Antique & Classic Cars Blog
Winter Car Behavior Among Northern Males
Saturday, March 14th, 2009In northern climes, as winter grinds on into March, males of the species often leave home to provide help with car repair.
Replacing rear struts can be a perfect opportunity for such a gathering. On this Golf, my wife’s, they are secured with one bolt below and one nut, plus locknut, above.
Required tools include garage, heater, spanners, sockets and drives.
Bonus items, such as floor lift, group of friends, beverages, and televised hockey game recommended.
Best practices require one person to position strut while the other fits necessary hardware. One or the other holds work light, or a second wrench. Additional males follow hockey game, reporting on scoring, consuming beverages, telling jokes, and periodically checking on auto repair as needed.
I can report (for the benefit of all spouses concerned) that last night’s emergency gathering at Tim’s Pretty Good Garage for fitment of struts was a complete success. Thanks to all present. We couldn’t have accomplished it without everyone’s participation.
3 Responses to "Winter Car Behavior Among Northern Males"
“Spanners”? How far North did you go???
That looks familiar. I managed to get the rear struts done on my Jetta before the winter arrived. I used a much easier process though. I supported the car on jack stands. Let the axle drop down after removing the top nuts. I then put the new struts in one at a time. After getting them in position. I put the bottom bolt in and used the floor jack to raise the axle and hold the strut in place while I put the top nuts on from inside the car. In the Jetta it is easier to access the bolts from the back seat with the rear seat folded forward and the rear deck panel removed. I purchased the struts/heavy duty springs(always hauling something) and rubber parts from GermanAutoParts.com for around $200. Most of their parts are German made and top quality.
We used a floor jack to hold the strut up too, for the top bolt. Real quick operation–in fact we thought we’d be jinxed by it for the rear pads on Tim’s BMW, but they went in quick too.
We earned it. Doing the rear drums on my Dakota on our last outing took forever. Everything that could be stuck or rusty or sharp, was.
I bought the quick struts at O’Really, $118 a side. They’re Monroe, American made, looked good quality and ride well.
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MotorMouth Kris Palmer, freelance auto writer and editor, blogs about vintage cars, the collectible auto scene and just about anything else that goes vroom.
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