How To Replace Front Loaded Strut and Spring 2007-16 Buick Enclave
Created on: 2014-12-03
Learn the steps for replacing the front loaded struts. Follow along with our experts and do it yourself!
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It's recommended to seek an alignment after completing this repair
step 1 :Removing the Wheel
- Pry off the center cap with a flat blade screwdriver
- Loosen the 22mm lug nuts with the vehicle on the ground
- Raise the vehicle with a floor jack
- Secure the vehicle on jack stands
- Remove the lug nuts
- Pull off the wheel
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step 2 :Removing the Wiper Arm
- Pry up the cap on the wiper arm with a flat blade screwdriver
- Remove the 15mm nut from the wiper arm
- Remove the wiper arm
- Repeat the process on the other side
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step 3 :Removing the Cowl Panel
- Pry up the center of the four clips and remove them with a pick
- Remove the ground
- Pry off the clip on either side of the cowl panel
- Pull off the adhesive pad on either end of the cowl panel
- Pry up the clip on either side of the cowl panel
- Release the clips from the cowl panel and lift it up and off
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step 4 :Loosening the Sway Bar Link
- Remove two of the three 15mm nuts on the top of the strut
- Loosen the third 15mm nut
- Pry out the brake line clip with a flat blade screwdriver
- Loosen the 18mm bolt on the end of the sway bar link with a socket until it moves
- Remove the 18mm bolt with an 18mm wrench the rest of the way
- Hold the stud in place with an 8mm socket and ratchet
- Remove the nut and set the sway bar link to the side
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step 5 :Removing the Strut
- Remove the two 22mm nuts from the knuckle
- Tighten the 22mm nuts back on by a few threads
- Hammer the nuts to push the bolts through
- Remove the 22mm nuts and bolts
- Jack underneath the knuckle
- Remove the last 15mm nut on top of the stud
- Remove the strut
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step 6 :Installing the Strut
- Insert the new strut into place
- Tighten one 15mm nut on top of the strut by hand
- Push the wheel knuckle into the strut
- Hammer the 22mm bolts into the strut
- Preliminarily tighten the 22mm nuts
- Tighten the 22mm bolts to 120 foot-pounds of torque
- Jack the strut up in to place
- Preliminarily tighten the 15mms nut to the top of the strut
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step 7 :Tightening the Sway Bar Link
- Push the harness clip from the old strut to the new strut
- Push the brake line into the clip
- Insert the sway bar link into place
- Tighten the 18mm nut to the sway bar link
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step 8 :Reattaching the Wheel
- Slide the wheel into place
- Start the lug nuts by hand
- Tighten the lug nuts preliminarily
- Lower the vehicle to the ground
- Tighten the lug nuts to 100 foot-pounds in a crossing or star pattern
- Reattach the center cap
- Tighten the 15mm strut bolts to 45 foot-pounds of torque
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step 9 :Reinstalling the Cowl Panel
- Insert the cowl panel into place
- Push in the four clips along the front of the panel
- Tighten the ground into place
- Push on the adhesive pad on either side of the panel
- Push in the clip on either side of the cowl panel
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step 10 :Reinstalling the Wiper Arm
- Push the wiper arm on the stud
- Tighten the 15mm nut to the stud
- Push on the wiper arm cap
- Repeat the process for the other side
Tools needed
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24mm Socket
Torque Wrench
15mm Socket
Rust Penetrant
18mm Wrench
Jack Stands
18mm Socket
Pick
21mm Socket
Flat Blade Screwdriver
8mm Socket
Ratchet
Floor Jack
22mm Socket
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Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks!
In this video, we're going to show you how to replace a front strut on this 2010 Buick Enclave. We show you on the passenger side, but the driver side is the same procedure. The items that you'll need for this are a flat blade screwdriver; 8mm, 15mm, 18mm, 21mm, 22mm, and 24mm socket and ratchet; 18mm wrench; torque wrench; and jack and jack stands.
