Gas Shocks

GreyGoose006 · #1 05-04-2006, 04:19 PM

Im having the worst time getting my new KYB gas shocks on. the rears were easy enough, but the rears are proving to be a real hassle. i cant get them to compress enogh to bolt them in. right now im using ramps which may not be the best way, but im not sure im comfortable being under a car that is only held up by a jack. any ideas on how to do this correctly?

1986Z28 · #2 05-05-2006, 01:08 PM

i imagine you have the jack under the rearend, its keeping the weight of the car on the rear suspension, go buy some jackstands and put them under the frame rails to let the rear end hang down a bit, making it easier to install the shocks

GreyGoose006 · #3 05-05-2006, 05:21 PM

no, you misunderstood. i did the rears easy enough by rolling the car on to ramps and compressing the shocks enough that i could put them on. the problem is that in the front there is not enough room to do this. i have jack-stands, but im not sure how to use them.

1986Z28 · #4 05-05-2006, 05:41 PM

oooohh, i was confused because of this the rears were easy enough, but the rears are proving to be a real hassle, didnt know what you meant so, if you have jackstands, there easy to use just jack up the front end, stick under the frame rail(dont know the exact position for your car) lower the car down slowly, dont let the jack down all the way, then check to make surethe car isnt going to move(wheel lock a good idea but a block of wood will also work) then just take out the jack

CD Smalley · #5 05-05-2006, 10:59 PM

GEt a deep socket and as long as possible of an extension. Put the on the nut on top and start rocking it back and forth. Eventually, you will break the shaft and the shock should drop free once you remove the two lower bolts.

GreyGoose006 · #6 05-05-2006, 11:08 PM

Sorry, i have become inept at typing.

the top seems to screw into a nut on the top of where the spring mounts. the nut seems to be hidden from the bottom.
am i just missing something obvious here?

alphalanos · #7 05-05-2006, 11:17 PM

You should be able to see the shock mount bolts as well as the shock rod bolt from inside the engine bay.

silicon212 · #8 05-06-2006, 12:09 AM

The nut that holds the top of the shock onto the body mounts through the frame (with the shock below the frame) and is accessible from under the hood. Look down at the upper control arm, you will see the nut toward the top between the control arm bushings. You might need to hold the shaft to prevent it from turning while loosening and removing this nut - a pair of channellock pliers work great here. Just don't use them on the new shock.

You will first have to jack the car up as if to change the tire - jack it up high enough where you can put a jackstand under the frame behind where you have the jack. Lift it high enough so that the bottom of the tire is about 2-3" off of the ground - you will want as much height as possible here. After removing the top nut and the two bolts on the bottom of the shock, it will easily come down through the spring and out the bottom. Installation is the reverse of removal; however you will likely want to compress the new shock a bit before installing it, and get one of those bottom bolts in before it totally uncompresses. Pay particular attention to the rubber bushing that mates with the frame - on the shock rod with the nut.

Blue Bowtie · #9 05-06-2006, 06:28 AM

And don't forget to bleed/purge the shocks before you install them. I'll bet almost no one does that any more, but it's just as important with gas-charged shocks.

GreyGoose006 · #10 05-06-2006, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Bowtie

And don't forget to bleed/purge the shocks before you install them. I'll bet almost no one does that any more, but it's just as important with gas-charged shocks.

Well i wish i had read this before i finished installing them. what does this mean and how do you do it? is it important enough that i want to un install them and re do the whole thing?

btw, the nut on the top of the shaft was accessable thru a hole in the upper control arm. after using lots of WD-40 and much swearing, i managed to get the nut off. channel locks were absolutely no help in holding the shaft. i ended up needing to get a set of vice grips so tight that they were nearly impossible to un lock before they would hold the shaft hard enough to get the nut off (WOW that sounds gay)

the new shocks are KYB gas shocks and as you know, gas shocks are load-bearing, so compressing them was no easy task. i used a jack to get them into place and hold them there.

anyway, now it rides w/ much more control. the only complaint is that the car now rides 2-3 inches higher than before.
Oh Well, i can just get some 22" and it'll look O.K.
J.K
i wouldnt reeely do that

GreyGoose006 · #11 05-06-2006, 03:02 PM

Oh and thanks for all the help... ;-)

Blue Bowtie · #12 05-07-2006, 05:42 AM

If they are gas charged shocks and came with a retention band, you should have released the band whne the shocks were upright. There is no way to get 100% oil fill in a shock, so allowing the shock to extend while upside-down can introduce some air into the dampening cylinder. The only problem with this is that fine control is lost since the first bit of travel is unmetered because the valves don't do well with air instead of oil.

GreyGoose006 · #13 05-07-2006, 10:26 AM

the rears came w/ a retention band, and i attached them at the top, then released the band and pushed them onto the bottom mounts on their way down. the fronts had no bands

TommySS · #14 05-08-2006, 08:36 PM

bleed/purge? You mean cycle the shock, right?

It's not difficult to swap shocks, but you need to allow the lower A-arm to hang low (jack car from frame). Bolt the bottom portion of the shock into he lower A-arm, and then slowly raise the lower A-arm. Then add the nuts onto the top shaft of the shock and torque to spec.

silicon212 · #15 05-08-2006, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TommySS

bleed/purge? You mean cycle the shock, right?

It's not difficult to swap shocks, but you need to allow the lower A-arm to hang low (jack car from frame). Bolt the bottom portion of the shock into he lower A-arm, and then slowly raise the lower A-arm. Then add the nuts onto the top shaft of the shock and torque to spec.

The only problem with this is that a new shock is going to be fully extended, and that's a larger distance than the top mount to the bottom mount with the arms in the fully lowered position (as low as they'll go without removing the lower ball joint). The shock has to be compressed in order for the thing to even have a chance of getting the bottom bolts in. I generally take a shock from the box, remove the retention band, then compress it all the way in and hope I have the shaft lined up with the hole in the frame - because it's going in fast. Once one of the bottom bolts is in at least two threads, you can finish installing it. I always tighten the top nut as the last sequence of the procedure. I also disregard what a manual says pertaining to torque on the nut - I tighten it down until the bushing begins to distort - whether with rubber or urethane. In 25 years I've never had one come loose - but I have saved a few bushings.

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