I bought tires for my 15 x 7s, and was planning on mounting them, but figured I might was well throw my RB springs and my Tokicos on there, seeing I went to all the trouble of buying them and all.

I need one of those spring compressor things from Autozone, right? What else? I would really rather not kill myself, so any advice/helpful hints are welcome.

 

ive changed the shocks in the rear. it was a pain if you strip out the top of the shock.

i dunno about struts and springs.

 

A spring compressor is all you'll need. Make sure you get a good one that has dual hold down bars for both sides of the springs to ensure a stable and complete grip. Tighten each side down back and forth to ensure a uniform press.

 

1/2" drive impact gun for the top nut on the shocks and struts. Makes life so much easier.

 

Now, I thought I remembered reading something about the car will sometimes sit uneven in the front when you change the springs and struts... Is there a way to avoid that?

 

double check your work? ive never heard of that if you do it all right? idk.

 

I used a battery power rattle gun to break loose that top nut, there is a step by step how to on this in here somewhere, just do a search.

Rear end is very simple, rear springs will drop out when you remove the rear shocks and left the rear end hang.

 

the biggest problem you will be faced with is breaking the nut on top of the front struts. i had some GSLSE strut assemblies off that im using for my 5 lug swap and me and my buddies have tried and tried and couldnt break it. we tried everything; 3 vise grips to hold the shaft in place while the nut broke while using an air gun, didnt work. finally today we just took it to my job and cut the shaft on the old shock insert.

while having all this trouble with these nuts, one of my friends tried to break the ones that were still on the car, and he did with just a plain rachet. the car was on jack stands in the rear so there was extra pressure being applied to the front, i dont know if that helped or not.

one things you need to be very aware of is the fact that the spring is VERY DANGEROUS. you need to get the spring compressors front autozone, as i did. its $40 to rent and you get it all back when you take them back. the whole time you are messing with the assembly you need to have the spring compressed. you get two compressors, you one on each side of the spring. if that spring were to break look and come flying off, we might end up down a rotorhead, and none of want that now do we

also, there is a nut at the top of the strut tube. when you have everything off youll definately see it. its what holds the shock inside the tube. we broke this very easily using a monkey wrench and a vise. ive heard many stories of going through hell to get that off, but it is very easy with a vise. so try to find one, without a vise im not even sure what the heck we would have used.

good luck with the task and try not to knock yourself out with that spring

 

Exactly what i went through about 2 months ago except my top nut wasn't that bad, 18V battery powered rattle gun got it, I did put the shaft of the shock into a vise as the shock was junk anyway..

 

I'll probably just swap my rear end while I'm at it... I have a disc brake rear just itchin' to go on.

 

You will also need to remove one bolt from each control arm and two from the watts linkage that attach them to the rear housing. Also remove the brake lines and drive shaft and presto its out. Reverse to reinstall. Oh my rear sway bar is removed so you'll need to get that out of the way also.

This is a good time to replace bushings or modify to suit your needs.

 

As all above said ... i've never done struts and spring ever in life before because people kept on scraing me with the springs ... but now that i've done it there's nothing to it really. That top nut on the strut is quite a pain, i just bought an impact, made my fat brother sit on the car and half an hour later they came out, just keep on going away at them. I didn't even need to put vise grips at the bottom to hold the shaft ... another thing make sure you have two pipe wrenches handy to remove the from strut from the housing, thats almost as hard as the top nut depending on rust situation. A craw bar does also come in a bit handy in the back to remove the stock springs and put on the new ones (it all depend on how much you drop the rear end). Lasty, whatchout for the rubber stops on the rear when i did mine they broke (cause the rubber has basically dried out). also when putting on the front shock assembly on, try to use a torque wrench for them, I broke off one accidentally, They just seem pretty easy to break. if that happens 2 options salvage one from junk yard or drill a whole and intall a bolt and nut in there. Lastly, Make sure that the shock assembly go back in the same way they were for factory toe and heel purposes. I just took a colored marker and marked a line on the body and on the shock assembly.

Sorry for the long essay but that should cover just about every prob you get with them.

 

I must be confused. There was a thread here recently that discussed this, and I was told that you could just remove the nuts at the top, then slowly jack the car up to remove the strut assemblies. No spring compressor needed. What am I missing here?

Thanks,
Rich

 

i put a bunch of gear clamps around the spring to keep it from shooting around, not the safest way... but it works. there isnt really a lot of pressure on the springs when these cars are jacked up anyways.

 

Once the strut is out you need to disassemble it, that's when you need the spring compressors. The springs are under a lot of pressure.

 

I think that he was refering to the back ones, i've heard that too from people too, but in my case i still had to compress them not much but just a tad, the new ones because they were lowering spring they just slid in.

 

If you are referring to only the rear shocks, you are correct. This thread is confusing because some replies address the FRONT struts / shocks. I'm not messing with the front; only the rear.

I will be doing this procedure as I swap out my rear axle assy for the GSL; hopefully, before the "Tail-of-the-Dragon" rotary meet! I think I have everything to proceed, now; including a new air compressor and 1/2" impact wrench! I admit that I am abit intimidated in this task. But, I figure that if I can swap out an entire motor successfully, then I should be able to do this =)

I'll be taking detailed photos upon doing this as I've yet to find any visual references for this swap procedure. With some luck, I'll be done with this in time to drive up to Fonatana Dam with all the rest of the rotarys for the meet.

 

The original post was general about changing springs and shocks, not mentioning rear s only.

OK Big Hint of the Day

If the top bolt on the rear shocks wont come off because the strut spins do this. Find an old socket that fits over the nut on the top of the shock, put an extension onto the socket, get a big hammer and hammer the socket back and forward a few time and the top of the shock will break off.

The shock will then drop down if the lower bolt is already disconnected. Job done, nice and simple.

 

(sorry in advance for the hijack)

So if I dont own any spring clamps, impact guns, air ratchets or most any of the tools mentioned in this post, I should probably get some help with this?

 

$100T2, with all the how too posts you have made, I am suprised you even asked how to do this. Rear shocks are easy, and safe, with proper jacking and stands. The hardest part is breaking the rusty shock bolts at the bottom and then hoping the the shaft doesn't spin when removing the top nut. That is where an impact shines. If it does, try clamping vise grips on the the top tip and wrenching the nut loose.

There is a special socket out there for shocks and struts, but not all of the shaft tops are the same.

 

Yeah, I really want to do the bushings too.

 

I was thinking I would break the nut while it's on the car (not all the way, just a little), then remove everything.

 

Where the hell do you live man.

 

Thats when visa comes in ... buy all the equipment you need for a day or two and go in the next day and tell him the wife didn't want you blowing the money on stupid stuff like this. Lol

 

For the rear you will want to have a Large wrench set and it helps to have a 1/2 drive set. Air will make the job very easy. I have pulled 3 and only used a ratchet. It is almost an easy job to do. I take the swaybar off by removing the mounts to the body. It is a good idea to have a pry bar to help push the watts link off the rear.


On the rear stuts, ON the ones I have pulled. The top has a rectangle part so that you can hold it with a small wrench or vice grips, to losten the two nuts, Losten the top one first and then the second, while holding the strut body with the wrench. Once you see the top of it you will fully understand what I am talking about.



On the fronts, Break the top nut before you pull every thing or use air to zip it off after taking every thing apart.

One way ( Not really safe) is to put the car on stands. Put your jack under the lower control arm and jack it up. remove the top nut and then lower the jack. once it clears they sometimes go flying out. Could also pop up and bang the fender.