elis94camaro

The shock assembly is stuck and wont come out. I already removed the swaybar endlinks , the top bolts and the bottom shock bolts, and it does not want to come out. I Seperared the top balljoint from the spindle aswell and tied the spindle to the swaybar. Any other things i should do to get it out. Ive been beating on it for half an hour and decided to finish it tomorrow. Should i disconnect the lower balljoint as well? its like the lower control arm doesnt have enough travel to go down and allow the shock to come out, should i jack up the car higher to get the lca to start going down, sorry for all the questions but trying to get all the info i can so i can finish this tomorrow. Any help is appreciated

SSInnovations

iTrader: (8)

You need to compress the spring in order to remove the assembly (spring compressor), it's not like the rear where they will just fall off. Lot's of write ups on how to do this correctly, should be a quick and easy job, no need to beat on anything.

elis94camaro

I thought I read on ls1howto that the assembly comes out as a whole and then off the car you compress the spring, isnt that how its suppose to be done?The problem im having is removing the whole shock assembly from the car, not the spring from the assembly.I hope that made sense.

VinR1

iTrader: (17)

Support the car so that the lower a-arm can fully hang down - one good whack to the upper a-arm and the assembly should fall out

SSInnovations

iTrader: (8)

Okay, that makes more sense, they should come out of the car without being compressed. You just need to....

elis94camaro

Ok finally got it out, now i need to deal with this dumb rusted nut

01 ss vert

iTrader: (1)

You are correct, the assembly comes out withOUT compressing the springs.

01 ss vert

iTrader: (1)

I had to cut mine out with a sawzall (kills the shock since you are cutting the shaft) and get new strut assemblies. Plan on another $140 for both size.

elis94camaro

Does anyone know what size is the nut on the top of the shock because i tried a 15mm like i read somewhere and it was way too big, mabe i didnt compress it down enough, but i just want to make sure.The top is very rusted as expected.

01 ss vert

iTrader: (1)

I wish I could tell you, but I can't remember. One side was so bad, there was really not much of a nut to try and get off. The other side was in better shape, but I still had issues. It's not much smaller than 15mm, so the nut has likely rusted to the point of self destruction and has lost some material. The better side a socket went right on, I do believe, but I can't recall the size.

SSInnovations

iTrader: (8)

Same here.....

elis94camaro

I think im going to have to do that, but where exactly do i cut the shaft i dont want to mess up the dustboot.did you cut right where the dusboot ends and the strut rubber part meet? Sorry if that doesnt make sense, I dont know the names of the part.

T-Rob's_T/A

why not take a cut off wheel and jcut the top of the shock under the hood where the nut is locatoed or is this a different nut you are talking about

joecar

The shock towers are enclosed, you can't see the nut while the shock/spring assembly is still in the shock tower.

elis94camaro

I used a grinder and finaly got it off, but now the mount doesnt want to come off the shocks shaft so i guess ill have to sawzall the shaft off. For.those that have cut off the shaft is it easier with a sawzall or a grinder?

zerogravity779

iTrader: (1)

Are you using a deepwell?? I used a curved boxend wrench, you will need a smaller wrench to grab the flat spots on the "threaded shaft" to keep it from spinning. I did mine two years ago, and dont recall the nut size. Just how I did it. 15mm sounds right. Maybe someone else replaced them and threw on the new nuts their shocks came with? Below is a link to one of my albums. I took a few pics, nothing that will help you too much... https://ls1tech.com/forums/album.php?albumid=17558

elis94camaro

I finally got done with the passenger side it took about an hour and a half, the longest part was getting the swaybar endlink back on. Anyways i was having trouble putting the whole shock assembly back into the car because the lower control arm wasnt moving down enough, so i basically had to muscle it in. I wanted to know if anyone had any advice on how i could make it easier to get the other side done. Ive been searching and havent read of anyone having any problems putting them in the lca. The problem i had was that the shock seemed too long to fit under the wheelwell. To everyone whos done this, is it that tight of a fit or did i forget to do something?

joecar

The LCA can be unbolted and removed to give more room.

Post pics.