Front Suspension - putting together parts list

[elchopperfreak]

Good info..

[Matty Moo]

Skip the Cap, Cross nut and stop washers. They don't wear out.

The dust boot and bump stop might be suspect, possibly. Like everybody else said, the emphasis is on the spring seats, the struts of your choice and possibly your strut mounts.

[jblackburn]

Do the strut mounts themselves actually go bad that often? I'll be putting together an order soon too, so just curious if I should throw those in or not.

[cn90]

Do the strut mounts themselves actually go bad that often? I'll be putting together an order soon too, so just curious if I should throw those in or not.

Strut Mount is basically a large bearing.
The problem: in contrast to wheel bearing which rotates 100K of miles, the Strut Bearing does not rotate mjuch, just back and forth when you turn R or L and therefore the Strut Bearing experiences sideway force (AXIAL load), therefore after 100K miles, mine had some wear out (You can feel the play in the bearing), not bad.
However, considering there is too much labor involved, I installed a new Strut Mount.

This whole suspension job boils down to:
- Your budget
- Time/Labor: if you don't mind going back and forth in that area, then replace only the parts that wear out and fix other parts later.
- Don't underestimate alignment cost!

[jblackburn]

Gotcha, thanks. Seeing as there's almost 200K on mine, I'll probably order those too.

Budgeting for it is my main concern, but I'm also a firm believer in the "do it once, and do it right" method of fixing things. Tie rods and control arms all still appear to be in good shape, so I will save those for when it actually needs them.

[vjaneczko]

Tie rods and control arms all still appear to be in good shape, so I will save those for when it actually needs them.

I thought my inner tie rods were good when I replaced the outers, but I had never done this work before so I had no clue. When I took it for an alignment, they said the inners were shot and had to be replaced. Comparing the new ones to the old, it was night and day. If they have 200K on them like the rest of the gear, it'd be best to replace them.

The old inners would droop under their own weight, which I guess is a good test if they need to be replaced.

For the control arms, well I have no idea how to test those more than grabbing the wheel and shaking the snot out of it to see if there's any wiggle.

Besides, if you're swapping most of the suspension parts, do them all now and save $$ from having to do a 2nd alignment.

[jblackburn]

200 would be an awesome lifespan for those things, but the control arms and inner/outer tie rods were all replaced just before I owned it at 127,000. I just had the wheels off a few weeks ago trying to fix the transmission, so I checked out everything real well trying to figure out what I'd need to order soon.

And yep - that's the basic test for them; the control arms and bushings all look to be good and they're too expensive to just throw good money at if they're not bad yet. I bent one of those back around 140 and replaced it. Sway bar links on mine are definitely dying again. The right side's clunking - even with me just tugging on it - and it's driving me crazy.

I've also got to budget for the timing belt/water pump replacement, a new headliner, AND 2 new tires - all this summer at some point. And lots of trip money.

[ojdorson]

Skip the Cap, Cross nut and stop washers. They don't wear out.

The dust boot and bump stop might be suspect, possibly. Like everybody else said, the emphasis is on the spring seats, the struts of your choice and possibly your strut mounts.

The Cap - you mean the rubber washer at the top of the assembly, right? I'd assumed that since it's rubber it'd need replacing.

I just had an alignment done (I have a three year "bring it in whenever" package) and they didn't find anything wrong with the control arms or tie rod ends.

[ojdorson]

Okay, so it sounds like this list would break down this way... is that right?

Highly recommended:
3. Strut Bearing/Mount (3546189)
5. Strut mount Bushing - Spring Seat (864713 for 850, 30683637 for XC90)
7. Bump Stop - Helper Spring (9140067)
8. Coil Spring (3546642)
9. Strut Dust Boot (9140068)
10. Front Strut Assembly
14. Flange Bolt (982845)
23. Lock Nut - Strut Mount (948645)
43. Lock Nut - for Flange Bolt (971099)

Very Optional:
1. Flange Lock Nut (985660)
2. Washer - rubber spacer (30647969)
4. Strut Mount Bushing Retainer - cross nut (31262068)
6. Stop Washer (31201386)


the only thing is that the "very optional" things are also pretty cheap and then they'd be *new*...

[Matty Moo]

Granted, they would be new, but I'd liken it to changing out the bolts that hold components to your engine...nothing happens to them.

I've changed out struts/spring seats on about 6 different pairs of struts, I've never seen anything happen to the cross nut, washer, etc. They're just hardware.

Now the strut mounts, I'd replace those since I had them off. When I bought my platinum with 124k on it, they were shot. It was a Chicago car for the first part of it's life and saw tons of salt and city driving. My bumpers can tell you how much time it spent parked on the street.