discretion = better part of valor

yeah so we attempted to do my struts last night, even though we couldn't start till late afternoon, had no air tools, and i felt like poo. thanks anyway macdaddy...we couldn't make it past the left rear; since we had to reuse the top hats for the new struts and couldn't get them off the old ones, it all went downhill from there (not for lack of trying...pliers, vice grips, strap wrench...benzomatic...). but failure can be a good thing; the dust boot was shredded anyway, so 4 are now on their way from tirerack. and with their burly strength, teh honeybear and james really wailed on the strut-knuckle bolt...unfortunately it was in the wrong direction, so now it's kind of distended, like a clay snake you'd make in kindergarten. but i think i had more of the dumb when i realized i was holding a washer in addition to the brake line clip..."hey honeybear, does this go somewhere?" silence. "er yes, it goes behind the thing i just tightened down." score 1 for the home team.

so i'm kind of glad we f-ed it all up, because now i can put in my new struts right-propa with new boots and gaskets. and yes, we will be replacing that bolt.