Which type of front struts in my 1986 4-door?

[larrymoencurly]

How can I tell whether the struts in my 1986 sedan are the sealed type that have to be replaced entirely or are the kind that can be disassembled and their cartridges replaced?

The factory manual shows both types but doesn't give any information about distinguishing them apart, except by the nut at the top end of the shaft. Unfortunately that nut has been replaced with a plain one that doesn't match either one shown in the manual.

I'd like to find out about this before I start taking the car apart.

[REN69]

I believe only the GTS and the FX came with cartridges.. the sedans are full strut.

[larrymoencurly]

I'm worried because the nut at the end of the strut shaft is supposed to be torqued to 13 ft-lbs or one type of strut, 34 ft-lbs for the other type. This is the factory manual and covers only the 4-door FWD sedan Corolla.

[tireboy]

my 86 nova aka rolla has the sealed type same as yours . ya repalce the whole assy ... yeah theyre a pain in the butt ....

[larrymoencurly]

I did both struts mounts yesterday and found that these struts have threaded tops and can accept cartridge inserts.

I have some more questions:

1. Is the dust seal between the strut and bearing in the mount that critical? The original ones crumbed and were probably made of just urethane foam. I replaced each with a disk of felt soaked in grease, although I think that the new strut bearings are sealed (or at least well shielded), unlike the originals.

2. Each strut was labelled a gas pressurized unit, so why didn't the strut rod extend automatically when it was released? Are gas struts designed this way, or have these lost pressure (ride hasn't changed)? I checked several manuals, both for this car and others, and none warned about the rod extending by itself.