I am in process of replacing the front struts.
The spring and all of the top parts are off.
The strut assembly is still attached at the bottom to the ball joint.

In order to remove the strut cartridge:
Do I need to detach the strut assembly from the ball joint and remove it form the bottom, or does it come out the top of the strut assembly? The nut at the top of the assembly is too rusted to budge. I put on some penetrating oil, however I am not sure that it will do anty good.

Thank you

 

the nut has to come off, and the strut tube assembly comes out the bottom. use a good penetrant like Kroil, use it liberally, and perhaps some heat, and a air impact wrench on that nut.

see Front Suspension

for more tips.

 

Ah another knowledgeable man in lubricants...by far the best I've ever used. KROIL !!!!!!

 

I soaked the threads overnight with penetrating oil, tried heating and more penetrating oil, then purchased the biggest pipe wrench that Lowe's had and tried to undo the bolt that holds the strut in the strut assembly, all I managed was to twist the top ot the bolt...

I took the strut assembly completely out of the car and I will take it to my trusty mechanic to see if he has more tricks up his sleeve. I have a crashed parts car, the bolts are not anywhere as rusted up on it as as on my ol' reliable. If my mechanic can not take the bolt off, then I will pull the strut assembly out of from the parts car and see if I can use it. I did not see the strut assemblies on any web page of the Volvo parts suppliers. I saw FCP having Koni product, however the description does not look right to me.
Thanks again,

 

i think what i've read before is, the FIRST thing you do is loosen that top nut before you take any of the rest of it apart.

re: replacement shocks, I put Bilstein TC touring in my 745T and I'm kind of regretting it, the ride isn't at all compliant over rough roads, rather harsh... And we have lots of bad rough roads around here. I'd hate to see what HD would be like, or any of the stiffer shocks like Konis. I'm wishing I'd stuck with the Boge ProGas or whatever they are called now

 

The saga goes on - update:
My mechanic did get the top nut off of the strut assembly freeing the old strut cartridge, he made my day! At home I put in the new cartidge and found tha the new nut would only go 1/4 inch into the strut assembly and would not tighten. Taking the cartridge out and jut putting in the nut, I could see that the nut even when fully threaded had play, its outside diameter is too small. I could not reuse the old nut as the new cartridge was too wide to fit into it.
I visited my mechanic again, he agreed that this would not hold and sent me off to a local Spring shop where they welded the nut to the strut assembly. They did say that on a lot of old cars the only way to take the strut out is to cut the strut assembly, after which they do weld everything back together.
Meantime my son's 740 wagon's rear brakes are grinding - I ended up replacing the rear rotors, calipers and pads, and bled the lines... there was about 2 hours of my time plus another 3 trying to get the parts! It is getting real hard to find parts for these older cars... Kinda sad, I had my 740 since new and there is absolutely no rust on the body, the rust is starting to be a a challenge on some of the undercariage bolts.

So , finaly I am back to my car putting everything back together... I got a few new bushings, stabilized bar kits, tie rod ends and a new back plate/dust shield for the front brakes, as the old ones have fallen apart due to rust. The new ones, even though are the right PN, per Volvo dealer, do not fit, 2 holes are correct, no hole for untilock sensor and one mounting hole in wrong place.. so I cut holes at correct places - next the dust sheld that goes around the front hub/bearing protrudes too far and has a diameter that is too small...
Since I already drilled out the new holes, I can no longer return the part, I now have to modify the dust shied for the bearing.. bunch of cuts, some bending, done... All [ except for a tie rod] is finaly back together for the left side... just waiting for the tie rod to arrive to complete the driver side and take a ride....
I will take a 2 week break before taking on the right side struts.. Hopefuly it will not take as long...

 

Hi, I did get the second side done. It actualy went real easy. No stubborn rust issues, the nut that holds the cartrige came of quite easily. A couple of lessons learned:
1/ The Bilstain cartridges give a slightly firmer ride then the stock, which is what I wanted, If your like your tires at 35psi and above and the roads in your area are lousy, thise are likely not for you.
2/ The Bilstein cartridges do give a very good road control, I have been driving on them for a while and would choose them again if I had to do it again.
3/ If on your application you get the nut that holds the cartridge only 1/4 inch in, have the bolt spot welded in 4 ot 5 places.