Ok, I have a '90 240 and I've never replaced struts in my life. I feel pretty confident with my mechanical ability and would like to replace mine in the near future. The best guide I've found on the web is this: http://members.shaw.ca/heeeeee/strut/1.htm

This is for an 850, so I'm wondering if there is a difference and if anybody can give me some additional pointers here that apply to my 240. All help is appreciated.

 

850 is FWD and a bit more modern, so I would guess that doing the fronts of a 240 would be relatively simple seeing how its drivetrain is 30-some odd years old and it's RWD. Get a good spring compressor, and if you have all the right tools -and enough patience- it should go smoothly.

 

For a 240. Biggest pain in the butt is gettign the top nut loose. Make sure thats the first thing you do before you even jack the car up. But once you do get it loose take it almost all the way off except for a few threads holding it on. jack the car up take the wheel off. Take off the sway bar connection to the lower A-arm. You have the choice at this point to either unscrew the brake lines, and place them off to the sides. Or cut the tabs that connect them to the strut tube. Then start taking the bolts out the bottom of the A-arm holding the strut tube. At this point, you can have the spring compressors on because if you don't it will violently come out. pull them out of the car put them on a bench, take the spring and boot off. Then loosen the gland nut holding the strut tubes inreplace strut, put back on car in reverse. I recomend cutting two full coils off the bottom half of the spring at this point.

For the rear. put the car up on jack stands. put a jack under the pumpkin. Take off the struts, put the new ones on. While you're there you can lower the jack take 1.5 coils off the top of the spring of course before you put the struts back on.

AS far as 850 you have that step by step thing.

 

Why do you instruct to cut the spring?

 

since he is in there....might as well do the free lowering/handeling mod.....only if the owner wants to....