suspension change walkthrough/ help need

[Critical_Mass 10]

yeah i had the car elevated with a trolley jack under the wish bone. let that get as low as possible then i undid the bolts s holding the suspension to the hub and just pulled the suspension down and out

 

yeah that is key, i spent ages trying to get one of the struts in or out, all i needed to do was raise the car more so the wishbone fell far enough down.

[fla 9]

finished the rear two shocks today a real pain as the beam does not allow the shock to pull out from the wheel arch. My dad had to stand on the beam to push ot down sufficiently to give us some clearance. Plus the bottom bolt was stuck solid and it broke one of my sockets trying to open it. Rear shocks definitely require two people, unless there is some way to lower the swing arm.

[Critical_Mass 10]

Strange, Once id taken the shockers off i decided to lower the car a bit on the jack and the stub axles raised into the arch. Jacking it up higher caused the stub axles to drop the higher it was raised.

[officejunkie 0]

I did this job on the weekend it was a bit of a 'mare when i got to the front suspension. im trying to be quick with this walk through so try to use common sense. Its not a really hard job - just a pain.

 

Ok lets see - you will require some extra tools for this job.

 

17mm, 19mm 22mm and an 18mm spanner / socket and ratchet.

Breaker bar - or as i did a 6ft scaffolding pole.

Special suspension dismantler socket - this is used for the front only. £8.00 from GSF

a 7mm allen key - most sets come with a 6 and an 8 but NO 7 - why is that!! :censored:

A 22mm 02 sensor bung removal tool - it has a big slot in it that allows you to remove the top nut while holding the shock shaft with an allen key..

Spring clamps

Buy new top mount bushes for the rear and new top mounts for the front (you may as well as you dont ever want to take the suspension off again if you can help it!)

 

Ok if like me you bought coilovers you need to make sure that both the rears and the fronts are all built up and adjusted to the same level - i always do this part first for some reason. If they came with instructions =- always handy to read these.

 

lets start with the rears, this is easy as its a very simple arrangement.

 

Take out your rear shelf and put the back seats down.

Remove the rear shelf supports - there are four 8mm bolts holding this on and a crosshead screw.

 

Now you will have access to the top of the rear shocks. take the caps off.

 

Crack the wheel nuts loose

Jack BOTH sides of the car up and support the car with axel stands - this will make your life much more simple trust me.

Take the wheels off.

 

Now take a good look at how the suspension is fitted - its simply held on by two nuts one at the bottom and one at the top.

 

Spray copious amounts of WD40 or similar on the nut at the bottom - and dont forget to spray inside the rear axle where the bolt goes through. - remember both sides.

 

Have a minute to let it soak. Choose a side and attach the spring clamps on to the spring, no need to do them up too tight! just enough to give the spring some tension.

 

Undo the bottom bolt with a 17mm (i think!) now go to the top of the rear suspension and remove the top nut. remember which order things came off. renew any old bushings.

 

Get the new suspension fit the bushes onto it and then place into final position. and do the suspension bolts up nice and tight.

 

Same thing other side. the reason why this was so easy to remove is that both sides were hanging down thus giving you just enough room to remove the suspension!!

 

Ok once you have done the rears then its time to move onto the fronts.

 

Now prepare your self for war here, the fronts are a little more difficult.

 

crack wheel nuts - jack up and axel stands - remove wheel - spray bottom two bolts with plenty of wd40.

 

get an 19mm socket - preferable a impact gun socket! and your decent ratchet / breaker bar. slide the scaffolding pole over the end and then give her some basterd. When i did mine i was able to swing on the end of the scaffolding pole. once it starts moving put the 18mm spanner on the nut and then use all your human strength to undo the bolt. Undo the other one with the same method but leave the bolt in for now.

 

Now to undo the top nut - Get your 02 sensor removal tool, and the 7mm allen key - the allen key must go in first and then you should be able to hold the shock shaft while turning the 22mm o2 bung. This takes a little patience. God help you if he-man also did this nut - it wasnt too bad on mine.

 

Now you will take off the top plate and the nut you will see a nut with two grooves cut into it - here you use the special socket to remove it that you got from GSF / similar.. put the spring clamps on to hold tensoin of the spring. now undo this slotted nut - the shock should sink to the bottom of its travel (if its not too knackered!)

 

Now the key to removal is to undo the bolt and then hold the spring and then slide out the shock into the space between the driveshaft and the wishbone. This will allow you to separate the spring and shock and remove them both.

 

Get your new /old top mount undo the top nut on the new suspension, place the top mount on and then fix on the slotted nut till its nice and tight. now offer up the suspension to the turret and place the top nut on. You can jack up the bottom of the disk to meet the bolt holes and put the bolt through.

 

Now as they say fitting is the reverse of removal. -- do the same as the other side.

 

now you have it all fitted and everything is on nice and tight its time to start the adjustments.

 

i got a tape measure and counted the amount of distance between the bottom platform locking ring and the bottom of the threads and made sure both were the same distance.

 

Put the wheels on drop it down see how it sits, the spring perch needs to be lower to go lower and higher to go higher. get your desired drop but always make sure your springs have some tension and dont rattle loosely.

 

If you get stuck with any of this - post up.

[Critical_Mass 10]

Nice write up mate. TBH if you need instead of this dismantler bolt is a deep set ring spanner of the same size and also a 7mm allen key that has a handle on it. Allen key is about £6 and deep set spanner cost about £5.

[fla 9]

I've got some air tools, makes it hugely easier. Compressor was about £70 from screwfix and pnuematic drill was about £20 from a hardware supplier. Plus various sockets etc. Also used a 2 foot breaker bar, proabably one of the most useful tools i have bought, about £8, iirc last year.

[The Hub 0]

Just to update this thread, I am about to change my suspension and found this helpful article on the interweb....

 

http://www.conrod.co.uk/susp.html