Garret
12-18-2006, 02:03 AM
I'll start with the fronts
1) Jack Car Up lol
2) Remove Wheels
3) Take a 21mm socket/wrench/impact and remove the strut to spindle bolt/nut combo. Take note that the bottom one has an oblonged bolt head for alignment purposes
4) Unbolt 3 13mm bolts on the top of the strut mount
5) Remove strut/spring assembly
6) Use either spring compressors or a vice, the springs are compressed but not that much so I just used a vice but I've done it before and know exactly what to expect so you might want to use a spring compressor.
7) Use a 21mm impact on the top strut nut and disassemble the strut spring setup
8) put the strut in a vice and take a cut off wheel to the little dust plate that is on the top of the strut, it is held on by 3 little tabs that need to be ground off
9) While you have the cut off wheel out cut off the spring perch. You don't "really" need to perform this step but you'll get added tire clearance if you do and it cleans up the install. To cut it off make about 8 straight cuts in the shape of an octogon and it'll come off pretty easy. Also you'll have to grind through the one that secures itself on the side of the strut
10) Now switch to a grinding stone and grind off the tabs on the top of the strut and grind the spring seat nice and neat
11) Take your sleeved perch and see if it fits snuggly on the strut and will slide down, if it won't slide down, push it on and place it in a vice and use a rubber mallet to pound that strut into sleeve.
12) Install the spring onto the sleeve, make sure that it is set at pretty much the highest height on the sleeve because it's easier to lower the perch than to raise it.
13) Reinstall the upper spring seat and strut bearing.
14) Reinstall the strut and do up the 13 mm nuts on the strut bearing
15) Now now for the "alignment" part lol. First put in the upper bolt and get the lower bolt in, now push on the upper part of the spindle and turn the oblonged part so the fat part of it is pushing on the car side of the strut piece(once you see it you'll know what i'm talking about) and the little notch is directly in the center. This will get you a "Good enough" alignement. This is how I've always done them on my lowered turbo dodges and it's usually good enough, you'll be able to visually see if it's out terribly
16) Crank down on the upper bolt/nut first, then tighten the lower one
17) Repeat the process on the other side of the car, then lower the car down and set your ride height
For the Rear
1) Jack Car up and support by body not rear axle
2) Remove wheels
3) Place jack under axle and support some weight with it(in the center)
4) Take 15mm socket and undo lower shock bolts
5) Lower the rear axle down and remove springs
6) As illustrated by my pictures Grind the lip off the upper spring seat thinger, you'll have to grind it right down to the shaft(LOL at the shaft...)
7) Now for the the "Tricky" part, not all coilovers come with the part that I used here but you can improvise really easy. What I did and you can do if your coilovers came with helper springs( I also have 2 more sets of them for 15 bucks shipped if anyone is interested) is take a 2.5 inch hole saw and just drill out a hole in the bottom of the rear spring perch in as close to the middle as possible. If you don't have the spacer perch thinger what you can do is just take a piece of 2.5 inch exhaust a 1 inche piece outta do it and weld it on so the spring has something to sit on. HOWEVER before you do that, drill two holes inside where you are going to weld that pipe so you can secure the spring to rear perch with some hose clamps (if you got short springs like I did shouldn't be an issue on longer springs but better safe that sorry... You'd have to get 8 inches of clearance between the tire and fender lip for it to unload... but just in case)
8) Now thread the coil over perch all the way to the top and put it over the shaft thinger, place the spring over your lower mount, then fit it onto the sleeve
9) Put the Wheels back on
10) Jack the car off the jackstands
Good to go
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0058.jpg
How the front struts look
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0060.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0061.jpg
How I solved the dilema in the back because of there just being a spring and not a spring and strut. What I did was drilled a 2.5inch hole in the spring mounting perch and my coil overs came with a guide so I set the guide in the hole and it allowed the spring to sit on the lower perch. What I did for the threaded collar part was to grind the lip off of the upper spring guide slide the collar on. I will take more detailed pictures later
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0062.jpg
Just a view from the back so you can see how the spring sits
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0070.jpg
This is the Front Strut Completely Assembled
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0071.jpg
This it on the car
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0073.jpg
This is how I modded the back, you can see where I ground it down there is a lip there you gotta take off so the sleeve will slide on
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0074.jpg
You can see how I drilled a hole with a hole swap in the bottom of the rear spring perch to mount this (picture below)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/image_00071.jpg
1) Jack Car Up lol
2) Remove Wheels
3) Take a 21mm socket/wrench/impact and remove the strut to spindle bolt/nut combo. Take note that the bottom one has an oblonged bolt head for alignment purposes
4) Unbolt 3 13mm bolts on the top of the strut mount
5) Remove strut/spring assembly
6) Use either spring compressors or a vice, the springs are compressed but not that much so I just used a vice but I've done it before and know exactly what to expect so you might want to use a spring compressor.
