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shock replacement woes (really, really long)...
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Posted by kooch (more from kooch) on Sun, 3 Jun 2001 19:43:10 Share Post by Email
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well, let me tell you, replacing shocks is not for the weak at heart. i picked up a set of bilsteins on friday to dampen the bounce i was getting from the new jamex springs i recently put in. saturday morning was to be the day and i set out with good intentions. from all the talk on the board, i knew it would be a pita so i was ready with my dremel, liquid wrench and necessary tools. i had heard the driver's side was the hardest, so i figured i would start there and once done, would be on the downward slope to finish the other three. well, the downward slope was right...

i pulled in to the garage and started getting ready. loosened the lugs on the driver's side front wheel and grabbed my floor jack. damn thing wouldn't fit under the lift point (thank you lowering springs), so i had to lift from under the front cross member at the skidplate. lift, lift, lift... my jack reaches its upper limit of travel before it is high enough for the jackstands to fit under the sides. lovely. waht's more, as soon as the front wheels leave the ground, the car starts sliding backwards, dork, forgot the e-brake. drop it quick and front wheels grab. pull brake, block rear wheels. this car will kill me yet. get it up again and jackstand goes under the front cross member, don't know how comfortable i am with this. well, no choice. remove bolt for coolant tank and move it out of the way. peer down into the void and see the top of the shock bolt. can't reach it with my hand. douse it with liquid wrench. move to the passenger side, figure it is a 16mm socket needed. look at my tools: 13mm, 14mm, 15mm, 17mm, 18mm, wait, no 16mm. damn. put coolant tank back, drop car, tighten lugs, off to the store to buy a 16mm deep socket.

return with the necessary tools and feel good, we can make some headway. car back up onto the jack. idea, use the jack from the trunk to lift the side that extra bit to put it on the stands, yeah. no we feel safe. looking at the shock underneath, can't be so bad, it's all right here. more liquid wrench on the top. some on the bottom. put the wrench on the top and take a turn, yup, just like everyone said, bottom turns too, frozen. ok, out with the dremel, didn't need the damn 16mm socket anyway. i have 4 cutting discs left. plugged in, how am i supposed to fit it in the top with the abs lines in the way? can't. go to the bottom. let's cut this little plastic skirt, there's the shaft. now, if i cut the shaft with the tool, i can pull the top out the top. (more on that later). so here we go. on with the dremel, cutting into the shaft, we're fully committed now. 1/8" deep cut, disc catches, and breaks. ok, new one on, two more left. little more, catches and breaks. ok, one more, getting nervous. take my time get it close, breaks. damn. take hammer and start banging on the shaft, snap, yeah, woops, forgot to block the lower a-arm, drops to bottom of play. pull off lower mount bolt, pull off bottom piece of old shock. now, push the upper part up through the hole. nope. remembered the skirt is sitting on a small ring on the shaft it will only slide up off the shaft. back to ground zero, only nowhere to go now but forward.

no beer yet. borrow vise grips from neighbor, won't clamp on the shaft. out with my grinder. flatten two spots on shaft and clamp it tight. set up on top with my brand new 16mm deep socket. ready to go. grab both and crank. no go. crank again. no go. crank again, squeeeeek. quick check everything still connected, upper nut must have broke free. crank some more, squeek, squeek, squeek,... upper nut off, upper piece of shock drops below. valhalla! the worst is over! no.

open new bilstein box "front shock". set it up and stick it up into the top. ok, need to push up on shock to get it on the lower mounting stud. under with the floor jack (gotta love the jack stands) up goes the shock. slide it onto the stud and it stops. ok, how do i do this? take it off, drop it out of the top. try mounting bottom end first. won't slide on. bottom bushing looks different than the stock one, it has a metal sleeve in it. what the...? grab with plyers, twist, pull, won't budge. why would bilstein make a shock that had to be modified? can't be right. checked box again "front shock". i quit. go inside the house. grumpy with the wife. "how's it going?" crappy. "you'll get it" no i won't. i call the owner of the local indy shop (he trusted me with his home number once, but didn't want to impose on saturday morning.). he say's the rear shock has the metal sleev in it, you sure you grabbed the right one? hang up, back to garage, check the other box, no metal sleeve, yeah. what a dork.

slide in top, slide on bottom, we're there. on with the bottom washer and nut. set torque wrench to 70lbs per bently, on she goes. crank, crank,.... uh oh, now its turning easier. damn, stripped, never got to torque spec. won't back off either. well, it's not going anywhere. a little red loctite and at least i can drive it to the shop. on with the upper nut. uh oh, now the shock is spinning. cna't do like i did with the old one. damn. grab the skirt, still spins underneath. ok, i'll put on the wheel and set the car down. maybe it will hold the shock enough to tighten it. put on the wheel and raise the car with the emergency jack to get it off the jack stand. remove the stand and down we go. car comes down and jack shifts. bottom skoots inward and drops the eyelet onto the ground, great, how do i get this out? use floor jack, but if i drop it here, i won't be able to remove it since i couldn't fit it under here in the first place. under the rear lift point. up she goes. jack reaches upper limit, not high enough. damn, will it ever end? out with the hammer. this piece of sh!t emergency jack it coming out now. bam! out it pops. down with the jack. able to pull it from the rear (front sits a little lower). back to the upper nut on the shock (i'll need to get a new jack for the trunk now). nope, upper nut still spins. call my indy guy again. he says put it back together and leave the other three for tomorrow, i'll meet you in the shop at 8am. take it easy on the way in. ok, hang up. pick everything up and lock the car for the night. time for beer. 5 1/2 hour today and i got one shock out and back in (and not even completely back in at that). i can build an engine but can't change a freaking shock.

head into the shop the next morning. yup, upper nut stayed on. impact wrench, zip, 20 seconds, done. did the front passenger side in about 15 minutes with impact wrench. gotta love the air. finished whole job in about 2 hours. had to do some cutting on the rears, but not too bad.

all in all, i like the upgrade, feels tight and sharp. not too rough, just right. glad with the choice. however, i have learned that i will never try this at home again. or, better, yet, maybe purchase a compressor, yeah, that's it...
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