Just did my struts and links this past weekend.25 mins. a side with air impact. There is a youtube video showing how to do it.Good Luck

 

Parts were shipped today from Calif. takes 1 1/2 days to get up here so may be looking at Saturday delivery and I volunteered to work overtime that day to pay for the goods.

UPS delivers around 5-6 pm here where I live so I may not have to miss any time at work to receive them (no drop at door here).

 

I will only have hand tools that I use on the motorcycle all good quality tools and all sockets are 6 point.
May need a long breaker bar though and harbor freight may have one that will be good enough if not I will go get a quality one for the tool box.

 

It is easier to loosen the big center strut bolt while strut is still on car. Found this out the hard way. Also had a helper hold the shaft of the strut with some channel locks to keep it from rotating while l9osening bolt. Good luck.

 

I've manage to break two Craftsman 1/2” drive 18” breaker bars and didn't even use a cheater bar to do it. Later I managed to break a Mac Tools 3/4”drive 24” long breaker bar but that time I did have around 5 feet of 2” pipe to give me a bit more leverage when removing a tractor tire.

All the tools were replaced by the manufacturer so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal, just inconvenient because I still needed to finish the jobs so I had to figure another way to do it with out the proper tool for the job.

I can say I have abused my fine Harbor Freight breaker bars to the point I sure thought I would break them but haven't even bent any of them yet.

Either I'm getting weaker or perhaps I've learned when to let up sooner in my old age,...

 

no need for me to loosen that top nut on the shock since I ordered complete units.
3 nuts on top and 2 on the bottom then 2 nuts on sway bar link pop bolts out and put in new unit.

 

I work as a machinist and have over 40 years developed a feel for when something is going to let go, now there are times I know it is going to break and just keep going then cuss a storm because I busted a knuckle

 

I may have a few more years of working as a mechanic both shade tree and proffesionally than you and yes, you do get to where you know if a bolt or nut is going to either break loose or just break off. But I managed to break the breaker bar where the drive lug hinges.

For me the only way I could get the sway bar link nuts off my '06 was to use my 4" angle grinder. I tried Kroil oil, PB Blaster penetrating oil and heating them until they were a nice cherry red, they just wouldn't let go.

With the grinder they had no choice. Your call.

There is a very thin six sided nut sort of thing on the pivot ball {at least on the stock originals} but I couldn't keep a wrench on it and it rounded very quickly. Even my best pair of vice grips could not hold that hardened pin.

There isn't much room to fit a wrench in there so I ground down one of the cheaper old Japanese metric wrenches I had so it would fit in the limited space.

 

My car has never been on a salted road so very little rust or grime to deal with.
only been driven in Oregon and Washington

 

By the by, the 2 lower bolts are grooved so you will need to use some sort of drift to get them out.