"thebigbossyboss" (thebigbossyboss)
06/21/2014 at 21:54 • Filed to: Crapalier Gear
6
19|
"thebigbossyboss" (thebigbossyboss)
06/21/2014 at 21:54 • Filed to: Crapalier Gear | 6
| 19 |
Well today being a nice day, I thought I would do something that long needed doing. Mending my front struts.
So I got the equipment, took the car into the yard and got on with it.
Here we are shortly after putting er up on jack stands. I chocked the back wheels and kept a wheel under there for safety so that I didn't die.
Here is the old struts that came out. They were totally borked. You can also see that my new struts will raise the car a bit. I know I was supposed to use a better greaser than WD40...I thought I had liquid wrench but I couldn't find it. Good thing I had my huge breaker bar to break those nuts loose. Also when removing old strut...I snapped one of the bolts on the top. No matter though since the new strut came with new bolts.
Here we are after we are all done the fronts. The car is carolina squatting for two reasons: A) I haven't done the backs yet. Possibly tomorrow.
B) The springs still need to settle.
Since the previous highlight of my mechanical career was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ...yeah I am pretty happy. Took about 3 hours total including set up and clean up.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
I really want to thank you guys for encouraging me to wrench on my own. Now to figure out how to do the rear struts.
CB
> thebigbossyboss
06/21/2014 at 22:02 |
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I recognize that jack and axle stand kit. Canadian Tire for the win?
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thebigbossyboss
> CB
06/21/2014 at 22:02 |
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For the win indeed.
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CB
> thebigbossyboss
06/21/2014 at 22:05 |
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Working there may have ruined me. And do you think a Haynes Manual could give you instructions on how to change the rear shocks?
dogisbadob
> thebigbossyboss
06/21/2014 at 22:08 |
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Now all you need to do is go to your Chevy dealer and get part #22649423
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dogisbadob
> thebigbossyboss
06/21/2014 at 22:08 |
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quick struts are awesome!
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thebigbossyboss
> dogisbadob
06/21/2014 at 22:11 |
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They are.
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thebigbossyboss
> dogisbadob
06/21/2014 at 22:12 |
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I....uh....what part is that?
Clown Shoe Pilot
> dogisbadob
06/21/2014 at 22:12 |
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that just seems like cheating. no spring compressor? how are you supposed to kill or main yourself?
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thebigbossyboss
> CB
06/21/2014 at 22:13 |
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I do. For the fronts I used youtube.
desertdog5051
> CB
06/21/2014 at 22:15 |
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Hooray!! You are on the path. Try Youtube. There are often good how-to videos on it.
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dogisbadob
> Clown Shoe Pilot
06/21/2014 at 22:34 |
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Yeah it's cheating and cuts down tha fun, but that's the consequences of saving time and money haha
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dogisbadob
> thebigbossyboss
06/21/2014 at 22:37 |
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from the JDM Toyota Cavalier :)
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thebigbossyboss
> dogisbadob
06/21/2014 at 22:39 |
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OH YES!!!!
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dogisbadob
> thebigbossyboss
06/21/2014 at 22:41 |
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Is it bad that I want a Toyota Cavalier for teh lolz?
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thebigbossyboss
> dogisbadob
06/21/2014 at 22:42 |
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No. It's good.
NYSS
> dogisbadob
06/22/2014 at 00:36 |
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get a new Chevy City express van, its just a re-badged Nissan NV250
Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
> thebigbossyboss
06/22/2014 at 01:09 |
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The shocks should settle down a bit after a week or so, it should lower a bit on the fender gap.
I changed the front shocks on the Jetta least year. Since the guys at the parts shops knew nothing about the lowered suspension, I took the struts apart at college, and got the new shocks, mounts and bearing in, and kept the old spring and spacer in, just to be sure.
How bad were the bearings on the old struts?
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thebigbossyboss
> Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
06/22/2014 at 09:20 |
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Oh it takes that long to settle? I thought it would just settle overnight.
The bearings on the old struts were completely gone. The ball bearings were falling out as they were removed. I could compress the spring by entirely by hand without trying very hard.
In short it was somewhere between mildly unsafe and very unsafe. Should be a hell of a lot safer now.
If you're interested I could use your help on the back struts, I haven't figured out how to do those ones yet.
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Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
> thebigbossyboss
06/22/2014 at 11:02 |
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Back struts are pretty much the same thing, just a bit trickier to reach. Let me know if you need a hand.