1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
 | [Main 95 Bulletin Board | BBFAQ |
Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ]
Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
not too bad diy... Posted by Snowmobile [Email]  (#686)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Snowmobile) on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 06:58:50
In Reply to: Re: Rear suspension is still quite a job. Pic attached., Bill h., Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:28:11 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I got an electric impact gun for $30 and I find I use it all the time now - it makes routine things go faster (though I still hand start and hand torque everything at the end). The impact wrench is hardly needed for this job except for speed - it is only minimally beneficial in removing "stuck" fasteners because it is fairly low torque, eg compared to air tools... I use liquid wrench to make my life easier, and if it's stuck enough I couldn't remove it by hand with a wrench + muscle, the impact gun is unlikely to do much better - that's when I break out the 4' long solid 3/4" drive breaker bar... So, while I recommend getting an impact gun anyway, I recommend getting a big breaker bar as well (and that was twice as expensive). I only needed that to crack the big lower shock bolts (high torque + salt belt corrosion), but I've used it on many other jobs! both quickly pay for themselves if you value your time!
Other than that, spring compressor cost $15 on sale. they are Chinese made, but beefy enough and held up fine for this job (even for the larger springs up front). Be aware though that compressed, you are handling a loaded gun: don't look down the barrel! be careful!
most of the effort is getting the car jacked up and the wheels off. 5 bolts/wheel, 5 bolts for suspension. but the lower bolt requires some oomph. I actually had more trouble getting the shock off the lower perch with the bolt out than getting the bolt out. It can get pressed in kind of tight (but others found this easy - must vary from car to car).
Top nut is easy (even after salt). Liquid wrench, clean dirt out of threads (as much as feasible), vice grips on the nut (you're not reusing that anyway), 7mm socket over the tip of the shock (if your car still has the OEM Sachs). ratchet driving the socket, lever with the vice grips while holding the ratchet against the floor. takes barely a minute to remove even covered in rust!
replacing rubber parts in the shock assy isn't a bad idea (though I didn't - they looked fine). Replacing the upper cup might make sense as they corrode and the new part is cheap. there's a lower hanger external to the assy that also corrodes - might want to change that while things are apart, but not at all necessary.
I used some short spacers on the konis, but I also put wagon springs on the sedan, so possibly a different scenario than for you - probably you need a pretty tall spacer for that amount of sag.
I didn't do the bushings. Probably should have but I didn't have the rosebush tool and I was only at 80k and had a tire emergency (so bad the car had to be garaged until I had it fixed). Watch for inside edge tire wear! May do bushings in the future, but even without those, the car feels much better!
Up front I reused the factory springs, new konis, replaced nothing else. Was all pretty good at 80k. Probably unnecessary work, except I wanted konis on all 4 corners. Top nut was slightly more tricky iirc, but I might have used the impact wrench here because it spins fast... 6 months later did the sway bar links to remove a clunk (no alignment required for that, so can separate those jobs, but saves time if you are due - I didn't have the parts on hand at the time and we needed the car on the road even though I could see the boots were torn)...
Take it to a saab indy for alignment. They will know how to get it right. Ours shoots for closer to zero camber in the back.
good luck!
->Posting last edited on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:04:35.
, Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:24:53
, Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:27:00, Sun, 16 Jun 2013 08:09:52, Mon, 17 Jun 2013 06:58:50 <-- Viewing This Message
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
