Rear shock installation

[gwittman]

I just installed new rear Bilstein HD shocks to replace old Bilstein Sport shocks. I forgot some of the difficulties of doing this. The bottom bolt/stud being at an angle makes removal and installation of the shock on it difficult. A little late for advice, but does anyone have a trick that makes that easier.

The steel sleeve that is used with the stock top mount was also a problem. They were stuck on the old shocks. So, I had to cut off the dust shields to get under them with a vise and pound the shock rod out of them. After that, things got easier.

I knew my old shocks were bad but I didn't know how bad. One had no pressure in it at all and the other had very little. In addition to that, one shock came to a hard stop before being fully compressed. That explains why the rear would hit bottom if I hit a bump a little too hard. The reason I didn't think they were so bad is it rode smooth without any bouncy rebound. When I pushed the rear and up a few times it would stabilize quickly. So, I just kept putting it off.

The new shocks are considerably better. When I shut the trunk, it barely moves at all now. Before, it would squat a little but quickly rebound without bouncing. The ride is better now too without the bottoming. I guess the change was so gradual over 40 years, I didn't notice the deterioration.

 

[Stevehose]

Removal and install on the angled stud is easiest with the shock compressed. I make a loop of plumber's tape equal to the compressed shock length then slip it over the compressed shock to hold it in place, then the shock can be hammered on or off with no issues.

 

[adawil2002]

When I did this, i removed the upper nuts first, the lowers second. I used an old hickory drum stick to pry off the lower from the angled stud. When I reinstalled the new shocks, I fit the upper into the shock tower & let the bottom hang. them jacked up the car until the lower slipped on with a gentle whack from a rubber mallet. Tightened the lower on each side, then torqued the uppers. This whole process was 3 hours.

 

[HB Chris]

I use a BFH on the lower mount. You won’t hurt the threads. Although once I hit the shock too hard on a 2800CS and the stud came loose but it turned out to be no big deal.

 

[eriknetherlands]

Removal and install on the angled stud is easiest with the shock compressed. I make a loop of plumber's tape equal to the compressed shock length then slip it over the compressed shock to hold it in place, then the shock can be hammered on or off with no issues.

I did the same as Stevehose wrote, after having the same initial problem with the lower stud being angled so that the shock doesn't slip on.

I did struggle still when I tried to slowly let the top extend into the hole: I missed it a few times, getting it stuck just next to the hole.

So, In addition to the method from Steven Hose, I put a torx 25 or hex bit in the top of the strut, and lengthened it with a quarter inch bit set lengthening piece. This way, you can stick the top through the hole in the rubber already, so when you release the plumber's tape ( or any other rope) it will always end up where it is supposed to go.