How the flying f%$k do I remove the lower circled nut here? It just keeps turning on the far side and laughing at me

Use a c-clamp to press the endlink towards the kuckle. Sometimes that'll give it enough bite to get the nut loose.

I've always had to scrap those endlinks though.

I'll try that.

Why is it always some stupid little thing like this that slows you down on the simple jobs.

Turns out the bolt actually has an alan key hole in it. Unfortunately I think mine is stripped.

Is there any way to get the strut and spring out withought disoconnecting this? Doesn't look like it to me but some of you guys are teh smart.

On some there is a provision to fit a 14mm wrench on the joint side, most of the time, I end up having to use vise grips. If that doesnt work or are replacing them, just cut it off.

Thats what I did, just cut em off with a sawzall, a grinder would have been easier but use what you've got. I got so pissed off with it, spent 2 hours trying to get them off using vice grips etc. So much easier to cut it off, worth the 25$ or whatever it is to replace it IMO.

Confucius say: End link have two nut.

Confucius must not have a 98.

Back end of the Sway Bar Link has provision for a thin 14mm Wrench.

Ghislain.

I think that changed in 98. It went to the alan key in the stud method. Unfortunately they stripped.

How is the end link attached to the sway bar then? ...not that you really need to remove either of the two end link nuts to get the strut off the car.

EDIT: OK, I just saw that you already tried the other end link nut. Are both front wheels off the ground? Can you not get a crescent wrench on the fork's nut/bolt head?

It's attached to the sway bar with the exact same type if joint I think. Let me make sure though. Perhaps they left the other end the old 2 wrench type.

It's kind of weird. I got them both loose. I can get the nuts to back of about 1/8th of an inch and then they both seem to tighten and then won't budge. That's where I stripped the allan key hole and later that's where the vice grips lost thier grip. Identical situation on both sides.

How do you get the strut out without removing the eldlink? I can't seem to get the clearance without lowering that peice down more (which I can't with the endlink in place).

All 4 wheels are off the ground.

Well I just remembered another good source for info rather then just the VFAQ pages and guess what, he stumbled across this too. 2G front suspension @ plymouthlaser.com .

Did you manage to get the 17 mm fork-to-strut bolt and nut off, or is the end link in the way?

Oddly I broke the endlink on my 98 the other day when I blew up a CV. It's sitting out on my bench downstairs (I made a replacement with rose joints).

I can absolutely guarantee there is no 14mm flat on these, it's totally round on the backside. I might actually cut flats on it if you replace it for future removal.

If you've got a MIG, you could just tag the corner of it against the swaybar, try a set of vicegrips, or cut it off. If you'd like a look at this one, I'm happy to meet up tomorrow, it's loose and I'm just going to bin it anyhow.

Paul

Ouu!!!

I just put on my reading glasses (binoculars) and had a better look at the pic.

Use a Dremel or similar device and cut a "slit" into the Stud (defenately not refering to ya) so you can hold tha "stud" with a Common (fak I mean flat) Screw Driver.

Otherwise; cut the stupid thing and replace it with a new one.

Giz!!!

Thanks for the offer Paul, but I'll just try the slotted stud and if that fails I'll just dremel it off and get a couple of new ones. For reference the part number for the one that has the nut on the back is MB892981. I hate it when a 2 hour job becomes a 3 day job as you end up needing parts .

Greg the fork to strut nut is off. But with the endlink still attached to the fork it won't let the fork go low enough to be able to pull the strut out the top of it.

Mike if you unbolt the swaybar from the subframe you can get enough movement to get the shocks out. I had the same problem as you when I went to remove mine. Eventually I ended up cutting the end links and replacing them during The Great Suspension Component Replacement episode of 2005. They were $70 each at Mitsubishi! I went to a Chrysler dealer and they had them for $30 each oddly enough.

The new end links have a nut shaped area on the backside that you can put a wrench on instead of that stupid allan key hole too.

"Mike if you unbolt the swaybar from the subframe you can get enough movement to get the shocks out."

Thanks man I'll try that.

if the nut moves a bit, try cleaning it witha wire brush and then soak it in oil to minimise friction.

if it moves around, you should be able to get it with the c clamp method.

OR better yet could be loading the other wheek, so the strut bar would push itself up and that will create friction in the balljoint and between the bolt and that suspension piece.

Too late. I'm already about a dozen cut off wheels into removing the nuts that way. One off... one pissing me off.

it should take less than one angle grinder disk .

Yikes! Is this a dremel or die grinder? I can generally cut through a couple dozen bolts with an 1$ die grinder cut off wheel.

Your certainly welcome to borrow it

Paul

Itty bitty dremel wheels. All I had handy. They are both off now. Now I get to deal with a strut that has f&%cked up threads at the top if the shaft .

Best would of been to use the Wheels that are Fiber reinforced.

Hey, at least your are getting closer to success.

Ghislain.

How bad are the threads? Might be able to chase them with a die.

Paul

I got the nut off and back on again. It was fine until the nut got high enough that the 8mm wrench couldn't hold the slot at the top anymore. Then I just got out the impact wrench an got a few fingers through the springs to wrap around the shaft to add a little more resistance. A bunch of short bursts later it was off.

