Watched two videos about strut removal for a coil change. I followed what looked like a short cut by the fact the bottom bearing housing was left bolted to the bottom arm ,as was the tie rod and driveshaft, but the whole arrangement wouldn't drop far enough to release the housing from the strut , was that wrong or should I have removed the aforesaid parts first?

Ended up in a pickle!

Ive not done this on my FL2 but I can appreciate the problems as I had similar issues with my BMW E91 front struts.

To remove the FRONT strut with everything else still attached you need to compress the spring whilst the strut is still attached.
See page 225 in JLR manual.

You cannot depress the knuckle enough to gain the space needed to lift the uncompressed strut out of the knuckle.
So you need a special strut compressor (I imagine there is not enough access to use standard spring compressors inside the wheelarch) - one end goes in under the wheel arch and then it goes outside the wing and into the engine bay to compress the strut from above - like a huge G clamp.
&ab_channel=EliMatrix

To remove the REAR strut
See page 266 in JLR manual.
Remove both lower arms and trailing arm from the knuckle..

You could try jacking up the strut out of the knuckle, like here
&ab_channel=Nabrach

I prefer to use a knuckle expander rather than a chisel as some struts have a locating pin which can be damaged with a chisel (Ive done that)

Hope this helps .
Im also hoping there is an alternative you using the big G clamp. Jules

Done both of mine couple of years ago. Pig of a job to do. There is a good YouTube vid by one of the suspension manufacture's.
You need to get the car as high as possible on good axel stands so you can push the wishbone down far enough to remove it from the bottom ball joint.
Vid by KYB on YouTube.  Now at the point when I learn something new something old is lost out the other side !
Now retired so it doesn't matter anymore.
Freelander now gone.

Last edited by gasman on 24th Nov 2020 6:17 pm. Edited 1 time in total

Rab C Nesbitt and son motor repairs??

I find that on cars that you just can’t get the wishbone down enough to get the bottom ball joint out of the hub carrier or the strut out of the hub carrier, removing the front subframe mounting bolts on that side gives you up to another couple of inches of downward movement on the wishbone. Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Yes I saw that video , unfortunately went for the PowerfulUK vid. They removed the strut without removing the hub from the bottom arm and driveshaft, track rod end. ......WRONG!
I’ve just got in after refitting strut by removing the hub from everything and with a little help from a friend levering down the bottom arm , success!
A bit drastic the g clamp , however , lesso learnt , remove everything.

Glad to you managed it.
As I said, bit of a pig to do.  Now at the point when I learn something new something old is lost out the other side !
Now retired so it doesn't matter anymore.
Freelander now gone.

Excuse my ignorance , but is the JLR manual 256 please,
Perhaps page 256 but where is JLR, Jaguar ,Landrover?