wanna change front suspension myself.. help?

[beefcream]

hey all,

i wanna try to change my front springs myself, i have spring compressors and have seen the guide vp_luke has made.

all i wanna know is can i do this all wid stands at home and wat tool would i use to get the 3 bolts off the strut tower? i was told u need a rattle gun, wat can i buy that will do the job at home?

thanks

[253@7k]

Splurge. You are better off with a rattle gun. It will make life easier. You can pick up electricial ones for around $300 which is expensive I know but you can use it fr other things aswell. I used to keep mine in my car to change tyres, until it got run over by an 11 tonne tractor...

[jack.mc]

Heres what i'm going to use

How To: Change Springs/Shock

[253@7k]

Heres what i'm going to use

How To: Change Springs/Shock

He said he has already read that.

[jack.mc]

oh, sorry. I should read...

[beefcream]

can i sumhow get to the spring and bearing plate without removing the whole strut.. ive seen it done be4 sumwhere but i cant remember where? this would be ideal.

any ideas on the strut tower nuts

[253@7k]

What you described can be done on some cars but not a commodore. It is best just to take the strut out. Its not very hard to do and you can use vp_lukes guide.

[hakhawk]

yep, thats how me n dad did ours, its not easy, lets see if i can remember how we did it, unbolt top of strut, unbolt tie rod end, unbolt sway bar link, umm, then pull down on strut and pull out from under guard. i believe we compressed the springs before doing that though.

i have a dint on the lip of guard from first time dad did it, where he caught the strut top bolt on it, but if you're patient and careful, you should be right.


i take no responsibility for any damage caused due to my bad directions.


edit:: this was done on axle stands in the shed.

[253@7k]

Sorry, for strut tower nuts: a good rust penitrant then brute force and ignorance.

Have fun.

[foammedia]

I did mine a few days ago with out pulling the strut off.

undo both sides of sway bar
jack one side of the car up,
take wheel off,
undo tie rod bolt, (don't forget to use new split pins when putting back on)
unhook brake line from strut (twist it and it comes off),
losen 3 nuts on top to give you a bit more room to fit the spring compressors in,
compress spring,
rattle gun shocker bolt off once spring is lose,
undo top 3 nuts,
jump on rotor so strut falls down,
pull spring cap and bearing plate off of the
find all bits that fell out,
slide strut out the side of the car,
pull spring off,

---------------------------------------------
Then put it all back together and do the other side
(rattle gun new spring up again before you put it back on)

If you are changing shockers aswell continue here.

undo shocker holding on nut thing cold chisel for factory original or big wrench for monroe ones,

Pull old oil piston shock insides out or gas cartridge,
insert new gas cartridge,
do up nut,

That's all from memory but it goes something like that, do it over the weekend so you can take you time and be VERY carefull with those springs, the better the spring compressors you get the safer it will feel. Because you only have to look at the compressed spring to know if something lets go you are going to be im more pain than you could ever imagine.

P.S. it takes a bit of he-man finger power to make the gas shockers stay down while you are trying to get it back inside the spring plate/bearing plate and don't forget to go one extra spring lower if you are using nolathane bearing plates because they are thicker(at least mine were, but check that out), like if you want FE2 height use superlows in the front rather than lows(FE2)

ONE MORE THING
Take a picture of where the bearing plates were, so you can get the same camber/caster setup as you had before and....
beefcream, there is a special tool you can get for the shocker nut so you don't need a rattle gun

[defa]

i did mine a few years back. i didn't undo much at all. just the top nut with the rattle gun. and the sway bar bolts. didn't use a spring compressor. it is hard to do. but possible. and i didn't both sides without scratching the car. i also did a mates car the same way too. it didn't take that long either
i think that was all i did

[253@7k]

Hmmm.... I think I was wrong....

[beefcream]

mmmh.. thanks for the help
any more input would be great, seems like a bitch of a job. i might go to wreakers on the weekend and try to pull one out for myself

[foammedia]

Why pull one out at the wreckers when you could have spent that time on your own? silllllllly

[beefcream]

cause i've got a very basic idea wat do to and dont wanna damage or ### sumthin up :P

plus i cant do it till next wed

[foammedia]

Ok but trust me, you can't stuff up those parts with your hands, you would need a really big hammer and a really long time to break something on the car

[hakhawk]

the only thing u can damage is ur guard, and thats if you rush it.

otherwise, everything is pretty much unbreakable while you do it.

[beefcream]

lol ye.. wat tool do u use to undo the top nut? i dont have a rattle gun heard to use a breaker bar? is this accurate

[CSL]

thats just a really long bar for leverage, and yeajh it could work

[foammedia]

The picture I've seen of the tool seems to be just a scewdriver blade stuck in a socket and you undo the shaft out of the nut, quite weird but that's how it looks in the book I have

[beefcream]

are the nolathane strut tops really thicker? i heard they lift the front by 20mill
thats ###n stupid if they do

[hakhawk]

yep, they do lift the front, and yes, it would be anything between 10-20mm from saggy stock 15yr old ones.

but they do help with adjusting the camber, which is needed when going to like ultralows.