So later on today I’m going to be attempting something I have never done before — a semi-major repair on my vehicle. While most people who work on their vehicles may not consider this a major repair, for me who doesn’t do anything more advanced then change oil, this is quite advanced.
So what am I going to be doing? I am going to be replacing the front struts on my Equinox. What is a strut? Good question. Up until a month ago I had no clue what one was either until they told me that I needed new ones and that would run around $750. So after a quick Google search, these are struts.
So what do they do? Basically they hold your front tires to the car. From what I understand they are pretty much your front suspension and shocks. Without them, you have no give in the front end while driving. I never really noticed it until about a week or so ago, so that’s when I went online and ordered a new pair. And yes, apparently there is indeed a difference between left and right struts. Who knew?
The nice thing is that it only cost me about $150 to order a brand new set online. That’s a lot better then the $750 I was quoted. The bad part of all of this? If I fuck it up my truck is pretty much undrivable. But let’s not think about that, okay?
I’ve watched the YouTube video from the site I bought the struts on the installation technique at least a dozen times and I feel quite confident that I can do this. So later on today we’re going to see if Twev the computer guy (I’m actually doing a data-recovery on my mom’s dying HD right now) can become Twev the mechanic in about 12 hours. Wish me luck!
