HBoss

Woohooo! Here they are and they look great already. I can't wait to install them.

Question regarding the front shock replacement...Why is it that you have to remove the shock and coil spring assembly to remove the shock? Is there not enough room there for the coil spring compressor, or to reach the top middle bolt?

Al

Grimace

I'm just curious how much did you pay for them in Canadian before taxes?

HBoss

With shipping it was $435.25 Cdn. C.O.D. upon arrival was an extra $75 Cdn.

I'm pretty much tapped out for mods this year. Nothing left in the budget for anything more until next year.

butnut

I know there is a good answer for that...I don't know for sure. My Datsun had Macphereson struts up front and the whole tower unit is pulled off to replace the cartridge. The Runner looks very similar except it's a shock, not a tube cartridge. Someone knows....
butnut

HBoss

Hey boys (warning...this is a long post)

I'm sure I figured out the answer to my question tonight when I took things apart. It seems that if you don't compress the spring first, the gas shock will basically fly off when you undo the bolt, either causing bodily injury, or it will get shot way out in left field and good luck finding it if you ever need it again.

Anyhow, I must say that I'm very disappointed tonight. Very sad and tired, in fact. Not at all about the Bilstein shocks but about the fact that I never got to get them installed!!! I basically worked on it for 4 hours and got the front ones off. I was working alone for about 3 hours of that, which is mostly why it took me so long. This is how I spent tonight:

-Park the Runner and take all my tools, etc. out and lay them out (I went to my parents' place to use their garage

...parents asking me how things are these days...

-Loosen the lug nuts, jack up the car high enough to place the jack stands underneath. The jack that I borrowed from a friend would not raise it high enough, damn thing. Put two 2x4's between the jack and the cross-member and jacked it up unevenly. Did my best to get the 2 jack underneath and lower it down.

...parents asking me if I want something to drink...

-Undo the lugnuts, take off the hub cover and take a look:



...parents asking me if I want something to eat...

-Undo the bottom strut bolt, this took a while to get out.

...mom talking to me about day to day stuff...

-Undo the top 3 bolts...this was tiring and they were not going to come out easy.

...dad asking me if I want some help...

-Don't ask me why I took this picture lengthwise (shock assembly removed):



-Get the spring compressor from Parts Source on it. This was not the spring compressor I had expected. The ends were too thick and not the proper size for the Runner's coils. After reafing on it for a while, 3 of my buddies show up. They each take a turn. Here's Faye trying his luck:



-So after all the effort, this is how far we got:



-I don't know if you can tell by the pic, but the rods are starting to take the shape of the letter "U". Now we were getting concerned because it was not enough to get the gas shock out. Too much more pressure and we were worried the rod would snap, killing or seriously injuring one of us.

-Just prior to this we got the idea of taking the coil assemblies to the only garage open (Canadian Tire) and having them compress it for us with their machine, and swap the Bilsteins there. Return and bolt them back on. No such luck. I called and the supervisor said it would cost 1 hour in labor to do this simple task and that they couldn't even do it tonight anyway.

So time passes, we think about the options and it's about 9:15 PM now. Basically, we bolted everything back in, put the tires back on and set it down. I was so tired, thirsty and frustrated.

Not one of my better mechanic days I'm sad to say. Now that I have taken the front all apart, I don't have much interest in doing it again. I'm contemplating taking it to Tire Warehouse tomorrow and having them do it for me, or doing this all over again on Saturday and taking out the coil assembly to a garage to have them compress it for me...

I'm kind of not feeling up to taking this all apart again, however it will certainly be easier this time as I lubed all the bolts before putting them back in. It will probably cost me $200 Cdn ($130 USD) for the labor for front and rear if I take it to the shop.

How much do I need to compress the spring to get the shock absorber safely out? Some general info said 3" of compression but there was no way we would get that much. From the pic above, do you think it was compressed enough to take out the shock?

What do you guys think I should do?

Adam F

your fine compressed like it is...just undo the bolt. you should undo the bolt and feel the shock come loose, and there will be no tension on the bolt once you undo it far enough. if you get to the last thread and there still is tension, keep compressing.

HBoss

Thanks for the great info Adam (from the other forum too)

I will get this done Saturday. I'd rather do the rears, it seems so much easier..

Al

butnut

I give ya credit for tearing into your Runner. I swear it's my age and having done all the work on my Datsuns that make me wanna take my Runner to a shop for that kind of stuff. I really enjoyed doing performance mods and whatever it took to keep my car running good for 20 years. Right now, all I'm willing to do is the basic fluid changes and tune up...and the little things I do to make it look different. Heavy labor is just not in me right now. The younger guys can scrape knuckles and cuss now...I've been there Good luck Al. Glad to see your safety concerns are intact. A lot of gung-ho gearheads have learned the hard way...your parents sound kool btw.
butnut

UKMyers

Man what a job that turned out to be! I hope you are able to get them done by yourself. Something about completing a big job yourself instead of taking it somewhere makes you want to smile Let us know how you ride is with the bilsteins!

jalaber

Al, I hear what you are saying. It is a great feeling to get the job done by yourself. Not just for the money saved but for the experience. I tried working on the rears for a long time but just couldnt get them out. I figured if I cant get the rears done, might as well not try the fronts. Gave up and paid $140 for all 4 to be done at a shop. They used some sort of power or bench mounted compressor and did it very safe and simply. Those bends in the compressor you are using look downright scary. And you are right serious injury can occur or worse. Be careful.

HBoss

Hey Jalaber,

What problems did you have removing the rear shocks? Bolts tight/old?

As for the front...other than the compression of this spring, it's really quite easy. It just takes a lot of effort if the bolts are old or warn, etc. Bolting the assembly back in was odd though. When we first put them back in and did up the top 3 bolts, the bottom bolt holes would not align. One of us pushed the spring toward the engine block while another pushed down on the double-wishbone, while another held the bolt and tried to thread it through.

I've modified my plan for tomorrow. I'm going to jack it up, remove the spring/shock assemblies and take them to The Tire Warehouse. They can use their machine (which is much more safe) and swap out the shocks for me. I just have to make sure they align them properly, then take them back to my truck and bolt them in.

I'll try to continue doing a write-up on this, it's just difficult to take pictures when you're covered in sweat and hands are full of grease and dirt. Maybe I'll wear gloves this time.

jalaber

Top nut would not budge. I was using a craftsman strap wrench on the shock body and a wrench up top. The mechanic used a curved jaw lock wrench and did not even damage the factory shock. I hesitated to use that method as I wanted to keep the factory shocks in good condition. I figured if I had to go to the shop to do the rears I would just have them do the fronts and avoid the hassels.

If you do go to a shop with the fronts mark the coils so you do not put them back on the wrong side of the rig when you get back!

HBoss

No problem, I've got the shock colors memorized now. They are there just like you said so there will be no screwing that one up.