Well, the job is finally done.  My 2000 Max, with 100K on the odometer,
is once again handling like a slot car after I installed a set of
Tokico shock and struts.

In retrospect, the job was fairly simple but not without problems.  It
turns out that I was guilty of overkill by ordering new strut mounts
prior to disassembly.  The old ones turned out to be fine.  The new
ones were from KYB and I didn't notice that they were not as thick
where the threaded part of the strut shaft goes.  Consequently, when I
got everything back together I couldn't fully tighten the nut that fits
on the end of the shaft and holds the whole shebang together.  I ended
up ruining one of the struts when I tried to tighten the nut while
grabbing the threaded part of the shaft with a pair of vice grips after
(wrapping the threads with tape.  Note to group -- please don't flame
me for this ham-fisted moment of poor judgment, I've suffered enough
already.

The supplier I bought the parts from doesn't want to give me a refund
on the strut mounts (I've decided to eat the strut because I screwed it
up plain and simple) because I had installed them and should have
noticed that they were the wrong parts.  I kinda see their point.
However, they should have provided me with the correct part in the
first place.  So I'm torn about disputing the charge for the mounts on
my credit card.  What would you do?

Gerry