How not to do struts.

[Trav]

Look at this fiasco. At around 13 min it really gets interesting.
To say this guy is a teacher is a disgrace. No wonder VW has a bad rep for being difficult to repair, this is not a long winded difficult job.

 

[JHZR2]

Ok, what am I missing?

Seems like every job that I ever do. Something not coming apart? Check. Can't find the right tool? Check. Some stupid thing causing it to work? Boy, even I'm not that bad...

The car was clean and corrosion free, I'm surprised they had such a time. I don't recall having to remove tie rods when I did the struts on my saab.

Bad case of editing, but at least they're being honest...

 

[Vern_in_IL]

The people on YouTube make these jobs look like a "rose garden", the magic of editing.

Glad to see someone showing REAL life. IMO.

 

[Trav]

He removed the top nut and the strut was moving with the parts he was moving. He did not remove the sway bar link bolt.
There are other ways to do this job depending on how rotten the parts are.
Notice on the rear shock he did not disconnect the abs cable to remove the rear spring? Big no no.

Notice he is hitting a hammer with a hammer and the guy helping has no safety glasses?

This is the same strut.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
The people on YouTube make these jobs look like a "rose garden", the magic of editing.

Glad to see someone showing REAL life. IMO.

Thats not real life its an honest to God fiasco, that car isn't even rusted, it should almost fall apart.
They are not difficult, i do them often on Beetles, Jetta, Golf, etc and never had to go to war like that with one although i did a clobber a few with a BFH to knock the rust out.

 

[antiqueshell]

Makes me shudder to think guys like this call themselves
"technicans" when they clearly don't know what they are doing and they work on customer cars.

 

[DB_Cooper]

Having done those jobs on VW/Audi..he must of been thinking of domestic or something else..VW front struts are much easier if you remove the axle/Cv nut, loosen the axle then just take out the lower ball joint bolts so the lower side will swing away..If you leave the axle on the lower hub you will find the job very difficult. Only takes about 5 minutes.

 

[AKhan87]

LOL, kind of looks similar to toyota?, I have done 4 complete struts on 2 of my cars, I just knock out the steering knuckle real quick (10-20 seconds Max), the front doesn't have the sway bar links attached to the strut but the rear does, the cars I worked on had rusteddddddddddd sway bar end links.

 

[slo town]

This video is indeed a disgrace.

1) The anti-roll bar was not disconnected. As a consequence the anti-roll bar was resisting the downward push.
2) If this VW has ""bonded" bushings in the pickup points, they should have been loosened because he was pushing them past their normal pivot angles.
3) Using hammers?! There is a tool called a "spreader" that is specifically designed for carefully expanding steering knuckle clamp areas.

Scott

 

[CharBaby]

They should have done some editing. Even though I run into this same situation when doing jobs myself(always takes me longer than a video), the guys should have shut off the camera and picked up for each step.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: DB_Cooper
Having done those jobs on VW/Audi..he must of been thinking of domestic or something else..VW front struts are much easier if you remove the axle/Cv nut, loosen the axle then just take out the lower ball joint bolts so the lower side will swing away..If you leave the axle on the lower hub you will find the job very difficult. Only takes about 5 minutes.

Yes its almost a must on the pass side on some of them. Few min with the impact. Drivers side i just disconnect the sway bar link bolt and hit it with a hammer.

 

[Voltmaster]

that was hilarious.

do they never heard of liquid wrench before....?

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Ok, what am I missing?

Seems like every job that I ever do. Something not coming apart? Check. Can't find the right tool? Check. Some stupid thing causing it to work? Boy, even I'm not that bad...

The car was clean and corrosion free, I'm surprised they had such a time. I don't recall having to remove tie rods when I did the struts on my saab.

Bad case of editing, but at least they're being honest...


Same for me. In a sense this vid "shows" pretty much how wrong it can go, even w/o the typical rust. Kinda realistic.

Wacking on hammers tho...

I get the impression this is some guy doing a presentation for a different class. I dunno, public speaking/how to make a video/anything outside of mechanics. Gen ed requirement. I only glossed over it, and quit after 15min, so I might have missed where he was a teacher.

 

[Trav]

Assistant professor of Automotive Technology at Community College of Philadelphia, Dan Reed,

 

[supton]

I stand corrected. Does seem, err, more along the lines of my abilities.

How does the saying go? "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach"?

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: supton
I stand corrected. Does seem, err, more along the lines of my abilities.

How does the saying go? "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach"?


Funny for sure but not always true.

 

[antiqueshell]

Uh, oh.... I now recognize Dan...he has been a regular on
VW Vortex.com for many years now (in the MK III Golf /Jetta forum).

Dan used to own a 1995 MK III VW Golf and has extensive "how to" videos on issues specific to the MK III Golf. The guy knows his stuff perhaps he just doesn't know as much about other VW models and years.

His avatar over on VWVortex.com is " Dan J Reed "

Here are threads he created. The guy was worshipped
in the MK III Golf Jetta forum.

VW Vortex.com ---- MK III Golf / Jetta forum

 

[spasm3]

I don't take the top of the strut loose until i loosen the bottom from the knuckle, otherwise its a floppy mess like they are working on.

 

[Trav]

That maybe so but you would think he would look at the book first and do the other side before posting that song and dance show.

There is no excuse for the hammer on hammer action and that poor bugger with no safety glasses at eye level, that is just outright dangerous.
Maybe the guy was having a bad day and he got frustrated who knows but i wouldn't put it on youtube.

 

[chrome]

I seem to recall that a strut spreader tool needs to be used to ease the clamping pressure on the strut body. Even with the pinch bolt removed, the hub assembly exerts a lot of clamping force on the strut.

Once the clamp is properly spread, the hub almost drops off the strut.