Lowering woes..

k im getting ticked.

i was gonna lower my car like a month ago with a friend and he cancelled, was gonna lower it a few weeks later with another friend but she got called into work, then was going to lower it with a diff friend but he got a job interview and then they hired him and scheduled him to work the rest of the day so i said **** it ill do it myself.

so i invite my moms friend over (who knows im not fond of him and will do anything for me to like him because hes dating my mom and doesnt want her son to hate him if they end up getting married) so he sure as hell would be on time and not cancel.

so.. i follow the nice tutorial that csaddict was so kind to provide and get everything taken out (shock, spring, lower fork, brake line bolts - that stuff) and then we go to take off the last nut on the top of the shock and we start to try taking it off and the damn thing just spins the piston in the shock so my moms friend was like ok we cant go any farther, gotta put it back together. so... i got really pissed.

i went to riebes and talked to the manager there (really smart with imports.. i talk to him when i have trouble all the time) and he says to just clamp down the top part that sticks out then use pliers to undo the nut and im like omg why didnt i think of that. so now im going to do it tomorrow or wednesday probably...

hope ya got a spring compressor

good luck with it, let us know how it turns out

ok so that pliers idea doesnt work...

i rented a spring compressor this morning and borrowed my friends jack in high hopes of finally getting my car lowered but NO! that damn bitch nut on the top of the strut still wont come off! i held down the top of the piece that sticks out the top of the strut with some pliers with hella long handles (more torque) and used another pair to turn the nut and guess what? the whole thing just spun (the piece that sticks out the top of the strut just slipped out of grip of the pliers!)

i even sprayed a bunch of wd-40 and tapped on the nut with the end of a wrench to see if there was some rust or something that was holding it in place.

im so angry why does God hate me? whenever i want to do ANYTHING with my car its like NO! ..... it never works out for me!!!!

It the nut spinning or are you just spinning the shock rod?

I had to cut the rear tops off mine. Sawzall ate through them both with one blade in about 5 mins each.

spinning the stock rod

Have you gotten the nut off yet?

nah, im waiting on a solution before i mess with it any more..

try to put everything back and then loose that nut first.....b4 continiung all the procedure.

yea thats what ive been doing, whenever i think of something ive been leaving everything alone except that nut on top of the strut and trying to take it off but it just spins the rod...

Try WD40 overnight.
In the morning take a rubber mallet to it, just bag on top of the nut. Try the wrench again.

You are probably going to have to take the shocks off the car to get the nut off.

Usually you should at least try to loosen it before unmounting.

You need to get that shock rod clamped down so it does not move and the only way is off the car.

ive tried wd40 overnight... no luck :(

heres a question.. if i am able to get the nut off while the shock is still installed (bolted to the lower fork and axle and whatnot) what will happen? will it like fly off or not because the weight of the car is still on it. but then once i got it unbolted from the lower fork and pulled it out then it would fly wouldnt it because theres nothing holding the spring compressed?

remove the shock/spring & compress it
on the top of the rod inside the lock nut should be a place to insert an allen wrench. Thats what holds the rod still while removing the lock nut. The nut just should be easy enough to remove with a regular length wrench.

Do not compress the spring more than is needed to remove the top lock nut!

some friends told me to use the allen wrench on the top as well but i have KYB GR2's and theres no spot for that, its just rectangle on the top....

Have you tried using th correct size wrench to hold the rod still?

Wrenches will work a lot better than some pliers for this porcess.

only wrench we have is a socket wrench set, my dad doesnt exactly do ANYTHING on his car (not even ADD oil) so he doesnt have any tools for stuff... i might be able to get him to buy some though

Using the correct tools for the job helps.

Remove your spring/shocks & bring them to a suspension place or some where that has a spring compressor. Pay them to do it or use that $$$$ and purchase the correct tools.