Rear Spring Compressors

[HB Chris]

When reinstalling both the spring and the shock using the methods described above, is there any advantage to doing shock first or spring first? On the face of it, it would seem easiest to do the shock first since it is “behind” the spring…. True?

You can’t get rear trailing arm low enough to insert spring if shock is attached without using a spring compressor.

 

[Bmachine]

A few small tips:

- When you tie the rope or wire to keep the shock compressed, use the provided washer at the top and tie that wire above that. Otherwise your wire will slip right past the top of the strut shaft.

- Insert the rubber bushing at the top of the shock tower first. But don’t insert the metal sleeve in it yet. Leave the metal sleeve on the shock shaft. This way it will get inserted in the correct position as the shock pushes through. Otherwise the shaft can easily push that metal sleeve out.

- I was under the impression that you need to lift the trailing arm sssembly as high as possible in order to get the shock to install. Wrong. You do not need to lift it very much, if at all. If you do it too much, no matter how tight you compress the shock it will still lean too far outward. By testing various heights with the floor jack , you can reach an optimal position where the shock bottom slides right onto that big M8 bolt. No hammer needed.

- Having a ratcheting 17mm wrench sure helps tightening that top nut at the end