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Strut spring broken, wth.


bradleyheathhays

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'02 Taurus 100k miles here, and as you can see from the first picture the top part of my right strut spring has broken off.  WTH is this common?  Never seen this before.

 

Second picture shows the top components of the strut which should receive the top of the spring have broken off as well.

 

Third picture looks up and shows where the top of the strut assembly should be and that the new top of the spring now rests on bare sheet metal.  From viewing inside the hood there hasn't been any deformity yet.

 

Problem is...with all that spring pressure in there I don't know how to get this thing out.  Now that the top of the strut assembly is broken there's nothing to contain the upward force of the spring and it's gonna keep tension with the top of the wheel well the whole time it's being worked out.  

 

Any suggestions on how to go about this?  Only thing I can think of is to tie the spring down all over with heavy tow straps and go at it with a cut wheel until it's cut through and the tension is relieved.

 

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7 hours ago, bradleyheathhays said:

'02 Taurus 100k miles here, and as you can see from the first picture the top part of my right strut spring has broken off.  WTH is this common?  Never seen this before.

 

Second picture shows the top components of the strut which should receive the top of the spring have broken off as well.

 

Third picture looks up and shows where the top of the strut assembly should be and that the new top of the spring now rests on bare sheet metal.  From viewing inside the hood there hasn't been any deformity yet.

 

Problem is...with all that spring pressure in there I don't know how to get this thing out.  Now that the top of the strut assembly is broken there's nothing to contain the upward force of the spring and it's gonna keep tension with the top of the wheel well the whole time it's being worked out.  

 

Any suggestions on how to go about this?  Only thing I can think of is to tie the spring down all over with heavy tow straps and go at it with a cut wheel until it's cut through and the tension is relieved.

 

Hi bradley. Are broken springs common? No.

Does it sometimes happen with any vehicle? Yes.

 

Your first photo seems to show a lot of rust in that one spot on the spring, where it seems to have broke. Are the the original owner? If not, who knows what happened, what the  original owner may have done, what parts were possibly replaced with inferior quality parts etc., before you purchased the vehicle. Or it could simply be a factory/OEM part that failed. It happens.

 

Concerning removal: I would recommend going to your local big box auto store. Many offer to loan automotive tools, including the tool used to compress the spring for strut removal. Perhaps call a few first to see who offers tool loans.

 

Let us know how you make out and good luck.

 

Edited by bbf2530
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Thanks bbf.  I had forgotten about spring compression clamps, prob on purpose.  Had some dicey calls with those things in the past.  I usually put at least 3 on any spring I'm working on.  But yeah that'd probably be a better option than using a cut wheel.  I've got two Monroe quick struts on the way so both of them will be replaced.

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Had a front spring break on my (now ex) wife's 1995 Mercury Mystique and on my 2000 Ford Focus. You may want to consider Strut/Spring assy. I did that with my 2005 F150 and not any issue at all. Rock Auto has them for under $70 per side. Easiest way to change them out. All new equipment and change out is a snap.

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Yeah, I'm all for spending some a little more and avoiding the headache of a complicated install.

 

Forgot to mention though that before this happened there was something else going on in the suspension/steering. I'm thinking it's some kind of bushing because both tie rod ends are ok. What happens is that under moderate to heavy breaking the front end shimmys as if the wheels are being allowed to free steer left and right somewhat. Along with installing a new set of Monroe Quick Struts I'll probably go ahead and change out both A shaped control arms and lower ball joint. Although I'm not entirely sure how well the control arm bushings are doing, one ball joint has it's boot broken so I'm sure those are probably ready to go. The cars old but she's in good shape with low mileage so I might as well get those done while I'm in there. Any thoughts on replacing these extra parts? Going with Moog it adds about $150 to the project.

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1 hour ago, bradleyheathhays said:

Yeah, I'm all for spending some a little more and avoiding the headache of a complicated install.

 

Forgot to mention though that before this happened there was something else going on in the suspension/steering. I'm thinking it's some kind of bushing because both tie rod ends are ok. What happens is that under moderate to heavy breaking the front end shimmys as if the wheels are being allowed to free steer left and right somewhat. Along with installing a new set of Monroe Quick Struts I'll probably go ahead and change out both A shaped control arms and lower ball joint. Although I'm not entirely sure how well the control arm bushings are doing, one ball joint has it's boot broken so I'm sure those are probably ready to go. The cars old but she's in good shape with low mileage so I might as well get those done while I'm in there. Any thoughts on replacing these extra parts? Going with Moog it adds about $150 to the project.

 

Hi bradley. Just my opinion: If you plan on keeping the car and have questions/doubts about what condition those other suspension parts are in, I would replace them too.

 

Let us know how you make out and good luck.

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