A quick tip, don't use the damn vice grips like the VFAQs suggest to crip the top of the shaft use the proper wrench. If the vice grip slips, like it did on mine, it's going to wreck the threads in the worst place.

Yes chasing the threads with a die would have been the way to do it but my die set didn't have the right one . If I go to buy one does anyone know which to get? The nut is a 14mm. I really don't know the lingo of thread pitch etc.

I'll pick up some fibre reinforced wheels for the other 2 nuts to get the endlinks off the swaybar side. Funny I got through the first nut in 2 dics. The second nut was breaking discs non-stop. I must not have had a good angle at the cut.

I picked up a random mitsu 14mm bolt from my bin, and it's an M10x1.25. But that's not neccessarily universal, the bolt head size doesn't always force a particular thread size or pitch.

Your welcome to borrow my die's or thread pitch guage. Or just drag over the strut and we'll see how it cleans up

Paul

14mm head will most likely be an M10 bolt, but the thread pitch could be either 1.25 or 1.5.
You can check the thread pitch if you have an old turbo bolt or exhaust manifold nut (or stud).
Thoes are all 1.25. If they don't line up then it's probably a 1.5 that you need.

If your crappy tire out there hasn't yanked their nuts&bolts bin (like ours, the bastards ), then you could just see what matches.

Get a 4 1/2" Angle Grinder from Canadian Tire, or a generic shop like Princess Auto. I paid around $10 for mine on sale. Using that with cutting discs will make a LOT easier work than going with the trusty Dremel.

Mike,

I probably have the die you need let me know if you want to come by and use it.

I am at Mutsu now. The part number I listed with the 14mm wrench provision has been discontinued. You can now only get the crappy allan key type now. Even worse the new one is 75 bucks while the old one was 35.

I was able to snag one of the old type they still had kicking around.

Try Chrysler! They had the old style Mitsu ones in stock when I went there for the old price...

So a simple spring swap has netted the following purchases now:

-2x sway bar endlinks
-4x sway bar endlink nuts
-$60 Metric tap and die set
-fork
-straight lower control arm
-curved lower control arm
-rear lower control arm

I did find my die grinder and cut off wheel setup and cut the remaining 2 nuts off with 1 wheel (and only about a 1/4 of it).

I also found out that the thread pitch for the top of the AGX is M10 x 1.25. This happens to be the same as for the endlink studs.

The endlink nuts are self locking. So to try and avoid this issue in the future I ran an M10 x 1.25mm tap through them to make them no longer self locking. Instead I put lock washers on each of them. So all you have to do is get them loose and the shouldn't seize up again on the way off like they did for me.

Now I need to wait for the rear arm to come in, buy 4 new tires and get her in for an alignment before the Peckerhead shootout.

I hate these cars sometimes.

Missread that, carry on

Add to the list:

-$20 inner drivers side CV boot
-$45 CV boot clamp pliers


Damn. The boot I bought does not have the 3 indents it's suppose to. I'll link an image from the VFAQ and have a mod delete it later.



This is the drivers side front inner CV boot right? I don't have my terms wrong.

Since I have a 6 bolt swap is it possible I have axles from a 1G or something?

I had the parts guy tripple check the number for me. I can't beleive he still gave me the wrong part .

[rant]So much damn time wasted on this job, this is getting stupid. I haven't been this angry in a long time. I have no time to spare on the car as it is. I have other fracking things I need to be doing.[/rant]

Sorry, literally that's not the boot that's the cup. But the boot that goes on that cup is the drivers side front inner CV boot.

The cup won't come out with any force I can apply to it with the carrier bearing and the rest of the shaft still installed (and I'll be damned if I have to drain the tranny and pop the whole damn thing out there).

Guess I'll go back to Mitsu again and have them source the right damn boot for me. Then I'll need the pliers for seperating the clip so I can get the boot on.

With the cost of the boot and the 2 sets of pliers I'd bet money I could have replaced the whole shaft with a rebuilt for cheaper (that is if I could get the cup off the carrier bearing).

when I was trying to get it off, I had the whole shaft out and hit it with a hammer from the other side.

I refuse to take the shaft out at the tranny. That's just the line I've drawn in this whole debacle which will allow me to keep some sanity.

So the catalogue at the Jobbers is calling out the wrong part number. So I had to go back to Mitsubishi to order a damn boot. Bill there even confirmed that when he orders boots for Talons from jobbers they almost always give him an outter when he orders and inner.

So instead of a $20 boot I am buying a $70 boot. But of course it won't be in until Tuesday next week.

What a joke this is turning into. 3 weeks to swap some springs.

Thanks for letting me vent though.

When breaking the shaft at the carrier bearing it needs a very strong smack to release the c-clip. I've got a prybar that has enough bend to grab the corner of the inner joint, and with a good smack from a heavy hammer, it generally lets go.

They can get pretty stuck at times though

Paul

My pry bar doesn't get a good enough grip and it just slips. No worries though the part is on order.

I also just figured out that the tires I have on the car (235/40/17) are off the stock diamter by 4% . Guess I won't be going with that size again.

It looks like 235/45/17 is a near perfect match for the stock 215/50/17s though (0.8% off).

4% isn't a whole lot specially if it is on 4 wheels, or is it?


When you have lower tire pressure or more load, I am pretty sure the radius changes around that much.