Hi, I have a 92 EG HB with Tein RS ITR struts currently that are too rough for crappy northern roads (from the south originally) so I was going to replace them with some ITR struts (at least that's what I think they are) I had laying around but after scratching my head for hours, I just can't make them fit on the forks because they are about an inch longer than the Teins!

According to the Haynes manual, it's a simple 4 bolt job (7, if you actually detach the stabilizer bar from the the lower control arm, which seems unnecessary.) The Tein struts fit in perfectly, just like in all the videos on youtube, but the other ones just sit on the axle with no way of putting them into the fork.

What am I missing? Am I trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? If someone could do me a favor, measure your stock front EG struts for me. Thanks for helping!

 

Remove the bolt fastening the shock fork and lca.

 

I did, that's like one of the first things to do. In the picture the fork is just sitting on the axle. I can be pretty oblivious when it comes to stuff, but I'm not that bad.

 

You didn't detach the swaybar... Are you jacking only one side up?

 

Its not sitting on the axle in the pic. Yes...the stock shocks being 1" longer than shortened, track oriented shocks is normal.

Jacking up one side with the swaybar connected would be my guess as well. Or the bushings were clocked to match the Tein ride height.

 

I have a tiny 1 car garage to work in, so yes, I'm only jacking 1 side up. I don't ever remember needing to jack both sides up for something like this, or even needing to detach the swaybar, which I did for the sake of following directions(sometime after taking the picture).

Edit: I'm just curious if either of you could explain why the swaybar or not jacking it up on both sides would affect it so much, when I disconnected it on the side I was working on, it barely did anything.

 

Well...a sway bar's job is to keep the suspension level. Its a torsional spring.

When you lift one side of the car, the lifted side tries to droop. The ground side will compress due to weight shifting.

BUT....since you have a sway bar, it will try to compress the side you jacked up, because the opposite side is compressing. It tries to level the suspension.

Your past shocks were 1" shorter than your ITR shocks and you're compressing the non-jacked side.. So now your swaybar is REALLY trying to push/pull up the wheel you lifted.

Lift both the front wheels using the front central jacking point. Do the fronts. Then put the fronts down and lift the rear of the car using the rear central jacking point to do the rears.

Again....you may also be fighting bushings that were clocked to the ride height of your teins. But...maybe not, and they weren't clocked because nobody properly installs things.

 

A pry bar to pry down on the suspension would make your life easier. You could also loosen (but not remove) the bolts:
-LCA to chassis
-UCA to chassis
-Disconnect sway bar link

The suspension will droop. BUT....don't re-tighten those bolts with the suspension at droop!! You'll need to compress the suspension to ride-height to tighten those bolts or you will rip the bushings.

Further tips:
-Attach the upper damper fork to the shock first and tighten the 14mm pinch bolt (this one is ok to tighten at droop).

-Then attach the 17mm head lower damper bolt (don't tighen this until you compress the suspension).

-Leave the swaybar disconnected on one side. If one side is disconnected, it will de-activate the bar. Re-attach it after the install on that axle is complete.

When you move to the rears, it makes it easier to reinstall the stock suspension if you remove the UCA.

 

BTW, if you're selling those Teins...LMK.

 

Lol

Because that's how a swaybar works...

At least you didn't delete your lame response before admitting you were doing it wrong.

Jack the whole front or rear of thr car next time. And use jackstands. You can support the front under the cross member if you have to. Not the tow hooks, they bend.

 

Honestly... fit the ITR struts with the forks removed from the vehicle. Then as a complete unit, drop the fork down over the axle and lca, and then move the assembly up and bolt in the top hat. Simple as that.

 

^that is significantly more difficult.

 

Significantly more difficult, as in undoing the lower fork bolt and the two top hat bolts? I disagree.

 

You fail to recognize the problem, which was already solved.