Re: Need some help! Stuck suspension bolts...

["Randy B" <sirocco@telocity.com>]

Peter wrote:
> With the wheel on the ground, remove the 22mm strut nut, and then jack
> the car up, separating the strut assembly, then un-bolt the strut, remove
> from the car, replace the cartridge.


Wait, be carefull, I have tried this before.
If you do not have a LOT of suspension travel (swaybars) you may get the
whole thing stuck in there.
When the spring (stock that is) is allowed to fully lenghten it can jam the
shock in between the axle and tie-rod.
I had to remove the tie-rod end to get the system off the car
once...needless to say I didn't do the other side this way.
You definitely DONT want to do this with the rears, they will jam in the
axle and you will have to drop the axle to remove them.
I did this in a wrecking yard once...with both of them...DOh! and all I
wanted were the top spring perches.

One way to remove them F/R is to loosen the top nut on each (do not remove)
while the car is on the ground, remove the strut/shock assembly, clamp down
the springs with spring compressors and remove the top nut & dissasemble.
If you are changing out stock springs for lowering springs and don't have
compressors you can stand on the base end of the shock (front or rear) and
aim the front into a bucket/trashcan with a pillow or ?? in it using an open
end wrench to remove the nut fully. I have a pair of spring compressors and
don't even use them anymore choosing to do it this way. (you do need to use
commom sense and CAUTION tho')

If however you are putting the stock springs back on you WILL need to use
spring compressors because you will never be able to compress the spring by
hand (like you can with lowering springs) to put the nut back on.

sorry for the long post, HTH

Randy


> > I loosen the nut a bit, remove the strut
> > assembly from the car, compress it and then take it apart.  I still
> don't
> > think it would be safe to take the thing apart still attached to the
> car.
> >
> > John
>
> You can actually take them apart on the car.
>
> With the wheel on the ground, remove the 22mm strut nut, and then jack
> the car up, separating the strut assembly, then un-bolt the strut, remove
> from the car, replace the cartridge.
>
> The tricky part is getting it back together, reverse of removal...
>
> Peter - <http://thescirocco.com> - http://tttuning.com/ , Peloquin LSD,
> http://quaifeamerica.com/ , http://www.magnecor.com/ -
> Bear, DE 19701
> '79 Scirocco 16V 25 049
> '83 GTI 37 505
> '84.5 Scirocco 42 133
> '84 GTI 63 348  - SciRollers: '79 70 900, '84 Black, '88 Red -
> http://feedbyte.com
>
> ___________DO NOT!!!____________________________________________
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
> Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
> Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
>
> --
> Email LIST problems to: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org.
> To unsubscibe send "unsubscribe scirocco-l" in the message to
majordomo@scirocco.org
>
>


--
Email LIST problems to: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org.
To unsubscibe send "unsubscribe scirocco-l" in the message to majordomo@scirocco.org