Thanks for the clarification, zeit . . please stick around UB, we definitely need your excellent input & expertise here!! One question . . since I didn't remove the tie rods and ball joints, do I still need an alignment after the strut install? It seems to be tracking normal, no pulling to either side.
Anyhow, I sucked it up and decided to go for overnite shipping on the correct struts. Received and installed them Saturday morning. Man, what a difference . . now I'm looking for potholes instead of avoiding them
Only problem is that the new struts raised the front end by about 1-1/2", that tells you how badly shot the old ones were! Looks weird to me, makes my wheels look so small, but it's too late for lowering springs now
I'll try and get a writeup going in the next couple of days . .