Front suspension struts — removal and installation (Opel Ascona C)

1. Remove the center plate from the road wheel.

2. Remove the cotter pin from the hub nut and loosen the nut.

3. Raise the car, support it securely, and then remove the road wheel (see Chapter 9, Section 3).

4. Unscrew or release the brake caliper from the short axle holder, remove it from the brake disc and secure it with wire. There is no need to disconnect the hydraulic system. See Chapter 9, Sections 4 or 5.

5. Remove the strut end ball joint nut and then, using a suitable ball joint extractor tool, disconnect the joint from the steering bracket on the strut.

6. Disconnect the control bracket hinge from the short axle in the same manner. It may be difficult to use such a ball joint extraction tool because the gap between the drive shaft joint and the joint nut is small. In this case, you can either push the drive shaft out of the hub slightly, which will compress the joint and make the gap larger, or you can use a wedge-fork.

7. Pull the short axle holder towards you until the drive shaft is separated from the holder, and then support the shaft with a jack or block.

Please note: Do not drive the vehicle on its wheels with one or both drive shafts removed from their hubs, as this may cause damage to the front wheel hub bearings.

8. Remove the suspension strut mounting nuts from the upper turret (photo).





9. Remove the suspension strut together with the coil spring from under the front wing.

10. Reassemble in reverse order, tighten all nuts and bolts to the specified torque values, paying attention to the fact that the toothed nut is tightened in the stages specified in the Specifications.