Having a mare with spring installation, please help :(

[MercuryFree]

Hey all, have gotten strut assembly out of the car, removed spring, put new spring in, and reassembled, but now I can't get the damned thing back in the car. I can bolt up the three top nuts, and with some finangling can get the top bolt of the lower two hub bolts in, but I can't for the life of me get the bottom one in (Can't make it perfectly line up). What am I doing wrong, and can anyone offer any suggestions as to how to remedy my failure?

Car is a '97 wrx wagon, removed lowering springs and new springs are sti v6 ones. Struts are just normal wrx ones that were already on there.

Cheers in advance

[gazzy2000]

just get another jack and jack the bottom wheel/hub assembly by hand until it moves into place, bit of CRC or lube on the bolts helps too

[MercuryFree]

Amusingly just tried that and got it in, 2x floor jacks + hammer = success. Thanks

[gazzy2000]

nice one, easy when you knwo how aye!

[Guest boostin]

Did you get the cap on top of the spring around the right way?? They lock up on the shock tower if you get it wrong.

[MercuryFree]

Assuming I'm understanding you right, yeah I did, although I did have that problem at first because it was slightly out of alignment, but was easy enough to work out what was wrong there

[MercuryFree]

Ok so now doing the fronts and despite the fact everything lines up perfectly, I cannot get the strut all the way into the knuckle at the bottom. Goes about 60% of the way in then no matter how much force I use it won't budge further

What stupid mistake have I made this time?

[gazzy2000]

 MercuryFree said:

Ok so now doing the fronts and despite the fact everything lines up perfectly, I cannot get the strut all the way into the knuckle at the bottom. Goes about 60% of the way in then no matter how much force I use it won't budge further

What stupid mistake have I made this time?

CRC and wiggling!

[Guest boostin]

Accidently pulled the CV stub out of the gearbox??

[MercuryFree]

If I was supposed to pull the cv stub as part of the process, then damn because no guide (and i've read over ten now trying to work out issues haha) has mentioned that, including 2 for imprezas / wrx's.

Turns out the solution was gratuitous hammering to get the strut into the knuckle far enough, and then jamming a giant screwdriver into the bottom bolt hole and using it as a prybar to get the rest to line up.

Cars are fun

Wiggling did not help but I may now be high on CRC ;D

[nt_a_foz]

Will that make a difference ryan??

Iv never done that in all the times iv swapped suspension in cars..

Including going to adjustys which will be much more shroter strut than lowered springso n struts

[Guest boostin]

Sorry, I'll edit that....