First, the heads up...

Murrays seems to have Monroe'* on sale right now... sensatracks cheaper than I've ever seen. Ever. Plus, if you live in the Flint area, they're trying out a new customer savings program that will save you another 20% off the top.

How much did I pay for my struts? About 40 bucks a piece. Yeah, for Sensatracks.

Throw in Monroe'* 90 dollar comeback certificate that'* going on right now (not cash back, but a certificate to use where you bought the struts - in this case, Murray'*), and if you already had 90 dollars worth of parts / oil / whatever that you know you'll need later this season, that'* 4 struts, sensatracks, for 70 bucks total.

Now, for my question.

Has anyone here successfully removed the rear struts? I can't see how you can get at the second of the two mounting bolts under the rear speaker deck. As per GM instructions, I pulled the rear seat and seatback, and I can see one of the bolts. If I feel around in the darkness for another 5 minutes, I can find the second bolt... but only if I feel from the trunk. And I still can't see the bloody thing, and it'* only got about 1/2 an inch above it before there''* the metal from the rear speaker deck....

Needless to say, I'm either missing something, or there'* an engineer who needs hangin...

Great price.

Forget pulling the back deck. I did...and used it as an excuse for tinting the windows.

Open up the trunk and in ya go. All set.

Hmmm... not much space there. I guess it just takes a lot of contortionism then?

Jr's3800 did his that way. My mechanic that I had to mine..did them that way.

In pulling the rear deck...looking about where the headrest would be...there is a tar patch..that'* the access hole to get at the nuts... honestly..it'* not super easy..and the trunk is a viable option.

The second bolt was tight when I did it.
I was able to get it with a ratchet though.
When I had trouble with it I put the socket & ratchet on the nut from the back so I could see what I'm doing then went around to the side of the car to loosen it.
Definitely hit my knuckes too. :?

In case others didn't see what I did...that'* a ratcheting wrench to make the job go faster.

Funny, that says to me, find the engineer who thought it was a good idea to put two blind 13mm bolts under a speaker deck with barely enough clearance for a ratchet so that you'll either go insane, buy new tools, or take it to the shop, and make him spend a bit of quality time with me...

Guess it all depends on point of view, eh?



We'll give it a shot and see how it goes...

Or maybe send him quail hunting with Dick Cheney....

Sorry... a little late night type humor there...

You needed a good reason to buy a nice set of ratcheting wrenches anyway, didn't you? Lol.