Start off by prying off your hubcap. Remove these 22mm lug nuts. You want to just loosen them while the vehicle is on the ground, then raise the vehicle up, and remove them the rest of the way. Now the wheel will pull free. Pry up the cap at the end of your wiper arm and then remove this 15mm nut. Then, either using a wiper arm puller or just pushing it in and out, and using penetrating oil, pull it off. You want to remove the wiper arm, but a wiper puller helps. You just twist it. It pops it off the stud then you can pull it free. Then you just want to repeat the process on the other wiper arm.
Now, you need to remove these four clips. You can either use a pick and just pry it in the center of the clip and then pull the clip up and out, or you can use a flat blade screwdriver. Pry it at the center and then pry out the bottom. Remove this ground and pull it free. Then pry out this clip right here. There's another one on the other side, and you just need to pry them out of the body of the car. Peel off this adhesive pad from the cowl panel, and do the same thing on the other side. Then pry up this clip right here on the driver's side of the cowl panel. Then pull up sharply on the cowl panel, it'll release the clips, and then do the same thing for the other side. You just want to pull this up, make sure all the clips have released, and then pull the panel free.
Now, you want to remove two of these three 15mm nuts and then the last nut, you just want to loosen most of the way. Flat blade screwdriver, and pry out the clip that holds your brake line in place. Then an 18mm socket and ratchet, and you just want to get the bolt on the end of the stabilizer link to move. Now removing, and I'm using an 18mm wrench and then an 8mm socket and ratchet. The 8mm socket and ratchet hold the stud into place while you remove them with the wrench. You might have to a couple of times spray some penetrating oil on, retighten the nut, and then loosen it back up. Then you can see it just pulls right out.
Now remove these two 24mm nuts. You can loosen them up with a breaker bar or you can use power tools. Once you get those nuts to a certain point, just put them back on just a little bit and then pull this harness out of here to make sure you put the nuts on so they're flushed with the bolts. Once you get it moving, you take the nuts off. All right, so we've got the jack supporting the suspension just a little bit. This comes out back and loose. You want to make sure that your steering knuckle doesn't pull too far out. Remove the nut.
We just wire tied this right here so there's not too much stress on the axle or too much stress on the hose here. Now, feed the strut back up into place. You just want to push those studs through. Replace one of the nuts preliminarily to just hold it there, and then line up the wheel knuckle into the strut. Then replace one of those bolts just to help hold it into place. Then replace the other bolt, and you can just hammer them in the rest of the way. Now, just replace those two nuts.
Okay, you can adjust your line up, so you will need to have your vehicle aligned after you install this. It looks like mine is pretty close to the middle. The top one is fixed, but the bottom one, you can flat by pushing it in or out on the knuckle. I'm actually just looking in behind. I can see a nice line where my old one was sitting, so I just kind of align it up there and then tighten it up preliminarily. Torque this to 120 foot-pounds.
Jack the strut up into place. I'm just going to put these 15mm nuts back on. I'll preliminarily tighten them, but we're going to torque them once the vehicle is back on the ground with the wheel on. Take the harness clip from your old strut, and it just pulls out. Then you just push it into place on the new strut. Then re-clip the harness into that clip, and push this clip back into the lower part of the strut. Push the sway bar link back into place, and just replace that nut and tighten it up.
Now, you can replace the wheel. Then just replace the lug nuts and tighten them preliminarily in a crossing pattern. Then you want to lower the vehicle and tighten these the rest of the way, and torque each of them to 100 foot-pounds, again, in a crossing pattern. Then you can just line up and hit your hubcap back into place.
Now, torque these three nuts up here to 45 foot-pounds. Pull out any clips that stayed behind in the vehicle and push them back into place in your cowl panel. Feed the cowl panel back into place. Make sure it tucks back under the hood. Once you get everything lined up, just start pushing your clips back into place and make sure that this adhesive cushion over here goes back up and over. Repeat the process on the other side. Now, replace those four clips, just pushing the lower part and then the center to lock them in. Replace the ground and tighten it back up. Make sure your weather strip is back in place.
Then for now, you can close the hood. Make sure these clips on either side of the cowl panel are back into the body of the vehicle. Push the wiper arm on to the stud. Make sure it's lined up where you want it and then replace that 15mm nut and tighten it up. Put the cover back on the end. Now, just repeat the process with the other wiper arm.
We hope this video helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the Internet and in person.
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