Chevrolet Buick Pontiac Rear Driver Side Strut & Spring Assembly TRQ SCA57532

Brought to you by 1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet.

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.

In this video, we show you how to replace the rear struts on this 2003 Chevy Monte Carlo with unloaded struts from 1AAuto.com. We show you on the passenger's side, but the driver's side is the same procedure. The items that you'll need for this is new rear struts unloaded from 1AAuto.com, 13mm, 18mm, 19mm, and 21 mm sockets, a ratchet with socket extensions, 14mm and 15mm wrenches, 6mm Allen bit, T45 torque's bit, hammer, flat blade screwdriver, torque wrench, jack, and jack stands, spring compressors and a strut socket.

Start off in the trunk. Pull back this insulation, and you'll want to remove these three 15mm nuts. You can remove this cap so that one is easier to get to. You will have to use a wrench for the back one, but you can use a 15mm socket and ratchet for the other two. Loosen up the lug nuts and pull your hubcap off. Then remove the lug nuts. You'll want to loosen these while the vehicle is on the ground, raise the vehicle, and remove them the rest of the way. Do this if you don't have air powered tools. Now, just pull the wheel off.

Using a 14mm wrench on the back and an 18mm socket and ratchet, just remove this nut. Push the sway bar out and put it to the side. Now, remove these two 21mm nuts. Next, remove these two 13mm bolts that hold your caliper into place. Now, pry your caliper off and set it aside. Hammer the bottom of the strut to loosen the bolts and then hammer the bolts out. Now, pull your rotor off, lift the strut up, and push it back off the knuckle. Once you get it off the knuckle you can pull it down and pull it out.

Put the spring compressors on either side of the spring, and then tighten each one back and forth a little bit at a time. Now, using a strut socket and a T45 torques bit, just remove the nut at the top of the strut. A 7/8ths oxygen sensor socket can work for this as well. Now, pull the plate free and pull your spring off along with this gasket that goes down along the bottom.

For the boot you will have to kind of work it off of the bottom here. Once you get it free, you can just pull it up and off. Up top is the old unloaded strut; below it is the new unloaded strut from 1A Auto. You can see their identical, and they'll fit exactly the same.

Take this gasket and put it down into place. Then put your boot in place. Now, take your spring, and you want to put it down into that notch right there. Just lower it down into place. Then push your plate down onto the strut with the rounded end facing the brackets on the bottom. Put this down into place. Push down on the strut and replace the nut. Then tighten it up using your strut socket. On our new strut it's a 6mm Allen instead of the T45 Torques bit.

Now, loosen each side a little at a time and just repeat this until your spring compressors pull free. Feed the strut into place and push down on the knuckle. Feed the strut behind it. Just push it onto the knuckle and feed your bolts through. Put the two bolts in place and place the nuts on the other side just have them on there hand-tight. Now put a jack underneath the knuckle and line up the studs. You want to make sure you have at least one of them lined up. Once you can see one, just replace the nut. Now pry out right here so that the other studs will line up. Then, using the jack, just push the studs up and through. Then replace the nuts.

Now hammer these two bolts in as much as you can, and then just tighten up the nuts and pull the bolts the rest of the way through. Now torque these to 120 foot-pounds. Push the rotor into place. Then put your caliper into place and hammer it on. Then replace the bolts on the back of it and tighten them up. Make sure you push your sway bar link back into place and replace that 18mm nut.

Replace your wheel and then replace the lug nuts. Tighten them preliminarily, lower the vehicle, and tighten them the rest of the way. Then torque each of these to a hundred foot-pounds in a crossing pattern. Then replace your hubcap and tighten up these lug nut caps. Now, go back into the trunk and tighten up those three 15mm bolts. Put the rubber stopper and rubber bumper back on the top of the insulator, and then put the trunk trim back in place.

We hope this video helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the Internet and in person.