help with new shocks & springs

[nairnman]

i have taken off my old coilovers and replaced with standard shocks and brand new apex springs allround, i have fitted and tightened everything but when i went for a test drive i hear creaking and noises i also feel through the steering wheel somethings wrong but i dont what, should i put this down to springs needing bedding in? i also have the lowered droplinks so could it be these. i did notice the bracket for the droplinks are supposed to be on the left looking at them so i did that am i right? the droplink is straight as opposed to having bracket on the right leaving the droplink not straight if you know what i mean please help

[nairnman]

i think the drop links should be straight im not sure whats happened untill tommoro when its light does anyone see the problem???

[colm_mcm]

this is how mine looked

[nairnman]

so what do you think has gone wrong? i think the strut top may be in the wrong position, i measured my old coilover and the nut positions are exactly 163mm apart so i may have got the thread through the hole on chassis but the mount the wrong way round if you know what i mean?

[colm_mcm]

Yeah, know what you mean.

on the shock top with the wheels off the ground, does the centre nut turn or is it locked in place?

[nairnman]

oh,i dont know will try tommoro, what should it do???

[colm_mcm]

shouldn't turn. if you didn't sit the shock in properly at the top it'll turn at the top. easily solved though with some washers and a non locking nut to pull the shock up and into position.

[nairnman]

so tell me if im wrong, the middle nut that holds the shock together if that moves with a socket on it, it may not be in position. i dont fully understand the washer bit though

[colm_mcm]

A thick washer under the nut will rotate and pull the shock piston upwards so that it'll click into the right position in the top mount. Once it's in place, undo the nut, remove waher(s) and redo locknut.

If you have spring compressors, the spring washers on them are ideal.

Shocks usually have nylock or lock nuts, so its hard to fully tighten them if the spring assembly isn't put together, which may be the case here.


I take it you have the rubber yokes fitted around the ends of the coil spring?

[nairnman]

well today i corrected the work the garage did yesterday, they didnt line up the holes top and bottom of the strut, so i put them right and now the noises have gone
but the steering feels very light and going over a pot hole send the steering wheel mental, it feels dangerous but i do know it needs allignment but surely cant drive it like this for a week (time to bed springs in) so i havnt got a clue whats happening, the holes lined up, droplinks are in correct position everything is tight, so dunno

[StewyD32]

Go back to the garage and get them to rectify it and break their hands with the biggest rachet you can find there. They obviously don't have a clue

[nairnman]

well im doing the rears just now and finnished one side, what a pain in the ar$e, do i really have to compress the spring to get back in. im running out of light now so will finish of tommoro but any easier ideas so i can be armed and ready and also so the mrs dont have to duck for cover and many thanks for your help

[colm_mcm]

I loosened wheelnuts, put car on axle stands, and removed rear wheel.

Next, I sprayed WD40 on the bolts that hold the bottom of the shock absorber to the suspension arm. these were pretty rusted and I had to use an impact gun to loosen them.

Next job was to get the spring/shock unit down. because space is tight, I had to compress the springs while the units were on the car, to aid removal.


Once the spring was sufficently compressed, I loosened the top 2 nuts from inside the boot but didn't remove them, this allows the strut to move around a little without falling down.

I applied downward pressure on the rear hub and popped the shock arm out from the suspension arm and removed the spring unit.

Same craic again, remove centre bolt, swap springs, re-assemble suspension unit and re-attach centre bolt.

I left the spring compressors on the spring, I then fed the bottom end of the shock through the suspension arm, re-attached the 2 top bolts from inside the boot. then putting downward pressure on the hub, re-attached the shock absorber bolt on the suspension arm, and Bob's your uncle, you're done!

[nairnman]

aye i read that but thanks, so i guess its that way then. i wish i had my pillow ball mounts on these standard shock but i didnt think it was possible. oh well atleast i have spares.

[FTOCUZON]

Your tracking will be out if you have gone from coilovers to standard suspension thats why the steering wheel is feeling light etc

[nairnman]

i did the axle stand and string measurement and found my front wheels were toe-out by left: 8.5mm right:17.5mm so i adjusted the tie rods accordinaly and now drives spot on and in a straight line. the rear wheels were perfect so didnt bother with them

[optical illusion]

i have taken off my old coilovers and replaced with standard shocks and brand new apex springs allround, i have fitted and tightened everything but when i went for a test drive i hear creaking and noises i also feel through the steering wheel somethings wrong but i dont what, should i put this down to springs needing bedding in? i also have the lowered droplinks so could it be these. i did notice the bracket for the droplinks are supposed to be on the left looking at them so i did that am i right? the droplink is straight as opposed to having bracket on the right leaving the droplink not straight if you know what i mean please help

Exact same thing happened to me recently. You need to make sure the big holes in the top and bottom part (don't know the name of them) between the shaft line up. So simple but causes the above.

You wouldn't even think of it putting them back together.

It's in the bottom of this guide http://mitsi-fto.blogspot.com/2010/10/h ... s-and.html

A great guide btw!!