TIL There is as Ball Bearing on Top of Struts
 

I'd never thought about it before, but the front struts turn with the wheels during steering operation. There are big ball bearings up at the top of the struts. I'd never changed struts on this car, so I didn't realize this (my truck had rear wheel drive and kingpins) and the grease was pretty well solid in the bearings. Fresh grease and some manual rotation got both bearings spinning like a champ again. Fortunately, because that's like a $40 part.



200,000+ miles and 16 years, and the straw that broke the camel's back was jacking up the car. I thought when I got new tires they were just really stiff. Then I lifted the car several times to full suspension droop for troubleshooting a noise. The ride got worse every time I lifted the car. I eventually noted that the front of the car wouldn't move at all when I leaned on the fenders. I'm guessing some crap in the strut finally got stuck in the valves, or the valves in the shock are broken or rusted (or something). When I removed them, the front passenger shock absorber was seized up solid, and the driver front shock would compress with light hand pressure but couldn't be pulled back out again. Ride quality was . . . poor. After replacing the transaxle, the first drive to work was ended with clunk-clunk bottoming out after a speed hump going into the parking lot. Tuckin' tire for a while, but it was high enough when I came back to the car to drive carefully home. Replaced the front struts with new Monroe units that night.



The rear? That's the opposite. It just bounces a couple of times though, so relatively "good" by comparison :lol: