Monroe 182263 + 64 Mazda 3 Strut for V50 and P1 models? Topic is solved

[GreenMagicMan]

From memory (but I will double check this and make a more official write up):

Freeze new bearing for at least 2-3 hours or overnight ahead of time (to shrink it a little).

-jack car up on applicable side.
-Remove wheel.
-Remove brake caliper and rotor
-Remove the lower ball joint from the spindle. 22mm socket or what works better for me is an open ended wrench. I just happen to have a sawed off 22mm wrench that I can easily slide my 2 foot cheater bar on There is very limited space in there to get a full socket and ratchet in there (poor design Ford/Volvo!) ** SEE BELOW! if you get to a point where the nut and lower ball joint just spin and spin and you cannot separate the nut from the LBJ threaded post.
-Remove tie rod bolted to the spindle
-Remove axle bolt
-Push axle back towards car and pull spindle away to separate the axle from spindle.

Drop spindle out of the car / strut:
-I used the Allen key trick in the back slot of the strut at the bottom. Turn the Allen key to force open the tight opening. Tap / hammer out the spindle from the strut. Mine dropped right out and I have some significant surface rust down there (New England car).

Bring the whole spindle into your house / shop.

I loaned free with large deposit the bearing press tool “hub removal tool” # 67213 from O’reilly auto (others have it).

I pressed the bearing out of the spindle with this tool. Wasn’t that difficult, was expecting a battle.
Clean up the inside of the spindle with some very fine grit sandpaper and / or steel wool. You don’t want pitting or corrosion to make friction trying to slide new bearing in. Clean it well.

You can bake your spindle in the oven for about 20-30 min at maybe 275 degrees? I have to look up what I did, but I did bake it to heat it up (and expand it a little bit). Add a few drops of oil or a lube to inside of the spindle to ease forcing in the new bearing.

I read a guy boasted his frozen bearing just dropped right in. Mine was not even close to that.


Setup your chilled bearing over the spindle and try to quickly (for thermal differences benefit) set up and press the new bearing in.
This specific kit will NOT press the new bearing / hub setup in by the outer race as the pre installed new hub is in the way. The very expensive foreign tools have a snap together and bolt.
(On my Honda Accord (2011) I buy the bearing separate and press the bearing in first to the spindle, then press the (original) hub back into the new bearing. You can use this 67213 press tool to push the outer race and protect against separating your new bearing or damage this way.)
I have driven my V50 quiet blissful miles with the bearing pressed in this way at least 10,000 miles so far and all is well. The bearing went in nice and tight and had no slop. I’ve done post mortems on 3 bearings and have some idea when they get loose / damaged.

** My trick I developed: while wheel is off and everything is unloaded I would jack up the suspension to put pressure on a joint like the lower ball joint. So, in that case jack up and put pressure on the lower control arm below the LBJ. In this way the tightening nut won't spin infinitely but the friction and force will keep the LBJ threaded stud fixed and still while you wrench off that nut of the lower ball joint. I also did that for other items as needed as well.

[GreenMagicMan]

Actually in hindsight. I did this:
Used a 3/8” to 1/4” socket converter.
Twist the square end into the knuckle slot. Worked great!

[GreenMagicMan]

[GreenMagicMan]

Just did this same trick yesterday, worked great. Finally had a day off to try to swap in this Mazda strut.
So my strut spring was destroyed.
I removed the entire unit. When I saw the new unit had instructions I skimmed them, and saw I should have (?) marked the orientation of the upper mount thingie of some kind to orient the new one in. I did NOT do that.

HOW DOES one - does one need to - ORIENT and new strut and / or strut bearing / strut cup whatever it's called into the car? I know the strut itself only goes in one way with the steering knuckle pinch bolt, I'm talking about all the gack above the strut and spring. All that turn-y stuff. At a glance it appears that some of that upper stuff is slanted in one direction. I don't have the stock setup to compare as it's largely now a pile of parts (I had to angle grind off an ear so I could get enough vice grip bite to remove a bolt that broke the insert out on the strut bearing.)

I also broke two bolts and two inserts which made the removal and reuse of some parts a lot more time consuming.
I thought the new strut came with everything, but I have to reuse the very first metal piece that sandwiches at the highest spot on the strut and goes directly against the car's unibody.

The Mazda strut looks like it's going to be a winner. If ride height is a tad off or if it handles stiffer on one side I don't really care at the moment I just need to get this d*mn car on the road again. It's been down probably 40% of the total time I've owned it for 5 significant repairs. Mostly front end suspension stuff.

[GreenMagicMan]

Ok. Install was successful.
I can confirm this (Mazda 3) specific shock fits the V50 perfectly.
I moved over the top metal 3/4” spacer bracket that the AWD only model uses.
As a note: you need to turn the normal correct bearing position on the top of the replacement shock 180 degrees around because the spacer metal bolts in to where the unibody of car normally would… and then has three new “reverse” position bolt in spots to bolt into the car body.
I can try to post pics to show more what I mean. Both the shock and bearing top have alignment markers. And so does the AWD spacer metal bracket - there is a small pointing dash of metal that point the correct positioning to the inside of the car / engine side (as opposed to outside of car direction)

[GreenMagicMan]

Here's some pics of that spacer I'd be wanting to post, and also how the spacer mounts up and is oriented.
It turns the regular strut for FWD vehicles 180 degrees backwards from normal. If you look at it all - it all eventually makes sense how it has to go back in. (yes, notice how 'rust free' my AWD spacer is. again, it's listed as about 3/4" thick to raise the front end that much for the AWD V50 Volvos compared to FWD).
This Monroe kit came with huge washers. I angle ground cut them down to fit in the spacer. No big deal, but had to cut it 3x to get it right. Could use other washers, or hacksaw as they are not thick.
These Mazda 3 Monroe shocks fits very well here. A great option part to look for.

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0892.jpeg (136.51 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0893.jpeg (195.41 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0894.jpeg (85.08 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0895.jpeg (182.48 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0911.jpeg (178.82 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0914.jpeg (208.54 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0914.jpeg (208.54 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0912.jpeg (237.47 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0908.jpeg (193.7 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Volvo V50 strut shock spring for Mazda 3 and spacer AWD IMG_0909.jpeg (180.79 KiB) Viewed 928 times