delinquent543

who woulda thought the shock install on a trans am would be such a bitch, kinda fun tho.. lol. anyway yeah, so i had a full set of bilstein shocks sitting in my garage for 2 weeks now and i finally had a day off to go do them. i go to start the install at 1, and its 5 now and i just had to stop. so i start off trying to take off the stupid spindle arm thing from the upper control arm, what a bitch that was because i was putting my breaker bar in teh wrong place (on the bolt and not in between the clamp) i finally got that off and started compessing the springs. i got the passenger side off no problem except the bolt connecting the shock to the top housing thing is rusted to pieces!!! no remote resemblance to a nut and bolt! so now i figure if i tap it and drill it out (while the spring is compressed) i can just replace it.. sorry about the rant, btu im dead right now.. and i still have to do the backs! btw im 17 and this would be my first shock install, not bad eh? i cant wait to drive it and see the differance, my ride now is absolute hell!

Brainful

rears are easier much easier , u know what is a real bitch ,, it is the rubber up there AHH THE FU@$# struts mount , i damaged it 2 times because am over compressing the springs !! and i didnt realized until i took the jack and the car is down ! it is leaning to one side .. then i had to do it again !! just to replace the fu@# ( the mount ) ..

goodluck ,

WsSickLs6

you driving an LT1? I know they use up strut mounts like every month...

sprung_monkey

iTrader: (8)

hey dont feel too bad when i did my springs (first time ever) i had to take the front passenger apart 4 times tracking down a clunk.................turns out the shop that i had pull the top bolt out of the strut didnt tighten back down on my strut all the way so yeah its going to be 5 times very soon

Predator

I swore I'd never do another spring and shock install after I got done.

69TA

iTrader: (263)

Damm you guys had some rotten luck. My worst snafu was that I put the strut in the wrong direction so the bottom mouting bolts were at the wrong angle. I was like no biggie just spin it in the bushing until it lines up with a large screwdriver. That thing would not budge for $hit and snapped my screwdriver like it was a twig.

Predator

I did the same thing and had to remove the spring and recompress it. That spring job could have been a heck of a lot easier if I had used my impact wrench to tighten the spring compresser bolts, but instead I just used a hand wrench.

69TA

iTrader: (263)

How the hell did you even get it done with a hand wrench? Not to mention dangerous. I just barely had enough time with my air impact driver before the spring compressor buckled out.

CashMoney

iTrader: (2)

Yeah I don't use the spring compressors anymore I had one one rip the threads off the rod and the bolt shot through the wall on my garage. The spring shot back and put a huge dent in my Father-In-Laws snapon tool box. Now I use the hydraulic spring compressors.

Predator

It wasn't easy I tell ya.

I was oblivious to the danger, ignorance is bliss. I had these cheap *** spring compressers too. I'll do it differently next time, but I definitely hate spring compressers.

Predator

I never heard of hydraulic spring compressers. Where can you get them?

OneMeanZ

iTrader: (2)

That was the first words outta my mouth when I got done...ended up having to put Koni's on the front a week later.

Predator

At least the second time you had more experience under your belt. As far as me, I haven't touched my shocks since.

OneMeanZ

iTrader: (2)

Second time I also had a lift, air tools, and a wall mounted compressor. It was MUCH! easier

CashMoney

iTrader: (2)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45860

If the link doesn't work just go to harbor freight and search "Hydraulic spring compressors"

I've done two of my cars, and I charged 3 friends about a hundred bones to do theirs. Its payed for itself and got me an extra hundred bucks.

Predator

Much nicer setup! No substitute for the right tools.

LS69TA

iTrader: (30)

I've had to do it by hand 3 times, all on trucks though. Definately not fun, and it takes forever.

Predator

Wow, that's awesome! Money well spent. Thanks for the link. For what it does, the $129. bucks is well worth it. When I change shocks again, I'm definitely getting one of those. Thanks.

JimMueller

iTrader: (9)

I did my first front spring replacement a couple of weeks ago. I had watched others do it before (on my vehicle) but that was about the extent of it.

I was horribly paranoid on the first assembly I removed (front passenger). I think it took me 4 hours just to get the thing out of the fenderwell. Upper shock mount was rusted to the shock pin. Soaked it in PB Blaster, blasted it off with a impact, used a die on the pin threads, and put on two locking nuts instead of one. I used anti-seize in the immediate vicinity of the shock pin and nuts, then spray undercoating on other parts to try to minimize future corrosion. Oh yeah, and I had to do some serious grinding on my Koni DA hat to get the Ground Control sleeve to go on. I used a pair of adjustable wrenches to tighten the spring compressor because I didn't have a big enough socket for the compressor nuts.

The driver side I had removed (w/o messing with the master), re-assembled, and re-installed in about 90 minutes. Same problems as above but I just knew how to knock it out. Unless I change shocks, I'll never need a spring compressor again with the adjustable coilovers, though

Oh, that reminds me, I need new upper balljoints because one seal is shredded. I'd rather do a front shock/spring swap than swap lifters.

OneMeanZ

iTrader: (2)

Straight up