Hello all,

i'm trying to figure out how to remove the front struts, but i'm not sure what i'm doing wrong.
i'm following the front suspension manual







looking at the manual, do i remove the fork before removing the assembly out? it doesn't seem to have any room at all.
looking at the last picture the forks appears to have been removed before the assembly.

or do i try and remove the entire assemble out with the forks still attach.
any help would be great. couldn't really find much acura rl diy on youtube either.

 

The fork needs to be disconnected from the damper to remove. To do this you'll need to push down on the lower arm and move the fork out of the way then u can separate the two and pull damper out. Don't really have to pull the fork out, should be able to just move it out of the way once disconnected from the damper.

 

I tried to push down in the lower arm to disconnect the fork,but there wasn't much room still. I probably had about 1 to 1.5 inches from the damper and fork.

 

Not sure what to tell ya, try a little more muscle pushing it down. It'll be tight, just need to push down enough to get the bottom of the damper to rest on the outside top edge of the fork, then can push it off to the side and pull the assembly out. I just put all my weight pushing down on the rotor and it came out. Not sure if you can use a prybar to get a little more leverage. To put it back in I had to have my wife come out and push down on the rotor a bit so i could get the lower bolt back in. Once that's in can jack up the arm to put weight on it and tighten everything to spec.

 

Thanks atomlinks, i'll give that try again later today with another helper to push down the lower arm.

 

just an update, i was able to remove the struts out, but i did differently now was on step 6, don't remove the top 6 screws. right the wheel counter clockwise instead of clockwise.
then pull the bottom of the struts while pushing down on the lower control arm and it pull out with a little force.

thanks atomlinks for the advice to push down on it.

using a spring compression tool without a vise or a powertool was a pain. it took me probably 2hrs.....but this was a good experience learning how to change out the springs and struts.
the money saved would allow me to invest in a power tool.

i did see another DIY thread, but they recommened to remove the upper and lower arm which i don't think is really needed, unless you are going to replace those as well too.

 

Glad you were able to get those out! I know on mine I replaced it with OEM. I was surprised to find out that the price of the strut alone was like $125. The entire assembly was $160. I opted for the entire assembly and didn't have to deal with compression tool etc. It was well worth the price difference to me. And its all new stuff :-D

 

if only i knew! next time i will remember that.

I check my lower arm ball joints and everything checks out. all the joints are intact and solid.
tried to wiggle the wheels and didn't hear anything.

then i double check on my damper screw and self locking nut and tighten it a little bit more.
didn't have a torque wrench. but once it was tighten up i no longer hear any sounds while driving.