Choppers

iTrader: (60)

Ordered my shocks from sam strano which by the way is the collest guy ever to order from. Anything you ask he will try to help you out with. But anyways installed the rears tonight and did exactly what he told me to. Tomorrow is the fronts. I'll keep you guys posted.

PedroDePackas

iTrader: (1)

Have fun with those fronts.

Choppers

iTrader: (60)

yea thats why i waited till tomorrow but i won't prolly do it tomorrow cause we are going to ride the 4-wheelers and what not. i might have to wait untill next weekend which i hoe i don't have to but time is hard to come by these days.

raptorws6

iTrader: (1)

The fronts are always a pain, but it will be well worth it when the koni's go on.

DTB_LS1

iTrader: (2)

Don't worry there not that bad. I've done them about 5 times. Just make sure you have a good spring compressor. Your gonna love the way your car rides and handles with the Konis. What springs are you running?

Choppers

iTrader: (60)

stock springs i have an rs so it already sits low and i live on a dirt road and lowered doesn't work on dirt roads.lol

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

mine wasn't difficult at all, either front or back....but then again, mine only had around 35k miles on it when they were swapped, and it's an '02 year model, so that may have helped a bit......

Choppers

iTrader: (60)

yea mine have 151,500 miles on them so they are worn out. so far the back was nice and easy but everyone says just wait till the fronts. i dread it. but it will save me money doing it myself. one place i called on here told me like $300 bucks. i was like heck no i'll do it myself.

PedroDePackas

iTrader: (1)

I don't think they're difficult either. Its pretty straight forward, they were just more time consuming than I thought they would be. I had to crank on those spring compressors for a few minutes every time I used it, which was four times per side because I was putting in new spring as well. So I had to compress the stock spring, remove the strut mount so I can reuse it, decompress the stock spring, place the spring compressor on the new spring and compress that, install the strut mount on the new assembly and decompress the spring again. The rears on the other hand were done in about 40 min.

By the way Choppers, if you find the spindle arm difficult to remove try this. Spray a little lubricant on it, WD40 or whatever, then tap on the sides of the spindle arm back and forth a bit. The thing poped right off. Tapping upwards on the control arm did nothing. I wasted a few minutes on the first one I did until I figured that out.

Another thing to watch out for is while putting the front assembly back together make sure everything is lined up properly. I'm talking about the holes at the top and bottom for the bolts. It'll be a little difficult to twist the shock into place if they don't once the tension of the spring is on it.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

My recommendation is to remove the shock assemblies yourself and then take to a shop that has a wall mount or pedestal compressor and have them remove and re-install the springs. It'll take them about 20 minutes, and cost about $30 or so. Well worth it IMO.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

Very good suggestion! Also give yourself plenty of time and remember: "Patience is a virtue" Be prepared to have a good/rewarding time !

sixvi6-camaro

iTrader: (9)

whew.. 151,000 miles and the front suspension has never been done... if that was a northern car I'd probably just replace the upper mount and spring perch with new pieces. I did a car with 120K from up north driven in all weather and there was almost nothing left of the upper assembly. Just a pile of rust where the retaining bolt and upper perch on the top of the shaft should have been. Even so be prepared for the nut on the top of the shock to be well rusted.

Choppers

iTrader: (60)

been a florida car all its life

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

of course, not everyone has the luxury to be able to do this....in my case, my landlord will not allow such work to be done on cars in our lots, so i had to take my car about 35 miles out into the country to my mom's place to work on it, and it's not really worth the extra trip to/from town for just 20 mins worth of work, and having to spend extra money on top of that to get it done.....

Choppers

iTrader: (60)

drove the car today around some turns with just the rears on and WOW!. what a differenc eit was. i loved it. thanks sam

dave5514

iTrader: (5)

When I did my fronts, they were rusted, but not bad, she had 110,000 on the clock at the time. After getting it all apart and reassembled, I took some Mobil 1 synthetic grease and basically filled that cup up on the upper perch with grease to keep water out and keep it from rusting.
Now, I have not taken them apart (10,000) miles have elapsed, so not sure if that was good preventative maint or not. I didn't think it could hurt. Just a suggestion.
I love the springs/shocks from Sam though, no doubt!

Choppers

iTrader: (60)

yea sam told me to get anitseize and put on the front before i install them. My rears didn't have a spec of rust on them maybe the fronts will be the same so it will go easier. if not, you know nothing ever works out when working on anything anyways so i expect a problem or 2 just can't wait for the fronts to go on so i can really see how the car reacts with them on. sam is so knowledgable when it comes to the suspensions on these cars its unreal

Choppers

iTrader: (60)

yea the fronts i got on today. had to torch off the driverside bolt was rusted up to much. Overall they went on easy no sense to pay someone to do that work was very simple and the work was well worth it.