WTB: Struts all around for 2wd wagon

[marlinh]

I am just putting up some feelers. I know of someone with a 2WD wagon who needs good new or used struts to pass a safety here in Canada (Saskatchewan, actually). Does anyone have suggestions I could pass on? Affordable, hopefully. Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

[Petros]

the 2wd wagon struts are almost identical to the 4wd, except they are 25 mm (about an inch) shorter. Most of the inserts are interchangeable, and to pass inspection you could swap out the whole strut assembly from either a 4wd or 2wd (as long as you did them as a pair) without too much work. New inserts are about $60 each in the states, but as you know are a pretty major job to replace, requiring a spring compressor.

If you want to go really cheap, drill a hole in the side of the strut and feed in light hydraulic oil, plug the hole with a rubber gromment, clean off the leaked oil. Pass the inspection (I imagine it is just a bounce test), but this will not last long since this too will eventually all leak out.

[marlinh]

Thanks Petros, I was just wondering if any of our Canadian members hoard parts or know of a cheap source for this person.

[rer233]

Rock Auto has a closeout clearance on KYB 2wd rear strut assemblys for $28 each. Wish they had this deal a month ago when i bought their last Gabriel strut for $23.50 (had to pay $40 for the second one off amazon- would have preferred KYB.) Don't know what shipping to Canada is like 'tho...

[irowiki]

Is just the insert needed for replacing the rear struts?

[rer233]

Rear struts are non-serviceable- you have to buy the assembly.

[irowiki]

So it's $28 each for the rears and that's all I need? My FWD needs new ones!

Would I need the strut mount kit too?

[rer233]

Didn't need the mount kit for mine- but you will need acess to a spring compressor. My dust boots were shredded so i used vw dust boots and rebound rubbers i had laying around.

[irowiki]

So I reuse the old springs, correct? Friend seemed to think if the rear is sagging it might be the spring, not the strut, and I don't know enough about how they work.

[Petros]

springs support the car, not the strut. the "strut" is actually just a dampener, often mislabled "shocks", the spring actualloy takes the shock and supports the weight of the car, the dampener keeps it from rebounding too much.

if your rear end is sagging, than likely you need new springs. If the car bottoms eaisily, and you get wheel hop or hit bumps harshly, but your ride height is okay, than you need new "shocks" (dampeners). I notice Rockauto has new springs on sale right now for only about $25 each.

[irowiki]

Never driven the car before, and ordered the struts thinking the sagging was due to them.

All I see on rockauto for tercels are front springs, or "rear springs excluding station wagon" but I'm looking at 1986.

[rer233]

Paul- The sagging may very well be due to bad struts. When i bought my '87 fwd on christmas eve, the PO said "it needs rear struts." Boy did it ever! On the ride back to the shop (approx 5 miles) the rear was bangin' and thumpin' something fierce! Also, the right rear wheel had so much positive camber that the tire was showing steel cord.

When i got it on the lift, the right rear wheel had WAY too much suspension travel, and if you grabbed the top and bottom of tire and wobbled it there was a whole bunch of movement. The thing had been run for so long with no oil in it that the round hole in the strut tube where the strut rod goes thru had worn oblong! On disasembly, i also found the piston had become detached from the strut rod (made for a challenging removal of the strut ass'y since nothing was limiting the spring travel.)

I installed the new strut, dust boot, and rebound rubber and now all is well! Haven't done the left side yet as the part arrived yesterday- will keep you posted.

Good Luck-hope this helps.

[irowiki]

It does help! So you reused the spring?

[rer233]

Sure did!

[irowiki]

I'll give that a try first then.