I made this video because so many people were buying after market struts, and myself too and running into an installation problem. That problem is that most after market struts are longer than OEM struts, and many were having to drop the subframe or remove the spindle in order to replace the struts, especially on the front of my car a 2001 Ford Taurus.
I purchased a set of after market Monroe Spectrum(#171615) front struts to go on my 2001 Ford Taurus...the cost was around $150.00, purchased on Ebay.com I put them on myself but had the hardest time doing so but din' t know that I was suppose to lower the subframe because I thought the struts was the exact length of the OEM struts that had been on the car for 20 years. I ended up having to leave the car jacked up in the driveway for a day until I finally removed the spindle after measuring and seeing that the after market struts were 3/4" longer than OEM which made a big difference.
The OEM struts took about 45 minutes each to remove but when it came to the installation of the after market struts I struggled with it all night until I found out the hard way that I needed to lower the subframe about an inch, or just go ahead and break everything down and remove the spindle which is really not needed. On these Ford Taurus there are 2-18 millimeter nuts that hold the subframe....if you remove the pinch nut(21mm), the sway bar link nut(18mm), and the brake line (10mm) bolt...and hit the spindle with a sledge hammer the spindle will drop down and give clearance to remove the strut...if there isn't enough space then you will to support the subframe with a jack or jacks and gradually loosen each 18mm bolt until there is clearance for the strut to come out.
I hope by reading this it will save somebody some time and money.

Directions for front strut removal 96-07 Ford Taurus:

1. Jack car up with car jack
2. Remove front wheel
3. Remove brake line 10mm bolt
4. Remove sway bar link nut 18mm nut
5. Remove pinch nut 21mm
6. Hit the spindle with a sledge hammer, until there is clearance for the strut to come out of the spindle.
7. If there isn't enough clearance...lower the subframe...support the subframe with a jack or jacks...then gradually loosen each 18mm bolt on each side until you have clearance....you might have to hit the spindle with the sledge hammer until you have about 1 inch more clearance but be safe.
8. Clean out the pinch cup with sand paper, and spray with WD40 so that the new strut will slide easy into the assembly.
9. Reinstall the Brake line, Sway bar link, and Pinch nut....after installing the new strut and tightening down the subframe bolts to 76 ft/lbs of torque.
10. Tighten down the brake line to 11 ft/lbs, the sway bar link to 59 ft/lbs, and the pinch nut torque down to 86 ft/lbs.
11. Put the wheel on and tighten each lug nut to 95 ft/lbs each.
12. Get a front end alignment after replacing any front end components on your vehicle.


How to tell if your struts are bad:
1. Bouncy ride
2. Leaking oil
3. Physically damaged
4. Harsh ride