different from side to side. as i said, i will redo the entire front suspention in a week or two, i guess i'm asking is it safe to drive like this in the meantime. the two struts seem to take off in entirely different trajectories. my bet is the only bad thing is i will wear my tires badly for a week or two. \ what do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northguy Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 Jon, What a bummer. Your logic is sound (I can't answer your concerns for certain) in that you're providing an anchor to the front wheel assembly and some sense of suspension. If only for a short time, it shouldn't be a big deal, except that it might ride really funky. Keep it under 90 and you should be all right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the sucker king Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 well i've driven it since saterday and it actually rides fine. in fact it no longer pulls to the right. in a couple weeks i'll replace both sides and get an allignment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex C Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 I have an 82 2wd auto, and back when I first got it the struts were shot, so I had them replaced, but I had them replaced with the 4wd ones, but they are mounted in the same 2wd direction. My rubber caps show it both ways. I have an awesome ride, faster the better on bumps etc... Alex P.S. I also have the ride adjusted up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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