So yesterday was the big strut swap day.
With a lot of help from a friend we managed to get the new struts and top bearings in.
After much reading on the forums about removing subframe bolts, or lowering subframes, and removing balljoints, we decided to take a new approach.
An easier and faster approach.

Remove rotor and caliper.

Disconnect tie rod end.

Remove 2 brackets from strut.

Remove strut pinch bolt.

Remove 3 top bearing bolts.

Using a mallet, pound knuckle until lower control arm is as low as it goes.

Insert 2"x2"x 3' piece of wood between control arm and driveshaft so each end sits under the body of the car, this holds the control arm down as far as it will go so it doesn't keep springing back up.

Placed a bottle jack atop the knuckle so top of jack was under the base of strut where the spring sits.

Jacked up until the spring compressed and the entire strut moved up enough that it clears the knuckle.

Using mallet, knocked the strut sideways so it released and cleared the knuckle.

Strut now falls out of the wheel well.

Install of the new strut equally easy.

It would be much harder to do this without another pair of hands.

Old strut and bearings were toast!.. Wheels now sit at a very different angle than before, its no wonder i was killing the inside edge of tires.

Thanks to all for the input to diagnose my problem last week.

Bilstein struts were $100.13 each.
Strut mount/bearings were $63 each
Time saved with new technique.... PRICELESS

The learning curve took 3 hours with breaks
The 2nd strut was completed with wheel back on in 1.5 hrs.
Will be even quicker next time.
No air tools used, just old fashioned wrenches and breaker bars for leverage.

(No subframe bolts were touched or harmed in the production of this thread)

 

iownme: Thanks for posting this clever approach. How did you safely release the energy of the compressed spring when installing the new strut?

To install the new strut, I assume you:

1) Compress the spring using a bottle jack under the strut's lower spring support

2) Align the bottom of the strut with the knuckle

At this point, to mate the bottom of the strut with the knuckle, do you:

3A) Lower the strut bottom into the knuckle by lowering the bottle jack, slowing extending the spring & strut,

-or-

3B) Raise the knuckle to engage the strut, then lower the bottle jack to slowly extend the spring & strut?

Again, thanks for the clever post.

 

The background to Jaguar's recommendation to lower the subframe is that if the lower control arm is to OEM spec, the rear bush is a hydraulic one and forcing it beyond its normal range can split it. Some after market versions have solid rubber bushes that may survive excessive movement. Just be aware of the potential pitfalls!

 

When the strut was out of the vehicle, we used spring compressors so we could remove the upper bearing plate and spring.

Attached compressed spring and new bearing to the new strut then replaced the top nut to hold it all together.

Next removed the spring compressors.

Slide complete strut/spring unit up into the wheel well so the 3 top mounting bolts were located in their holes. Attached the 3 nuts snug not tight.

Re inserted the 2"x2"x3' so the lower control arm was as far down as possible. ( while bud was levering the control arm down with a breaker bar)

Once the control arm was locked in position we had to put a large block of wood between the knuckle and front of wheel well to prevent the knuckle from turning while locating the strut.
We used a pry bar under the bottom of the strut to push it up to give clearance for strut hole.

Taped a short block of 2"x4" to the bottom of strut so we could gently tap the strut with a mallet to get it into its final position, last tap and the strut went right into its locating hole in the knuckle.

Up to this point the jack was not used for reinstallation.

Now to get the strut all the way into its hole we placed the jack under the knuckle and jacked the knuckle up until the bottom of the strut was where it needed to be.
Install pinch bolt.
Remove jack
Job done

There appeared to be no undue stress to any of the bushings

 

UPDATE
omg i cant believe i just replaced another bearing, but on my own this time.
The final relocation of the strut into the knuckle was more luck and chance than skill... But yes... It is doable by one person without touching the balljoint or lowering the subframe, and if all went well, it would have taken an hour.

 

I gave this to my mechanic but he wasn't comfortable doing it on his own. But he's a great guy and didn't kill me for the actual hours doing it the conventional way.

 

This was my method of seperating the strut from the knuckle.. Works great.
Blurry pic shows a bottle jack sitting on the knuckle.
The top of the knuckle is angled down so i inserted an allen key of the correct thickness under the jack to bring the jack level