Today's target was to remove all of the rear suspension components and struts, clean brake housing, wheel hub assembly and suspension cross member of all the cosmoline, grease and oil that has accumulated. This simple task turned out to take the better part of 9 hours today.
In this picture a little surprise jumped out when trying to clean up the gunk on the ebrake cable. Turns out under the rubber guard where the nut on the cable attaches into the main attachment. The rust had built up around this nut and was eroding the nut building oxide up and into the brake cable. I was able to clean all the rust and erosion out then sealed it with a rust proof coating.
The next couple of pictures show the amount of build up of gunk.
All the suspension pieces are out and I have cleaned my components now its time to drop the struts. Since I am doing this a section at a time, I am only working on the rear suspension and struts, the fronts will come later.
With the plug removed I am now able to see all three nuts that are holding the strut in place. For this nut you REALLY WANT TO USE THE TAPE TRICK! If you don't the nut will fall down in to the body of the car and you will kick yourself for not doing this.
Continued in next post...