How hard is replacing shocks?

[Blizzard96]

I called around and most shops want major $$$ to install shocks...my take-off shocks!

They all say the rears are easy but the fronts are hard...range is around $150-200 for front and rear installation.

Is the front really that difficult? I was thinking of getting the rears done and holding off on the front...is that a bad idea/cause problems?

[PiLOTLiTE]

The rears are so easy, lift the car, take out the bottom bolt on the rear end, and the top underneath the carpeting in the interior. 20 min tops for both sides.

The fronts are a little more difficult, but no problem for someone with a little mechanical experience. Raise car, take off wheel and brake caliper (hang with a wire hanger out of the way). Remove cotter pin and castle nut that join the upper control arm with the spindle assembly. Careful, as the spindle assembly will fall foward on the lower ball joint. Remove 2 lower strut bolts and 4 upper. Passenger side is easy, 2 nuts, 2 bolts. Driver side is 2 nuts and 2 t-50 torx bolts, will also require unbolting of master cyliner from booster to get the torx bolts. Do not worry about slightly bending the metal brake lines to get the master cyl out of the way, just don't kink them. Remove strut assembly (spring over shock).

Now you will need strut compressors to get the spring off the shock. They can be rented from kragen or most other auto parts stores, you will need a pair. Place them opposite each other on the spring and begin to tighten them 2 turns each side until the spring is not pushing against the upper and lower perches. Remove the nut holding the upper perch to the shock. Transfer the compessed spring and uppoer and lower perches over the new shock.

Assembly is the reverse of removal. Estimate 2 hrs per side for your first time doing this.

[ May 06, 2003: Message edited by: PiLOTLiTE ]</p>

[Blizzard96]

Alright, thanks Pilot! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Would there be any problems if I left the fronts on but replaced the rears with the take-offs?

[PiLOTLiTE]

It would seem to me the fronts would get more worn than the rears, so you'd want to replace them if nothing else. I would say do all four, the fronts will eventually leak all the fluid out once they get old enough, if they haven't already. Like I said, they can be done pretty easily with just hand tools and the special compressor which will only run u a few bucks to rent. I'd get a shop manual and make a weekend project out of it. Buy a 12 pack and get a buddy, you'll be done before u know it.

[Red V6 Raider]

I did the same thing about a year ago. I replaced the back ones no problem. I drove on those for weeks and you can tell a big difference. Then eventually I got motivated to do the front struts. Keyword STRUTS(that's why they cost a ton to have replaced). I did one strut on my own and 4 hours later I took the other strut to pepboys to have them do it. I think they charged me 25 dollars a to do it when I just brought them the strut.

I bought some cheap spring compressors off of eBay and they were slightly bending when we tried to compress the spring. Quality ones would have made it easier. We had the both the compressors end up on the same side of the spring so it was bowed out and all sorts of problems.

Here's a link to the site I used for a guide:
http://www.houston-f-body.org/tech/shocks/index.htm

I am confident I could do it again if I needed to.
Good luck!