Removing Strut Towers

[JamesVR4]

Salutations all,

Need a little help here. Tried to remove the rear strut towers today and failed miserably. I was putting a silly amount of force on the strut towers, but they would not come off at the bottom. The 17mm bolt came out no problem, no issues removing the nuts at the top of the assembly. But when it came to actually taking the assembly off the car, it was a serious no go. Need to make some serious inroads into swapping in the new coil overs in the very near future. Any pointers? Thanks.

- James

[stealthee]

You have some serious verbage usage issues here. LOL The strut tower is part of the unibody. It sounds like you are trying to remove the struts. It should be 2 nuts at the top, on bolt on the bottom. Once those are out it just takes some wiggling and prying to get it out.

[anyonebutme]

a gear puller works wonders....takes like 10 seconds.

[TT4ME]

Gear puller?


eh, I haven't had a problem with a light tap with a rubber hammer.. but you may have rust issues....

[anyonebutme]

I don't remove the wheel/tire to change rear suspension, so no hammer room. After the OEM stuff is loose once, all I usually need at the track is a flat blade screwdriver to pop the dampers off.

[Tigchamp]

To remove the rear shock on my GTO to fit coilovers I had to take a 4" grinder with a micro disc to the botom eye and then remove the bush with stilsons:eek4:
Jeff:coo3l:35513552

[green-lantern]

Are we talking AWD or FWD? FWD is more of a pain to get the rears out. Lots of wiggling and cursing.

[stealthee]

FWD really isn't that hard. You just have to find the correct angle.

[JamesVR4]

Well it was an epic battle, but in the end... about 1.2 minutes later... the gear puller had both rear strut towers off. The AWS delete kit has been installed, along with new coilovers, upper control arms, stillen brake discs and pads. Thanks guys for all the help. On to the front end...

[i3igpete]

3552

the same thing happened with daveslow's install. we had to use a sawzall and cut a divots into the seized steel bushing, and then hit it with a hammer and chisel.

[DrGonzo]

Seen it happen a lot. Last ones I did involved an 8lb sledge, a torch and a gear puller......

[sublime_whatigo]

I screwed with mine for a while with a gear puller and a sledge, ended up needed 2 seconds with an air hammer and a good tip.

[green-lantern]

I screwed with mine for a while with a gear puller and a sledge, ended up needed 2 seconds with an air hammer and a good tip.

Ahhh, air hammer FTMFW

I could not do without it

[Rakuny]

Air hammer wouldn't take mine off, just dented the shit out of it.. Gear puller got them almost instantly. Unfortunately, half the bushing is still stuck on the trailing arm.

[Tigchamp]

Air hammer wouldn't take mine off, just dented the shit out of it.. Gear puller got them almost instantly. Unfortunately, half the bushing is still stuck on the trailing arm.

Thats where the stilsons come into play.
Jeff