Now, after loosening the steering plate nuts turn your attention to the tie rod end... (track rod end): Take the nut off with the 15mm/17mm socket whichever it is...
You will need to remove this balljoint to get the steering plate off the car so get a balljoint seperator or pickle fork and free the tie rod from the plate... I done it like this -
When it pop's out just move it out of the way... Now it gets interesting!!! (*At this mpoint you might want to removethe sway bar link on one end to save the boot getting damaged, up to you but I left it on and it was ok!)
You will need to be aware at this point that once you start removing all the loosened nuts and bolts from before the strut assembly may turn violently as the mount on the top is actually a bearing... So be careful.
Remove the bolt from the thrust arm and put it somewhere safe, do the same with the control arm bolt. now remove the three bolts from underneath, the ones on the steering plate. Keep the strut from turning with your knees if you need to. Now simply get the hammer and bang the steering plate down to free it from the strut... If it hasn't been off for a while you may need to get a screwdriver and pry it away. The plate should come off and you can remove the plate with the two control arms from the car... like so:
Now use the stiff wire to secure the strut to one of the holes where the control arm goes to stop it turning too much.
With the plate off you're almost there, just the easy job of getting the old bush out. (Shudder at the thought of it now LOL!!!). It was a mammoth task for me I'll be honest!
First, I got it in this press and attempted to press it out -
I pressed it that hard that I broke the press!!!! The bush remained unaltered in the arm... You can see what I'm getting at...
CONTINUE TO NEXT POST!