First, mucho credit goes out to mbtoloczko, who posted an excellent write-up in the How To's on changing struts.
On to my story: I finally got the time today to change my rear struts and thought I might add a few notes from my own experience. I pretty much followed his write-up, so my stuff is only an add on, not a replacement article.
1) If you don't have a helper (I couldn't find one at the time I wanted to start) you can remove one of the two strut to knuckle bolts, then remove all three nuts at the top of the strut (inside the car), then go back and remove the last strut to knuckle bolt. There was enough friction between strut and knuckle that the strut didn't fall out. When it's time to reinstall, I shoved the strut up so the three bolts went into their holes up into the interior. Then I used a bit of the friction between the knuckle and strut to hold the strut in place while I went inside. The interior bolts stick up enough to get them started.
2) The allen wrench and socket bit: I found a new tool at Sears called the GearRachet. It works like a regular rachet except the extension is hollow. The rachet itself is like a racheting wrench and fits over the sockets/extension with a proprietary engagement. So basically I stuck their 17mm socket on the 3" extension, then just passed the allen wrench down through the hollow middle of this thing - once you see the GearRachet you will understand. BTW, I couldn't get enough force on the 17mm nut to turn it while holding the allen wrench all by myself, so I used an impact wrench to get it broke loose, then finished it off using the Gear Rachet and 6mm allen per write-up.
3) You will want a glue gun or some contact cement to glue back down these foam things they have covering the struts nuts inside and under the rear tray cover. I took the opportunity to use the glue gun to tack down some of the felt on the rear tray that was loose.
In all other ways I followed mbtoloczko's write-up (well one exception, I reused my stock springs), and all is now well. Speed bumps are no longer a truckish thing to cross.
