Easiest way to change VE rear shocks ?

[greenacc]

I couldn't find this by searching though i vaguely remember reading it somewhere ...
It looks like you just need to remove the 4 bolts from the top spring plate to the body then jack it up and remove the bolt through the bottom of the shock.
Does it all fall apart then or is it necessary to compress the spring at some stage ?

Thanks for helping ... I'd follow my manual but this computer is having a tizz and wont read PDF's at the moment. grrrrr

Looking forward to a decent ride

[one_and_only2004]

You need to compress the springs boss.

[kizza50]

It's 4 bolts that hold that the top spring plate to the car, then the top nut is t30 and 18mm I think, u will need spring compressors, n take out sway bar link and bottom control arm bolt and shock bolt, get someone to pull the disk Assem. Towards the front of the car, while u step on the control Arm pushing it down n pushing the strut under the wheel arch,,, it's pretty tight in there

[greenacc]

Ah OK now i got it, i better go borrow some spring compressors and a T30 in that case. This jobs starting to sound like fun.
Long live the days of the early IRS models .... A nut at the top and a bolt through the bottom. Sha WING.

Thanks guys, you're both legends.

[kuzman89]

Took me and bigjim a good three-four hours to do the rear of my ute. Front took about 30 minutes, didn't help that my compressor died half way into the install.

[greenacc]

New shocks finally finished !! Far out, feel like i've done the city to surf when all i've been doing is squatting beside the car for a few hours and a few commando rolls underneath it.
Pretty tight in there ^^ Dam right it is, i don't think they could have made it much tighter. I managed to get it out by leaving 2 of the top bolts in place and levering the bottom control arm down to get the bottom end free then removing those 2 bolts in the top and wrestling it out. Compressing the spring and swapping the shocks was the easy part. Of course, with the new shocks in the back its a lot more obvious that the fronts need doing too.
The other thing i realised while doing this was how many arms and bushes there are in the VE rear end .... now i'm wondering what it would drive like if they were all replaced with Blue ones or would it just shake my kidneys loose ? Will post some pics later.

[TinSnips]

Go blue. You know you should!

Good news it all worked out for you.

[kizza50]

I did the job myself too of lowering my ve in my drive way. Took me 4 hours for the rear, and 45 mins for the front, I sliced my thumb open between the wheel arch n corner of the strut housing while removing it. Now I have to do it all again to put shortened shocks in