How to change your suspension/lower your live axle commodore

[Commo_Carl]

Just lowered my VR commodore ute the other week. Was pretty straight forward.

Thought i'd post a quick rough guide on how to do so.

First of all you will need (to do proper job)

* Set of super low springs
* Set of lowered shocks
* Adjustable Panhard Rod

(got all mine from ebay)

*Preferably 1/2" Sockets
*Good spanner set
*Spring compressors (cheap off ebay)
*Maybe vise grips if nuts are very tight
*Some WD40 or Inox or something equivalent
*A file
*Some strength

1: Jack up front of the car and support with jack stands for safety ALWAYS!

2: Remove both front wheels

3: Go into your engine bay and un-nip the nut on both the strut towers (to save effort later)

4: Remove top nut, washers and bushes from the sway bar links (both sides), then push the sway bar down out of the way. (well this was easiest for me)

5: Undo both bolts that connect your front strut to your wish-bone (do same for opposite side)

6: Now undo the top nut on strut tower completely and remove the whole strut from the car.

7: Put your spring compressor/s on the spring and tighten them up adequately.

8: Now you need to undo the next nut on top of the strut where the big rubber bush is (mine was a nightmare, had to re file a nice wide area to put my vise grips on and use a ring spanner to undo it.)
I did this in a vice, with the vise grips pushing on the workbench etc. REFER TO PICTURE

9: Now that I finally removed the nut, the spring and the bearing assembly came off easy as.

One of my bearings was stuffed so I got a replacement from Holden for both (think about 30 each)

10: Remove spring compressors and now put the new spring on the new strut and compress that spring, so that you can now reassemble the new strut assembly in reverse of what you just did.

MAKE SURE YOU READ ON THE SPRINGS IF THEY ARE FOR A CERTAIN SIDE AND WHICH WAY IS TOP

11: Once spring is compressed, proceed to reinstall bearings and the rubber bush and then the 1st nut.

12: Now that it is fully tight, remove compressors, and put the strut back in the car. Assembly is the exact reverse of everything.

13: Once struts are in, you may need to wind of the camber pin which is located behind your brake rotor at the top might need to be unwound a bit to allow for new strut to bolt back on (mine did)
I used some vernier's to get the exact same distance on both sides (which were spot on says the wheel alignment man) Mine ended up coming to 1 degree of camber

Also make sure the sway bar link nuts are done up the exact same distance on both sides, top and bottom also!

Now that it's all in, tighten up the strut tower nuts as tight as you can and you are done, just check all the steps before wheels go back on to save removing them again.


Time for the rear suspension!

1: Jack up the rear of the car, put jack stand under the 2 rear jacking points on the car (tow hooks just infront of rear wheels)

2: For me I could just put out my rear springs and swap them directly for the new ones (MAKING SURE THEY WERE RIGHT WAY UP) THE CLOSER COILS GO TO THE TOP.

3: If you cant pull them straight out, you will have to undo the bolt through your rear control arm, which is no biggie. The arm will just drop down and spring will come out. Reverse this to reinstall. (You may need to jack your axle to not let it drop too far (could be wrong though)

4: Time for the shocks. These have one nut on the top which is located under 2 little covers in the tray, and probably something similar in the boot for a sedan or wagon.

5: Undo and remove these nuts and then do the same to the bottom section which connects to the axle.

6: Shocks should just pull out (Just take note of location of washers and bushes if not outlined in documentation with new shocks)

7: To install do the reverse, however you may need a clamp to pull the bottom bush onto the bolt on the axle (I sure did)

8: Do up both top and bottom as much as you can and you are done.


Next is the adjustable panhard rod.

This is needed because when lowering, your diff will not be centered, thus your wheels not being centre in your arches.

1: Undo the bolts holding old one in and remove it

2: Put new one in and set distance to what is required. Attach everything as it was prior and you're done.

Once the car was down off the jack, I put a straight edge on both rear wheels and checked that they were equal distance from the inside of arch. (If they're not, this can be adjusted with the panhard)

ALSO! YOU MUST GET A WHEEL ALIGNMENT ASAP AFTER DOING YOUR SUSPENSION

Anyways, this should cover it basically. I apologize if I have named things incorrectly.

I can give links to where I got my stuff from if anyone requests.

All up delivered it was about 700 for all.

Hope this helps.

Carl

[VRDANNO]

thanks heaps man! i was unsure weather or not to do it my self but ill give it a short as soon as my springs come in. iv only gotta do the back cos its already as low as i want it at the frount. iv already got and adjustable panhard and lowed spings in the back but i wanted to go a little lower. also one side of the back is a lot higher then the other? how do i adjust that parnhard rod to make it the same?

[Commo_Carl]

Hey dude. Sounds good. Back is by far the easiest. As for why one side is higher, im not sure of they hey. You mean that when you're parked on a level flat surface the distance between the rhs and lhs arch and tyre is different? I'm guessing the springs could be cut (if you aren't sure of history of car) Can't think of anything else really. The panhard shouldn't really fix that I don't think. All I did with mine was whilst the rear axle was hanging down I just would out the panhard so it fit straight on to where it needed and it ended up being fine. PM Me if you need any help man

[MattVNSS]

Just dragging up an older thread here, my VN is out by about 10-15 mm. Am I right in assuming that if I can get under the car, then there is no need to lift it up to adjust the adjustable panhard rod? I should be able to shuffle the car around on my driveway so that the back hangs over a bit of a drop off, giving me access to under the car, so would it be right to say that I would just need to crawl under, measure for centre and just muck around with the adjustment till its right?

[Commo_Carl]

Yeah matt, i'd just get a 600 or 1200 level and hold it plumb on the tyre and measure both sides as you said. Even a straight piece of angle or timber or whatever really will do the trick.

[MattVNSS]

Cheers for that. I am 99% sure that I am going to replace the kings in the back with FE2 springs anyway, so will do that first and then take it from there,

[VS dream]

hey champ, firstly thanks heaps for the guide much appreciated

was wondering, if i dont get lowered shocks or panahrd rod what problems/damage will i cause? im putting sl in the front and ssl in the rear of a vs

[Commo_Carl]

No probs dude,

You'll wear out your shocks alot quicker, also will ride like shit and be mushy thus ruining the ride and the lower springs proper effect. The panhard is needed to keep the wheels in the centre of the arches, havent tried to lower it without one on so not sure, but will most probs push the axle to one side.

Sorry for the late reply

[VS FTW]

all good mate thanks