Hi all, I just yesterday received my shocks and springs from the group buy caz organised and today started the motions of fitting them. Silly me jumps right into it without any research on how to do it and have now realised I need some car stands and something called a "spring compressor". So I figure "oh well, lets go buy some stands and a compressor", then I realise it's a public holiday so my car is just sitting there with half the interior ripped out and looking miserable. Ok so anyway, the point of the thread I suppose is, how much am I looking at spending on a set of car stands? Also, what exactly is a spring compressor, and how much am I looking at spending on one of those? /Sigh... Thought I'd have the long weekend to get this done and completely forgot no shops were open today.
Haha! You'll only need two chassis stands, good ones retail for about $50 for the pair. Not sure how much spring compressors are, but the are not overly expensive. Not having your boot interior in doesn't make it undrivable. I've been driving mine for weeks like that
Haha ok cool, was hoping I didnt have to spend more than $100 so it's looking good now. If I need to I'll drive it around without the rear seats and interior in there, it just looks ugly as hell. Lucky I have the mrs to ferry me around in her car for the time being.
Spring Compressor Hiya, Stands aren't too expensive...you can get them from most place like Supercheap etc. To remove the springs you need a spring compressor. It's basically just a clamp. It clamps over the spring and you tighten it until you are able to remove the spring from the car. It can be dangerous though so be careful. You don't want that sucker to "pop" off and have a large, highly tensioned spring bouncing around your garage...with you ducking for cover...lol I'm not sure how much they cost though. Won't be too much. I've always borrowed my mates so I've never had to buy one fortunately. Good luck with this job...it can be a pain loosening those bolts... *sigh* Cheers Rob
supercheap wheel stands...$30 the pair spring compressor - $30 the pair piece of cake.... shit job, ive done kirst....twice, all of mine, mikstas... u can see the 2 spring compressors near the bottom, 2 clamps 1 big bolt
removing the stock suspension doesnt require a spring compressor.. are these springs/shocks longer than the stockies? if anything just get a mate to put his foot on the disc and put some weight on it while the suspension moves down so you can fit it all in, i got my 2 tonne stands for $30 from autobarn
You need the spring compressors to get the old strut tops off so you can reuse them with the new shocks and springs. They are not needed for installation as the king springs are short enough. Compressors are about $30 from supercheap.
oh ok.. i woulda thought that the shocks/springs from the GB come with the strut tops ready to be installed? so you gotta re use the stockies?
I'm having a hard time putting the new shocks and springs in. I got the old ones out easy enough but the new ones are giving me a bit of greif. There's not enough hours of sunlight in the day
put a wheel nut on the rotor,then a wheel brace on the nut,get someone to put some weight on it and you should be able to slot them in
Loud n Proud, Did you use a rattle gun to remove any of the bolts holding the shocks in place? I'm also wanting to tackle this task but wondering if I should just pay someone a couple hundred to do it. Thanks, Don
It's not too hard, I didn't need a rattle gun just used a breaker bar on the tough nuts. If you have a rattle gun it'd make it a bit easier though.
Ok, finally almost done. Rears are finished. Fronts are pulled out and about ready to put back in. I've got 1 question regarding the front shocks: There's a little orange gasket on top of each of the front shocks, when I pulled them out, they were pretty much rooted. Question is, do I NEED the gasket, or will it work perfectly fine without it? I don't really see a purpose for it.
Ok cool. Put em on without it earlier so now it's all done. Feels sooo much better than that old rusty stock suspension.:zlove:
