swapping shocks

[Scanny]

is this a job that a novice can do? i mean novice as in i wont even touch my brake pads so the idea of removing the shocks and fitting coilovers is a little daunting. in a step by step format, what is involved?

[Humpty's Revenge]

Rear are easy, fronts are not hard to do

Rears you need to take out your load cover if you have one then undo the screw you find under that then remove plastic piece. You will see 2 14mm nuts crack them of but not all the way.

There is no need to undo the centre nut, then take of rear wheels & there is a 17mm bolt, crack that off & remove. Then go undo the top 14mm ones, job done.

To refit put the shock back up in the hole & do up the 14mm nuts but just enough to hold it in place.

Then use cooper grease on the bottom bolt Etc, you may have to either push the shock up to get it to slid back on, then do up all bolts to what your happy with but not to tight on the top ones, refit plastic

Front crack open the 3 14mm nuts at the top but do not remove yet. You will need to remove the wheels then undo the 17mm bolt that goes through the fork to hold the strut in place.

Then undo the fork that goes through the lateral arm, note you may have to undo the drop link as well but do not knacker the thread.

Remove fork then go back & undo the 14mm nuts up on the strut top. The strut should just slid out from under neath but mind the gators.

To refit slide the shock back up in to the top & do up the 14mm nuts just enough to hold it in place.

Then put the fork back on with a little cooper grease around the bottom of the strut, now be careful as there fork needs to be 99% all the way up the strut until you get to the metal flange about an 1" & a quarter.

Be careful you don't cross thread the bolt when you refit it in the fork. Then you can either refit the drop link or push down on the front hub to get the bolts back through the lateral arm

Then do up everything you took of to how your happy with but do not over tighten the 3 top nuts or you could sheer the bolt of.

Hopefully you can see as you go along what I mean, good luck

[Scanny]

cheers Steve. that all sounds fairly straight forward. loosen the tops but remove and refit the bottom first.

this is my first choice if Jen gets back to me about the coilovers today and the price is right. failing that i will need to order a set of tein springs from camskill before i go to work tomorrow and get someone else to fit them for me so i can have the car retested on friday

[Atik]

Top man Steve. Very thorough

[Scanny]

thats why i made it clear i wanted an idiots guide Atik :d

i fitted both strut braces but underneath the car scares me. thats where screw ups mean big problems and i dont compromise safety

[Humpty's Revenge]

cheers Steve. that all sounds fairly straight forward. loosen the tops but remove and refit the bottom first.

this is my first choice if Jen gets back to me about the coilovers today and the price is right. failing that i will need to order a set of tein springs from camskill before i go to work tomorrow and get someone else to fit them for me so i can have the car retested on friday

Almost bud, when removing make sure everything is undone & nothing attached keeping the top nuts loose so you have movement, then remove said top nuts it will then fall out.

To refit put the shocks back in the top holes & do up the nuts enough to hold it in place & also to give you the all important movement then do everything up at the bottom, basiclly reverse procedure if that's what you meant?

Good luck it is pretty straight forward.


Top man Steve. Very thorough

:embarasse/thankyou

[Wodjno]

Very good Steve..

Just a couple of things to add though..

1. Wire brush all the threads and bolt head, where nuts are gonna be removed the day before and give the a good dosing of WD40 or summat similar. Especially the drop links.
2 I would order 2 x drop links as a matter of course. As these can be a barsteward to get off, as the metal seems to be very soft and the nut on the back of them will normally try to round itself off.
3. You may need a bar to lever down the lower arms enough to remove the shock once all the bolts have been removed and it's sitting on the drive shaft. When fitting the after market shocks you probably won't need to do this as they will be shorter and go in without the need to push the lower arms and drive shaft down.
4. On the rear shocks. The hole that go's through the bottom of the shock is chamfered. So 1 side is larger than the other. The after market shocks should be the same. The larger side go's on 1st.

[Scanny]

the rear droplinks were fitted not long ago. the standard ones were knackered so i had them replaced with blueprints. as for lubricants, i only have one car out of the 2 so that isnt really an option and its looking more and more likely that i will be getting springs since she hasnt replied since yesterday. the cut off is tomorrow lunchtime or i need to order from camskill. i want that broken spring off my car by friday!

[Wodjno]

the rear droplinks were fitted not long ago. the standard ones were knackered so i had them replaced with blueprints. as for lubricants, i only have one car out of the 2 so that isnt really an option and its looking more and more likely that i will be getting springs since she hasnt replied since yesterday. the cut off is tomorrow lunchtime or i need to order from camskill. i want that broken spring off my car by friday!

The rear droplinks don't need to be touched?

What do you mean as for lubricants, it isn't an option ?

[jayp]

If I remember rightly you don't need to touch the drop links if you have vehicle on stands (the only way I would even think about doing it) as both wheel stations will drop and you won't have to fight the arb

Sent from my HTC Desire S

[Scanny]

i cant apply WD40 to the car that i want the coilovers from before i am there to do the swap. i either go and do the swapover today (which is looking highly unlikely) or not at all. i dont even know where the car is yet. unless the seller takes them off and i only need to collect in which case the MOT tester can do the work on my car

i dont have axle stands either. standard car jack

[Scanny]

The rear droplinks don't need to be touched?

What do you mean as for lubricants, it isn't an option ?


2 I would order 2 x drop links as a matter of course. As these can be a barsteward to get off, as the metal seems to be very soft and the nut on the back of them will normally try to round itself off.

they dont need to be touched but they need to be taken off???

[aboo]

I never had to remove the drop links when I did the springs when I had the standard arb's but I did whith the upgraded arb's.

[Wodjno]

they dont need to be touched but they need to be taken off???

Only the fronts /pan

[Mark 4]

i dont have axle stands either. standard car jack[/QUOTE]

FFS put some blocks of wood under there. You do not want the car to fall on you.

[Scanny]

Only the fronts /pan

they have them on the front too??? told you, idiots guide lol

[Scanny]

i dont have axle stands either. standard car jack

FFS put some blocks of wood under there. You do not want the car to fall on you.[/QUOTE]

i have received a pm. either the owner knows what she is doing or i will hire someone who does. for the price i am willing to fork out for someone who knows what to do