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Q. about compressing rear struts for lift blocks


Ryanb
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Alright, so I'm trying to take some EA82 rear struts and put them on my EA81.

When I bought my hatch it came with the reat lift blocks to do the convrsion.

Here's where I'm lost. I got one of the struts apart and took the original mounting bracket off, but while trying to put the new lift block on I realized that I can't compress the strutt by myself to tighten down the two nutts on top.

 

So...How do I go about this? Is there a trick? Can I buy a cheap-ish tool that holds the springs together? What are my options?

 

Thanks-

Ryan

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i'm not quite sure what you want to do... but I'm assuming your trying to compress the spring enough to get the top back on it enough to thread the bolt on...

 

harbor freight sells spring compressors for like 7$... I wouldnt use them more than once or twice though, they arent the best quality. i used them on my jeep to compress the front springs to get blocks in there, it worked OKAY, destroyed one set of the compressors though(stripped the threads after a certain point), but for the rear of subaru it shouldnt be a problem at all.

 

or maybe there is a way to use the weight of the car on the strut to compress it? I'm not sure how the ea82 struts are set up, but if you can get to it with it mounted on the car, just let it on the ground and then maybe you can do that?

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Thanks. I think I'll buy the tool. Sounds like exactly what I'm looking for.

 

i'm not quite sure what you want to do... but I'm assuming your trying to compress the spring enough to get the top back on it enough to thread the bolt on...

 

harbor freight sells spring compressors for like 7$... I wouldnt use them more than once or twice though, they arent the best quality. i used them on my jeep to compress the front springs to get blocks in there, it worked OKAY, destroyed one set of the compressors though(stripped the threads after a certain point), but for the rear of subaru it shouldnt be a problem at all.

 

or maybe there is a way to use the weight of the car on the strut to compress it? I'm not sure how the ea82 struts are set up, but if you can get to it with it mounted on the car, just let it on the ground and then maybe you can do that?

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not sure if they're still 7$ cause my friend bought them awhile ago but they should be pretty cheap. just be careful with them, dont compress them any more than you need too, they scared the ************ outta me when I used them for my jeep, friend crushed his hand when we were wrestling with the spring to get it back on its perch, nothing broken though, just swollen. but since subarus are much lighter and its for the rear it shouldnt be that bad.

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Oh yea. The Harbor Freight cheapy did the trick. Thanks guys.

Now i have an even more ugly and grusome problem. I broke a bolt off into the body on the rear strut mount. No good. Tried to tap it and backthread the bolt....no good. I also tried to drill out the whole bolt and run a heli coil...again, no good. The body of the car proved harder then the titanium drill bit for the heil coil, 'cause all it did was dull the starter threads out . Couldn't ever even get the coil in. Now I think I have to weld a stud in there so I can put a nut on from the outside. Ssssskkkkkeeeeeeetchy.

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Oh yea. The Harbor Freight cheapy did the trick. Thanks guys.

Now i have an even more ugly and grusome problem. I broke a bolt off into the body on the rear strut mount. No good. Tried to tap it and backthread the bolt....no good. I also tried to drill out the whole bolt and run a heli coil...again, no good. The body of the car proved harder then the titanium drill bit for the heil coil, 'cause all it did was dull the starter threads out . Couldn't ever even get the coil in. Now I think I have to weld a stud in there so I can put a nut on from the outside. Ssssskkkkkeeeeeeetchy.

 

if you need help/ideas with it I dont live too far from you. I cant picture what you are talking about... but I experianced something similiar in my jeep cherokee with the threads for the transmission/tcase crossmember inside the unibody stripped out, there was a rubber plug in the floorboard just big enough for me to stick a socket through, I ended up drilling the old threads out and putting another washer and bolt through the unibody. maybe something like that would work? anyways let me know if you figured it out or not, if not I might be able to help I got a stick welder if you need it but I dont think welding a stud to the unibody is the best idea(kinda hard to do also...). if you can fit another nut or bolt up in there that is a much better way to go.

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Thanks alot scrap, but yea I figured it out. I had a buddy weld something similar to an exhaust stud, into the whole where the old strut bolt went. So now the hardware is just reverse of the originall. Now it's a male istead of a female, and you tighten a nut onto the stud . Seems to be working well, but it was tricky getting the angle right so it might want to walk back off a little. I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

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You just need to oil the drill bit a little when you are drilling that kind of stuff - without a little cutting oil the bit will dull within minutes. Also you need to start with a smaller bit and work your way up. Although the whole mount is probably a mess by now. Angle grinder the mount out and put in a new one with grade 8 nuts welded on the back for your bolts. Bring it over here and we can set it up right man.

 

GD

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