To replace the struts, you only need to undo two bolts in the steering spindle and three 13 mm bolts in the spring seat up top. Compressing the springs is the troublesome part. At the top, there's a spring bearing plate, and then a rubber spring seat. If the rubber spring seat is worn, you might get some taxicab style knocks from there. I put in Bilstein Heavy Duty struts and they are stiff and feel the pebbles in the road but at highway speeds they feel very stable
I rented two sets of spring compressors because the position of the compressors had to be changed from the removal position to get the whole thing back in. The space in the strut well is tight. Here's a pic of a mistake I made the first time

The struts are pretty reliable on these cars. My Indy says he's rarely taken a bad one out of a car with under 250K, but you know everyone has an opinion.

THats good news, but I have a loud clunk in the front that sounds like a bad strut or upper bearing. I just need to resolve this. Maybe its lower ball joint. Either way, I will need to investigate.

Mike in Tacoma
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Current: '89 780 Turbo, 1986 245, 1986 740 Turbo RIP: 1983 245 Turbo, 1984 245 Turbo

Be aware that the endlinks go bad regularly and will make clunking noises. If you are changing out the struts, put in IPD heavy duty endlinks also. Or just do the endlinks first to see if that relieves your problem.
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96 850T, Bilstein HD, IPD swaybars-HD endlinks

You probably have the typical bad upper spring seat. It is not necessary to remove the axles to do the struts in this car, they are real straight forward. Remove the wheel, the ABS sensor connector, the 2 threw bolts in the strut itself, the upper link rod connection to the strut, and the three nuts up top that retain it. At this point the strut is completely loose and can be pulled right out. Put it in a big vice, compress the spring, remove the upper spring seat, and change it all out. Now is the time to replace the struts if you are so inclined. It is true that the struts will go a long time in these cars but the idea is not to wait until they are completely blown out to do so. If you do not want to go back in there at a later date and do the same work all over again you can hang another set of factory Boge struts or you can run your existing ones and see if the will make it until you need spring seats again. Factory spring seats will typically last you 60-120K or so, depending upon how much your teenage children drive the car and how many potholes you hit at full speed.

Mark

thanks for the helpful information !!! Now I have an idea of what to expect and how to plan.

Mike in Tacoma
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Current: '89 780 Turbo, 1986 245, 1986 740 Turbo RIP: 1983 245 Turbo, 1984 245 Turbo