2006 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.8
Heard some loud clunking noises coming from passenger front. Took it to Pep Boys. They said the strut had snapped at the upper mounting plate. Figured I could handle this myself. Ordered the parts from Rock Auto. Got tire off and knocked out the upper bolt holding the quick strut to the steering knuckle. Bottom bolt won't come out. When I look up under the wheel well I see the spring had contorted so much that the broken portion of the strut is wedged up against the wheel well putting pressure on the second bolt. The strut upper bolt area has slid forward and the wheel and rotor is almost pointing downward. It's also starting to put pressure on the stabilizer link (that bolt won't come out either) and starting to lurch forward as well. I'm afraid if I try and sledge the strut out from under the top of the wheel well the whole thing might drop suddenly and cause the wheel assembly to pull away from the CV shaft. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I watched a few YouTube videos and honestly, the replacement of the quick strut seemed relatively straightforward. I have all the necessary tools, I just wasn't counting on a snapped strut and the major problems that stemmed from it. Do you think I can cut the spring with an angle grinder and a metal cutting disk? I know the whole strut assembly is under pressure but with the spring having been stretched out a bit I'm guessing cutting it shouldn't be a problem. Thoughts please.

TIA

UPDATE!!!
I used an angle grinder to cut the spring. There was still alot of compression in the spring but was Anne to get the 2nd bolt off. Still have a couple of issues.
1. The upper nut for the stabilizer link is not coming off.
2. It looks like the wheel disengaged from the CV shaft. Once I got the 2nd bolt off I thought the wheel would go back to its normal position but it's still facing down. How much of a pain in the butt is it to get the wheel back into the shaft and is it something I can do myself or do I need a shop to do it? I use my car as part of my job so I need to have this taken care of by Monday morning, Tuesday morning at the latest.

 

Zip disk could explode when the spring lets go, use a torch to anneal the spring.

 

I had already used the angle grinder to cut the spring but now I can't get the upper nut of the stabilizer link off. I would try and put the bolts to the strut back in but I think the wheel disengaged grin the CV shaft and I can't move the wheel to align the strut.

 

on the sway bar link get you a wrench that fits the nut and then on the end of the stud there will be a torx fitting that you put on a ratchet and turn counter clock wise untill the nut is loose unuff to take off by hand this is on oem strut links any way. but you probably all ready have it off by now any way

 

Thanks for the responses. Fortunately, when I ordered the quick struts from Rock Auto I also ordered 2 stabilizer links. I wound up using the angle grinder to remove the upper bolt. The lower came out normally.

Anyway everything is fixed now and car rides well. Going to do the driver side tomorrow or Tuesday and then get it in for an alignment.

Pep Boys wanted almost 1,000.00 to do both sides, without the stabilizer links. Cost me 141.00 for everything.

Thanks to all who responded. It was pretty hairy there for a while.

 

Yea I couldn''t live with out my angle grinder.And 1000 dollars to replace 2 struts that there is highway robbery.