Rear shock bolts!!!
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Rear shock bolts!!!
what kind of drugs were the engineers smoking when they designed the rear shock mounts on my 92 SSE? i can't get a ratchet bit on the lower shock bolt (bottom). The sway bar mount is right in the way. is there a special tool that I need? has anyone come up with a viable solution?
thanks
thanks
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Yup, I just did my rear shocks and I think I did have to jack up the control arm a bit to get a little wiggle room. In order to get clearance I had to use a deep impact socket, a 6" impact extension, and a long breaker bar - nearly broke my back trying to loosten those rusty bolts. I tried using a 300 ft-lb air impact wrench but it didn't make enough torque. The right side was especially difficult - I needed to heat the knuckle for a few minutes with a blowtorch in order to break the bolts loose.
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From: Purgatory
Originally Posted by bigJ
Yup, I just did my rear shocks and I think I did have to jack up the control arm a bit to get a little wiggle room. In order to get clearance I had to use a deep impact socket, a 6" impact extension, and a long breaker bar - nearly broke my back trying to loosten those rusty bolts. I tried using a 300 ft-lb air impact wrench but it didn't make enough torque. The right side was especially difficult - I needed to heat the knuckle for a few minutes with a blowtorch in order to break the bolts loose.
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From: Boston, MA
I actually don't know if an alignment is needed after doing the rear struts. My rear tires are crap so I don't care at the moment... I am getting new tires next week and the tire place does a free 4-wheel alignment with the tires. The car drives OK as far as I can tell.
Jeremy
Jeremy
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The struts on my 93 are wasted and I was thinking about just changing the rears to avoid the realignment. But if the realignment is required for the rears as well as the fronts, I'll probably just have all 4 done at a shop once I get an extra $750! :?
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From: Purgatory
Originally Posted by jr's3800
Originally Posted by vital49
The struts on my 93 are wasted and I was thinking about just changing the rears to avoid the realignment. But if the realignment is required for the rears as well as the fronts, I'll probably just have all 4 done at a shop once I get an extra $750! :?
I did my own struts( I should have replaced the strut mounts )... I went with monroe struts, the fronts were $55 each I think, and for the rear I adapted Air struts, these were also monres and they were $71 each, as well as the $5 line kit I needed for the rear struts.... I then had all 4 tires replaced and a 4 wheel alignment...
If you are going to replace your struts then I'll tell you that the Gabrielles actually took away a lot of the Handling characteristics that I likes about my bonneville... I drove it for almost 3.5 yeras absolutely hating the ride( too mushy ).... While removing my Gaberielle struts I found that 2 were shot beyond belief.... The monroes gave me back the better than factory ride, and I like being able to adjust the struts in the rear, help tone down some of that rear end float, makes the car feel stiffer...
Maybe its just me but $750 seems a bit spendy for new struts and an alignment...
If I didn't get the new tires, The items cost me,
Front struts....$110
Rear struts.....$142
Line Kit............$5
4 wheel align...$52
totall $309
So they are going to charge you $400+ to install...
:? Good Luck...
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