How To Changing Rear Shocks

6th March 2008, 20:43

Tools

Jack
Axel Stands
19mm Spanner
19mm Socket
21mm Spanner
21mm Socket
^or 2 of each what ever

WD40 alsways comes in handy.

1.First off loosen the wheel nuts off on the rear wheels when the car is on the ground, always makes it easier if they are on tight.

2.Jack the car up and put the rear on axel stands each side, or leave it on the jacks depends how health and safety you are, make sure leave the car in 1st gear of course, put some wood or something in front so it cant roll away

3.Continue to take the wheels off so you end up something similar to this.

4.Spray the nuts and bolts where the rear shock is attached with wd40 as it always comes in handy.

5.I did one side at a time, loosen the bottom nut and bolt right off, remembering which side the nut goes and which side the bolt goes as its different to the higher nut and bolt

6.Next the shocker will be swinging so simply now undo the top nut and bolt and bingo. Shocker is off

7.Reversal of dismantiling, make sure you put your new shock on the right way, put the upper bolt through and the nut on, tighten in up, not too tight, leave it so you can swing the shock.

8.Line the bottom of the shock with the axel and hole for the bolt and put the nut and bolt on, the same way it came off.

9. Same for the other side.

10.Wheels back on.

11.Lower to the deck.

12.Once on the floor, rock the car back and forward to settle the shocks, then tighten the nuts up from under the car.

you may get squeeking, more road noise and wear out/split bushes from metal inserts if tighten them when the car is still in the air.

making sure that you hold the bolts still while you do the nuts up, don't let them turn at all.

13.Job done took about 20mins or so

6th March 2008, 20:44

comments welcome

Got a one for front shocks to do, aswell as taken strut out etc just when i get time to do so.

6th March 2008, 20:47

Short and sweet just perfect, thought it would be a bit more difficult.

6th March 2008, 20:48

nice little guide steve get it stickied

6th March 2008, 20:48

am a total amature i couldnt believe how easy it was, its all about getting stuck in to be honest.

6th March 2008, 20:51

nice 1 mate. got front and rear shocks to go in. that give me some inspiration to tackle the bitch myself

6th March 2008, 21:01

will get the front up for you asap probs tomorrow or something when am bored at work.

Once again it sounds hard but once get stuck in its piss easy.

6th March 2008, 21:23

wow ace guide short and sweet straight to the point i thought it would be harder than that lol

6th March 2008, 21:56

Rear shocks are so easy, i did mine on the ground (well on a ramp in the air, but weight was on the wheels).

6th March 2008, 22:02

after fitting new rear shocks you still have to lower the torsion bar if you want it lowered right? and how hard is that?

7th March 2008, 11:59

i did this on sax908s car when we changed the rear axle (new one came without shocks, sooo easy anyoe with 2 arms can do it.

good guide BTW

7th March 2008, 13:18

good little guide mate

, you will find most small cars rear shocks are just 2 bolts and can be done in a couple of mins so this guide is suitable for other small cars

7th March 2008, 13:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by MH_VTR

after fitting new rear shocks you still have to lower the torsion bar if you want it lowered right? and how hard is that?

yeah you will still need to do the torsion bars, i would have done a guide but there is a few about and mine dont need doing,

coming up tomorrow is a gearbox guide as swapping my gearbox. Then will write up my front suspension guide

Any other guides needed as i take my car apart for fun now on saturdays.

7th March 2008, 14:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_VTS

comments welcome

Got a one for front shocks to do, aswell as taken strut out etc just when i get time to do so.

looks simple enough, looking forward to seeing your front strut pictorial.
thanks for a great post mate.

7th March 2008, 15:10

no problem somethign to do isnt it haha, my front one should be cool although i didnt have the proper tool for the casing i used mole grips and a hammer haha but you will all get to see that

7th March 2008, 22:05

bloody hell. that seems pretty straight forward. good guide mate.

7th March 2008, 22:20

Great little guide... but always wondered whats the benifits of doing this????

7th March 2008, 22:38

you will get squeeking, more road noise and wear out/split bushes from metal inserts if fitting them that way usually

Key is to drop the car to the ground(level ground i may add), release the handbrake before tightening the nuts, making sure that you hold the bolts still while you do the nuts up, don't let them turn at all. It is very important that the bushes are in their "natural" position at ride height, tightening them with the car off the ground will twist the bushes when at ride height, which isn't right.

