tracedog67 Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 With this cold weather when I hit a bump or pothole i get a very hard clunk or bang from the rear driver's side shock (or strut?). Is this a DIY project or should I take it to one of the locals, the dealer, or a national muffler/shock place? What is the OEM shock for these cars? thanks Tdog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksoob Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Be sure that it really is a shock/strut. I was getting a similar clunk/bang on the driver's side rear when hitting bumps...thought it was shocks. I was all ready to pay $300-$400 for new shocks/struts. Mechanic did the simple check .... push down on the rear bumper: does it bounce up and down? or just return to its normal position. It returned and stopped...not the shocks. Looking underneath, it turned out to be a broken stabilizer bracket banging underneath the car. It had rusted out and broken right at the bolts. $15 DIY job. Might be worth a peek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracedog67 Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 Hawksoob, About where is this bracket located? What does it look like? I have a Haynes Manual, will this help me? much thanks for the heads up. I was expecting about 300-400 for getting one side fixed also. Tdog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hklaine Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 I don't know how similar your car is to mine. However, in my '96 Legacy I changed 4 struts recently. The rear two are easier than the fronts. If you have (or can borrow) a spring compressor you should be able to do the job in a few hours having never done it before. I got rear struts (KYB GR2) for ~$60ea. from tirerack.com. Have a small cutoff wheel handy or a line wrench as you need to either cut the bracket which fully encirlcles the brake line or disconnect the line from one end to get it off the strut, at least in my car. This, however, was not a big deal and even the cut bracket holds the line well once the clip is reinserted. My car had a similar clanking sound when hitting a good size pothole or when cruising over a long drop or change in elevation at higher speeds. As mentioned in a previous post, when pushing the car down on the corner in question it had nothing at all. The strut was clearly dead. I would not recommend changing one side and not the other BTW, IMHO. Good Luck with it. -Heikki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawksoob Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Originally posted by tracedog67 Hawksoob, About where is this bracket located? What does it look like? I have a Haynes Manual, will this help me? much thanks for the heads up. I was expecting about 300-400 for getting one side fixed also. Tdog Haynes is worthless for this. Shows nothing. Under the left fender, near the muffler. Stabilizer bar connects to it. It's sort of a U shape. Part number 20520AC010 Here's a pic: Adendum to the text on the image: After the insert tab A into Slot B reference, of course, there are 3 bolts to deal with. One on the non-tabbed part of the bushing, 2 on the part that goes flush to the body. I hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnVT Posted January 20, 2005 Share Posted January 20, 2005 although left rear strut appears ok, that is it bounces, then stops, it SOUNDS like it has a leak, and when it's below freezing, apparently this strut freezes - and this week it's staying below zero in Vermont! So the back seat passengers are very uncomfortable, and roads have lots of potholes from plows, and frost heaves. I want to do this myself, is the only special tool I need a spring compressor? If I do go to a mechanic, how much should I expect to pay to do the rears? or all four? I called Sears, since I don't have an indoor place to work, and they quoted $730 for all four, including alignment. This seems really high... This is a 97 OBW with almost 120K miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SevenSisters Posted January 21, 2005 Share Posted January 21, 2005 AutoZone lends the spring compressor with a deposit. That's what I did. Can be a little dangerous though. Someone suggested removing the assembly and having the local garage compress the spring and install your struts. Mark all the adjustments and you probably won't need an alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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