chrisyd

Hi all
Could someone give me some indepth instructions on changing out a front shock, got two new units to fit this weekend due to leakage on the original units. Think i know basically what i'm doing but would appreciate some hints and tips from anyone who has done this before.

cheers

bigsky

Pretty straightforward. Remove wheels. You'll need to undo the speed sensor and brake line brackets. Mark the upper strut bolt and strut so you can get the eccentric bolts to line up when reinstalling (not critical if your getting an alignment when your done). Loosen both bolts (they can be on there very tight). Open the hood and remove the three nuts at the top of the struts. Go back to the bottom bolts and remove, the strut/spring assembly should slide out nicely.

You'll know need a spring compressor to tighten the spring while you remove the top nut. Loosen the compressor slowly and the top and spring will become seperated from the strut. Pay careful attention of the orientation of the spring, upper spring seat and all washers, etc. Reassemble w/ new strut- torque on top nut is 41 ft lbs, the three top nuts are only 14.5 ft lbs- don't over torque, the bottom bolts are 140 ft lbs.

You can go to scoobymods.com (look in the GC8 section) for a tutorial w/ pics.

bigsky

dnb

It helps to loosen the large top nut in the centre of the damper when there is weight on the car (before you jack it up etc). It will save having problems later when there's nothing but a compressed spring to hold...