8th March 2008, 00:18

another godd and simple guide steve. alex is right but never knew what the consequences where if you tightened them up if it wasnt on the ground.?

check the last one on the list - CLICK ME

8th March 2008, 09:11

i never knew that, will loosen them and re tighten.

Sorry guys not doing a gearbox one, was too dark foor photos and richies next door neighbours were having a fire so it smoked the garage out lmao wind was blowing it in.

8th March 2008, 13:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baynesey

Great little guide... but always wondered whats the benifits of doing this????

What do you mean?

Uprated shocks will firm up the rear end so it matches the front more when lowered. TBH they may overdamp the rear if you dont change the tbars.

8th March 2008, 18:32

I put koni's on, they have three settings i put them on the middle one, not sure if the 1st setting is standard or slightly harder, then 2nd setting half hard, then 3rd is fully hard. Seem to be good, with the front they had 2 and a half turns i put them on 1 and a half turn, rear seems a bit firmer.

Edited the 1st post to included alex's information.

8th March 2008, 19:10

I would set the koni rears to full hard with std torsion bars, mine were useless when i upgraded to 21mm torsion bars so i had to get some bilsteins, the hardest setting worked best on the std bars.

9th March 2008, 09:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexR

I would set the koni rears to full hard with std torsion bars, mine were useless when i upgraded to 21mm torsion bars so i had to get some bilsteins, the hardest setting worked best on the std bars.

what about the front then mate? its one turn off fully hard

9th March 2008, 17:01

i never used koni fronts and it depends what springs you have.

9th March 2008, 17:14

koni springs

25mm ones cant find the spring rate for them

9th March 2008, 17:15

probably one click back from fully hard then. Shame they aren't top adjustable, would make life a lot easier.

9th March 2008, 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexR

probably one click back from fully hard then. Shame they aren't top adjustable, would make life a lot easier.

i know

lmao

8th April 2009, 09:00

nice Guide mate very helpful, give this a go myself now

8th April 2009, 09:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davey_P

nice Guide mate very helpful, give this a go myself now

good man, its piss easy like.
Sometimes the bolts are rock tight, just get a long bar (tesco sell them for £4 iirc) 1/2inch drive.

Worthy buy, comes in handy when taking wheels etc off.

10th April 2009, 09:35

Cheers for that mate, Really useful and u made it simple. Thanks again for providing such an useful stuff. Hope u would continue doing this.

10th April 2009, 09:51

added to FAQ's

10th April 2009, 12:22

just shows ya a garage will charge you between 50 and a 100 quid to do that and with a great little guide like this u can do it yourselth for free well done mate make it a sticky

8th July 2009, 14:53

yeah pukka mate , as commented on your front how to .
cheers

8th July 2009, 16:47

good guide, don't know why you needed to take the wheels off though.

8th July 2009, 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shak

good guide, don't know why you needed to take the wheels off though.

for those who dont have a big enough spanner

cant fit a socket and ratchet in as it hits the tyre

8th February 2010, 13:26

Sorry to re ignite an old post but why have all the pictures dissapeared?

i was aiming to replace my rear shocks but without pics its a little daunting..

29th March 2010, 09:55

your gonna need to put the pics back up

5th April 2010, 22:09

Pics dissapeared Yo

6th April 2010, 13:36

regenerate the pictures please!!!!

6th April 2010, 13:44

no...

Pictures were removed as someone copied this and started selling it on ebay.

Always someone in the world who spoils it for the rest unfortunately.

6th April 2010, 16:06

Check out my forsale items on ebay for the guide with pics

6th October 2011, 11:48

what are the tell tell signs of the torsion bar beening ajusted as my saxo is sat on its arse an the rear shocks are completly squashed is it the shocks that are gone or the torsion bar that has been tampered with??? cheers

6th October 2011, 12:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by spencerdn2

what are the tell tell signs of the torsion bar beening ajusted as my saxo is sat on its arse an the rear shocks are completly squashed is it the shocks that are gone or the torsion bar that has been tampered with??? cheers

Sounds like the its been lowered on the torsion bar, and possibly not had shorter rear dampners put on.
Is there any movement in the rear suspension?? or is it sitting on the bumpstops.

24th January 2012, 13:57

I can't see the images can i get a quick notification saying if these are for VTR? i got some shocks for the drum brake model. would this tutorial be of any use to me?

24th January 2012, 13:58

just saw a post about the pictures, anyway is the tutorial still of use?

*How To* Changing Rear Shocks

How To Changing Rear Shocks