how can i get the shock/spring assembly out since the lower arm is in the
way????

i'm sure theres a simple answer, but its not in the manuals i was using, so hopefully someone can give me a detailed answer here, ........i already tried stepping on the brake disc and it made the lower arm go down a little, but it did'nt go down low enough to provide clearance for the shock/spring assembly to drop down, hopefully i don't have to remove the whole lower arm, but please any info would be good cause i want to get it done tomorrow, i had to give up all cause this today, otherwise i would of finished it.

 

on the front you take the fork off and on the rear you unbolt the lower control arm from where it mounts to the body.

 

can you describe in detail on which bolt to undo on the lower arm? cause when i looked at it last night i can see that the lower arm has a a bolt that attaches to the crossmember and also i see it has a bolt attaching a stabilizer bar and one other bolt somewhere near the trailing arm, and i just want to make sure i undo the right bolt, can someone just tell me which bolt to be able to move lower arm enough to get clearance for the shock/spring assembly to come out? thanks

i still can't believe this step was'nt even included in the downloaded helms or the haynes manual that i have, mean i knew how to do everything except this thing i run into and its stalling me on getting this done.

 

trailing arm, and sway bar. the two closest to the wheel. the LCA will then swing out of the way.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crx_88_si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">trailing arm, and sway bar. the two closest to the wheel. the LCA will then swing out of the way.

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Thats 3 too many bolts if you want just the arm out. Sway bar and inner and outter bolts on the arm and it drops out. So the ones that need to be torqued to 40 lbs would be the ones you need to remove.

 

thanks a lot for the whole detailed diagram and everything, that helps

i still can't believe they expect you to guess on certain steps in manuals, like they should include every step in detail cause thats what a manual is supposed to be, a guide, but instead all they list is for rear shocks:

1. remove upper mounting nuts
2. remove lowerarm to shock bolt
3. take out shock/spring assembly (but don't tell you how to make clearance for it)

 

Common sense would though.

 

common sense can tell me that i need to move the lower arm down in order to get the spring/shock out but common sense does'nt confirm which is the correct bolt to take out without screwing something up though, i just want to know i am doing something right, and not guess on stuff thats all

 

When I took my stock setup out, I'm pretty sure that I was able to pull down on the lower arm far enough to make clearance to slide the bottom of the shock out once I had removed the two bolts - one holding the lower arm to the shock, the other holding the lower arm to the trailing arm. After that, it's just you vs. the sway bar.

The easier way to do this would be to unbolt the sway bar from the lower arm. Then it'll just drop down out of the way.

 

If you are haveing trouble removing the shock without taking any arm apart you just need to remove the 2 14mm bolts holding the upper arm in place(blues ones in the pic) that will allow the trailing arm to drop down furthur. Even if you have a swaybar this arm works best and is quickest.

When you get your shock back in and you need to put back the 2 14mm bolts use a jack under the trailing arm to lift it up and help postion the upper arm back....then put the 2 14mm bolts back.

 

thanks for the tips guys, i did what crx_88_ si said and removed the bolt that attaches the lowerarm to the trailing arm (the outer most hole on the lower arm) and also removed the stabilizer bolt, and was able to get the shock/spring assemlby out

but now i have another quesetion, i used a spring compressor on the old assembly so it has enough slack to be able to take off the top damper rod nut, but when you put the new shock/spring assembly together, do you just torque the top damper rod nut to the 22 ft-lb specified and not need to compress the spring on the new one? and do you do you torque that top damper rod nut down before putting the whole new assembly back in the car? i just need to confirm these since it does'nt say (again) in the manual thanks

 

Do you need to use a spring compressor? This depends on what springs you're using with the new setup. If they're shorter than OEM springs, you shouldn't need to.

You should be able to place the spring on the spring perch on the shock, put the washer on the shock rod, put the bushing and top hat on top of that and pop it onto the spring, and then put the washer and nut onto the threaded end of the rod. You may have to push down on the top hat a little bit to get the threaded end of the rod to poke through, but just do that and start threading the nut on.

As far as cranking the nut down, you do need to do that before putting the assembly back in the car. You'll need an allen wrench to put in the end of the shock rod to hold it still, and a box or open-end wrench to crank down the nut on the end of the shock rod. There's really no way to get a torque wrench on there to measure how tight it is, so just crank it down pretty good.

That should be it!

Alex

 

thanks Alex, you just answered my final question and i got everything all cleared up from this post, so i'll stop asking stuff and i can get on with finishing this today when i get home from work, (i had to bother someone for a ride today).

i am just so unrealistic about how much time it takes to finish something or planning, cause it would of made more sense to start a suspension install on a weekend, not on a Monday, especially if its my first time, lol