7) Use a 21mm impact on the top strut nut and disassemble the strut spring setup
8) put the strut in a vice and take a cut off wheel to the little dust plate that is on the top of the strut, it is held on by 3 little tabs that need to be ground off
9) While you have the cut off wheel out cut off the spring perch. You don't "really" need to perform this step but you'll get added tire clearance if you do and it cleans up the install. To cut it off make about 8 straight cuts in the shape of an octogon and it'll come off pretty easy. Also you'll have to grind through the one that secures itself on the side of the strut
10) Now switch to a grinding stone and grind off the tabs on the top of the strut and grind the spring seat nice and neat
11) Take your sleeved perch and see if it fits snuggly on the strut and will slide down, if it won't slide down, push it on and place it in a vice and use a rubber mallet to pound that strut into sleeve.
12) Install the spring onto the sleeve, make sure that it is set at pretty much the highest height on the sleeve because it's easier to lower the perch than to raise it.
13) Reinstall the upper spring seat and strut bearing.
14) Reinstall the strut and do up the 13 mm nuts on the strut bearing
15) Now now for the "alignment" part lol. First put in the upper bolt and get the lower bolt in, now push on the upper part of the spindle and turn the oblonged part so the fat part of it is pushing on the car side of the strut piece(once you see it you'll know what i'm talking about) and the little notch is directly in the center. This will get you a "Good enough" alignement. This is how I've always done them on my lowered turbo dodges and it's usually good enough, you'll be able to visually see if it's out terribly
16) Crank down on the upper bolt/nut first, then tighten the lower one
17) Repeat the process on the other side of the car, then lower the car down and set your ride height
For the Rear
1) Jack Car up and support by body not rear axle
2) Remove wheels
3) Place jack under axle and support some weight with it(in the center)
4) Take 15mm socket and undo lower shock bolts
5) Lower the rear axle down and remove springs
6) As illustrated by my pictures Grind the lip off the upper spring seat thinger, you'll have to grind it right down to the shaft(LOL at the shaft...)
7) Now for the the "Tricky" part, not all coilovers come with the part that I used here but you can improvise really easy. What I did and you can do if your coilovers came with helper springs( I also have 2 more sets of them for 15 bucks shipped if anyone is interested) is take a 2.5 inch hole saw and just drill out a hole in the bottom of the rear spring perch in as close to the middle as possible. If you don't have the spacer perch thinger what you can do is just take a piece of 2.5 inch exhaust a 1 inche piece outta do it and weld it on so the spring has something to sit on. HOWEVER before you do that, drill two holes inside where you are going to weld that pipe so you can secure the spring to rear perch with some hose clamps (if you got short springs like I did shouldn't be an issue on longer springs but better safe that sorry... You'd have to get 8 inches of clearance between the tire and fender lip for it to unload... but just in case)
8) Now thread the coil over perch all the way to the top and put it over the shaft thinger, place the spring over your lower mount, then fit it onto the sleeve
9) Put the Wheels back on
10) Jack the car off the jackstands
Good to go
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0058.jpg
How the front struts look
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0060.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0061.jpg
How I solved the dilema in the back because of there just being a spring and not a spring and strut. What I did was drilled a 2.5inch hole in the spring mounting perch and my coil overs came with a guide so I set the guide in the hole and it allowed the spring to sit on the lower perch. What I did for the threaded collar part was to grind the lip off of the upper spring guide slide the collar on. I will take more detailed pictures later
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0062.jpg
Just a view from the back so you can see how the spring sits
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0070.jpg
This is the Front Strut Completely Assembled
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0071.jpg
This it on the car
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0073.jpg
This is how I modded the back, you can see where I ground it down there is a lip there you gotta take off so the sleeve will slide on
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/PICT0074.jpg
You can see how I drilled a hole with a hole swap in the bottom of the rear spring perch to mount this (picture below)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h221/Badachew/image_00071.jpg