Thought I would post this for informational purposes. I have replaced the struts on three of our volvos (2 '88 240s and 92 960) with no problems. I recently purchased an 84 244 turbo and finally got around to replacing the struts (Bilsteins), strut mounts, ball joints, tie-rods, (most of the front suspension) and got new lowering springs.

When I went to break the strut nuts loose they were frozen in place (surprize! these were original struts, never been replaced), tried long breaker bar, heat, impact wrench and nothing worked. Finally cut the dust cover off the strut and discarded it, compressed the spring until I could safely remove the gland nut from the strut (had to reach through the coils to do all this), once the gland nut was removed I lifted the strut and strut bearing assembly out and then took the compressed coil springs off and removed the spring compressors. I then took a sawzall and cut the strut shaft off between the strut bearing and the spring retainer and finally put eveything back together. I am sure someone has already done something like this but thought I would toss this out. The new lowered car handles great, well worth all the sweat, blood and a few curse words.

John