1988 Need help replacing front struts.

Did you loosen the control arm pivot bolt on the front crossmember.

If that bushing is still in good shape, it's not supposed to drop.

I was able to turn the whole bolt but not loosen it. I accidentally tried loosening the wrong side before I noticed the actual nut was on the opposite side crammed between the tie rod boot and currently cant get a socket/wrench to fit in there. But I guess the bushing is still good then if that's the case. I didn't know its not supposed to drop any lower than that. If that's it's limit I have no idea how the previous owner got a strut cartridge in there in the first place because with the car raised the spring and cartridge are extended/extending pushing the control arm to it's limit so I have to some how compress the spring and cartridge down enough to pulled the whole thing out.

Get some kind of bar in there and have someone push down the control arm a little. You don`t need to gorilla the thing, my 12-year-old nephew was able to push it down enough, but you do need another set of hands. You could try getting the spring compressors on while it`s still in the wheel well but you probably won't be able to grab enough coils to make a difference.

I don't know if that's good for the bushing, I don't want to ruin it or anything. Like I said the control arm is pushed to it's lowest point the bushing allows and if I pry it lower I'll need 5-6 inches of clearance for the thing to come out.

I only ever need to pry it down *maybe* an inch and a half as measured at the far end of the control arm so really just a few degrees, just enough so the strut housing pops off the ball joint/control arm. No, it`s not *good* for the bushing but it won`t wreck it either.

Note that it is MUCH easier and requires WAY less clearance to pop the strut housing off the control arm/ball joint at the bottom first so you can slide the whole thing *down*, than to try to get the strut mount loose from the strut tower first and work it out sideways. Start at the bottom.

Obviously I can't see what you,re doing, but its *sounds* like you're hoping the control arm will drop enough so that the shock mount drops out of the shock tower…?

Ah I see what you mean. Yeah my idea was trying to pull the strut out from the tower rather than pulling it out from the control arm. I'll try it your way.

All righty I did it your way and it worked wish I didn't have to but I got the whole thing out. Now a new problem arises. I'm trying to get the middle nut off the thing now but it's spinning with the cartridge rod so I can't get any torque on it. I tried loosening the nut on the other strut but its doing the same thing.

Take a look at the service manual, probably page FA-7. You'll figure it out. You're also gonna have a similar problem loosening up the gland nut. Unless you have a bigass bench vise it's easier to do these two things with the strut still in the car.