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finally changed my rear shocks


2001goldGTP

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i have been riding around with hte moog spring blocks basically for years and i could handle it anymore. my father had bought monroe reflex shocks years ago for the back and never put them on, so i went over to his place and after about an hour of looking found them. Then i proceeded with the job. I did it with out the leaf spring compressor but i did have the helper spring compressor and thank god it did, that would have been a pain. I hit everything up with w-40 before i started and it all went really smooth. it had been about 15 years since it had a set of rear shocks put in.

 

completely dead

IMG_20150116_130619501_zpsbhwehhuh.jpg

new with KYB boots with bump stops

IMG_20150116_165152378_zpsxxsxv3vw.jpg

installed

IMG_20150116_181501933_zpsfv6m5id9.jpg

 

air tools and w-40 where my friends on this job

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Ive got this looming in the future but I haz no air tools. I think I`m going to sucker down and replace the hub assembly while im down there as well as get my Z34 bar, and Got2BGM lateral links on there and I still need to paint my RTSB and solid trailing arms to match everything. IIRC those large knuckle bolts are torque to yield correct? Also since you've just done this, if you plan on changing the mount do you even need to bother with removing the old one from the old strut?

Edited by rich_e777
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I did that on my 91 GP. It was pretty straight forward, and I had to fit some rust. I need to do this on my 00 GTP eventually, but I think I can get some more use out of mine before I have to replace them. My GTP doesn't have any rust on it so it should go smoothly.

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Ive got this looming in the future but I haz no air tools. I think I`m going to sucker down and replace the hub assembly while im down there as well as get my Z34 bar, and Got2BGM lateral links on there and I still need to paint my RTSB and solid trailing arms to match everything. IIRC those large knuckle bolts are torque to yield correct? Also since you've just done this, if you plan on changing the mount do you even need to bother with removing the old one from the old strut?
Knuckle bolts are reusable. Don't bother reusing the upper mount. YES this job can be done without air tools, but you'll definitely need a cheater bar to break the knuckle bolts nuts loose. Also helps to have a 13/16" deep well socket to get those nuts off.

 

I did a post on this a looooooong time ago, can't find it to save my life...

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Knuckle bolts are reusable. Don't bother reusing the upper mount. YES this job can be done without air tools, but you'll definitely need a cheater bar to break the knuckle bolts nuts loose. Also helps to have a 13/16" deep well socket to get those nuts off.

 

I did a post on this a looooooong time ago, can't find it to save my life...

 

Oh definitely wont reuse the mounts, I've ended up with a set or KYB and Dura last so Ill have some stuff to sell once everything is installed, or squirrel away because 1st gen W-body. I went and bought a piece of steel pipe that fits an old socket wrench I used to get a rear sway bar that worked awesomely. I wish you were around then to say about the sockets, I bought 4-5 until I found the right size. Kept them all because I just cannot stand to sell a tool unless I've got two, as soon as I do I`ll need it.

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Congratulations! Can't be over-emphasized enough, if you have the auxiliary springs (the "8"-looking things), you need to have a plan to compress them, preferably the proper tool, although a carriage bolt, a washer and three nuts can be improvised into a tool if need be.

 

I did mine without air tools, but later bought myself a Harbor Freight electric impact gun. Which unfortunately won't work for the knuckle bolts on account of inadequate clearance. But works great, with appropriate extensions and swivel joint, on the upper mount bolts.

 

Bolt-wise, everything on these cars is metric, so don't even think of using non-metric tools.

 

Looks like the struts you installed have the holes so there's no wiggle room for installation, to set the alignment. If your alignment settings are all proper with the factory struts, this is the way to go. The KYB quick-struts have the holes pre-elongated which means that you have to assemble everything loose, install a brake rotor on backwards with some bolts, and then apply a jack to the brake rotor assembly to get the knuckle/strut assembly to deflect perfectly straight. Then torque the bottom up, release the pressure on the auxiliary springs, and you're ready to go!

 

Fronts, fortunately, are a piece of cake with the rental tool, and both can be done in half an hour if you don't run into any snag removing the bolt on top of the strut shaft. If you do, the trick is to jack the vehicle up slightly, install a pair of vice grips on the old strut's shaft, and then hit the top nut with an impact. But be very careful and only jack it up as much as you need to get the pair of vice grips installed (and once you have the bolt loosed, I suggest putting it back on, and removing the vice grips ASAP before proceeding to the next steps in the job). You still need a significant amount of the vehicle's weight on the spring itself to keep it retained.

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Ive IIRC those large knuckle bolts are torque to yield correct??

 

No, there's definitely an actual torque spec on them. There's actually 2 different sizes of the knuckle bolts, some used on pre-1994 cars (IIRC), and some used on post-1994 cars. The pre-1994 being more robust than the post-1994. Guess the GM accountants wanted to save a few bucks!

 

BTW, while you're in there, inspect the fiberglass spring to knuckle pads. If they're absent or severely worn, replace them.

Edited by pitzel
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i have all the front shock tools too, i changed those out last year. For the back, i could not even imagine doing this with out my impact gun, 5lbs hammer and a punch to knock the bottom bolts out of the rear shocks, just like on the 01 gtp, thats where i learned my lesson. On the monroe reflex shocks that i have, and they dont make anymore, every thing had to be perfect to get the bolts back in, no wiggle room at all i have to use my punch as an alignment tool and lever arm to get it all right. well worth it. Looking at those other pictures i am glad i dont live in the snow. I live int he SF bay area i get to choose and prep if i want to go to the snow lol.

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