Help!

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck) 05/25/2015 at 21:02 • Filed to: mechanically disinclined, fuck me

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I can’t keep my new shocks compressed! I have to put my bodyweight on them just to get them to budge and they spring up quick as fuck!

Getting the old one out was a PITA and that was fully compressed. I can’t drop it through the engine bay, it does not fit though the hole on the frame from below, and the fucking tangs on the bottom on these ones are longer than the OEM ones! So I have to get the burrs off with a bandsaw at work otherwise they won’t go down at all! But even after that gets down howwwww do I compress them to shimmy them in to begin with???

Pictures for reference.

Where was I... Ah yes. Dammit!!! :(

deekster_caddy > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/25/2015 at 21:04

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Unload the suspension as much as possible. Bolt the top in and then raise the bottom with a jack. In theory the shock isn’t supposed to lift.

Edit - in the past new shocks came with a wire holding it in the compressed position. Did these come with one or do you have a piece of heavy wire?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > deekster_caddy 05/25/2015 at 21:07

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So start removing all the shit around me so I have more room to work. Poopsticks.

deekster_caddy > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/25/2015 at 21:08

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Edited with another idea - try to keep it compressed with a piece of wire or coathanger...

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > deekster_caddy 05/25/2015 at 21:13

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There’s nothing flat on the silver end to put such tension on. I can’t get anything tight enough below the threaded piece; it just stretches and pull it the shaft

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/25/2015 at 21:28

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Any chance you can screw a nut onto it?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > BaconSandwich is tasty. 05/25/2015 at 21:35

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I can get the top in if I try, huge nightmare, but I need it to be loose because I have to shoehorn the bottom in, as it does not just drop right through. Before I can even start that, the shock is by thend fully expanded and wedged in and I lose my leverage to even compress it by force again.

DasWauto > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/25/2015 at 21:37

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Unbolt the swaybar to let the suspension drop fully. Then you should have enough room to get the shock in there.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > DasWauto 05/25/2015 at 21:42

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Is the sway bar the big curvy metal thingie on the right? (You’re looking at my passenger side BTW if that helps).

bryan40oop > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/25/2015 at 21:49

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Take this off

DasWauto > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/25/2015 at 21:49

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Directly in front of your shock in the first image. Is the car up on one side or is the whole front on jack stands? If it’s on one side the sway bar will be loaded on one side (twisted) and you won’t want to unbolt it as is (it could release pretty violently). If the vehicle is level and both wheels are off the ground you’ll be fine.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > DasWauto 05/25/2015 at 21:54

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Whole front end is jacked up. Thanks I will try this.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > bryan40oop 05/25/2015 at 21:55

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This seems to be the consensus. Thank you sir

bryan40oop > bryan40oop 05/25/2015 at 21:57

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Forgot to mention, just take the top bolts off, bushing, lift the sway bar off. jack it up, should get more drop from the lower control arm. If that doesn’t work.... Get the all the weight down, try and get the upper control arm to stay in place “usually a crowbar, but Don’t think you could do it with that set up” Lift the vehicle back up, if you still need more clearance drop the sway bar.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/25/2015 at 22:50

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Any luck?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > BaconSandwich is tasty. 05/25/2015 at 22:59

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Project resumes tomorrow. At the time I had posted this I had already put everything away

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/26/2015 at 00:13

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No worries. Hopefully you’ll be able to get it tomorrow. I understand how incredibly frustrating it is to get half-way through something only to get stuck. It’s things like that that make me doubt my own abilities and make me question whether ever getting a project vehicle is a good idea or not.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > BaconSandwich is tasty. 05/26/2015 at 00:20

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Thanks. To be honest, most things I do myself take considerably longer than they should on my cars, because almost everything I’ve done for the very first time. The frustration and doubt get to me, I agree, so now I just pack it in, have a beer, do more research, ask for help, and then start again the next day.

You should have seen the brake job on my old Tercel. Took three people and about a week. Everything was completely rusted together, and everything had to be replaced.

random001 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/26/2015 at 06:41

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Not knowing this, and still doing shock replacement? You, my friend, are a god damn hero. Keep trucking!

I had a very similar problem one time doing shocks on a MINI Cooper. Just would not effin go in! I’ve been doing work on cars for about 30 years at this point, so don’t get discouraged. This stuff happens to the most seasoned of shadetree mechanics.

I think the right answer has been given, drop the sway bar. When you go to reinstall everything, two things come to mind. You will likely have to jack up the suspension (load it) in order to get everything back together. BE CAREFUL when doing this. Remember that the suspension is there to support the vehicle, so jacking it up can and probably will lift the vehicle off the jack stands. This is a potentially dangerous situation and you need to be mindful if it starts to lift up. You don’t want that sucker up on one jack stand and a jack while you are wiggling suspension bits around to get them back together. It could unload and go off balance. Stay out from under it.

Good luck!

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/26/2015 at 09:28

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Oh, I know the feeling. I had lots of trouble doing ball joints on the Civic. I managed to get things apart, but couldn’t get the back together, and it was on my daily driver. I had a friend go to an auto parts store to see if they had a different press to push the ball joint back in, and they didn’t, but the stranger in line behind him at the store had a press, led my friend to his garage, and pressed it in for me. I’d pretty much consider that a miracle. Without it, I would have been in for a rather expensive tow truck ride, and a bill for putting everything together.

deekster_caddy > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/26/2015 at 16:37

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So how did it go?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > deekster_caddy 05/26/2015 at 19:46

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No progress! Got caught up with other home projects and now I’m hungry