Shock Replacement (940 Front) - simplified procedures
 

Hi Members,

Recently bought a pair of Bilstein Front Gas Shocks.
Put them in, and i tried doing it in a short-cut method (as opposed to Haynes), works quite well.

1. Loosen the wheel nuts, just 1 to 2 turns each nut.
Attachment 18531

2. Jack up and support the car. Then remove all nuts, and remove the wheel.
Attachment 18530

3. Loosen the strut top nut. If you skip this step, you may have to struggle once the strut is on the floor.
Attachment 18532

4. I manage to remove the entire caliper without removing the brake pads.
Loosen and remove 2 screw securing the calipers. Be very careful doing this, any twisting of the caliper may damage the disc or pads. Then you can remove the brake disc hub by removing the spigot pin.
Attachment 18533

5. Unclip the ABS cable from the brake hose.
Attachment 18534

6. Rest the caliper on a support, not to stress the hose. I tried to tie it to nearby support, but not easily achievable, given the weight to hold with one hand, and having to tie with the other. The spring is not an option, as it will be taken out.
Attachment 18535

7. Remove the ABS sensor.
Attachment 18536

8. Now loosen and remove the tie rod end nut.
Attachment 18537

9. Remove the tie rod end ball joint with a separator. Be careful, and expect a lound and fierce pop up.
Attachment 18538

10. Now, loosen the ARB link top nut just enough to enable the removal of the lower screw, no need to remove entirely.
Attachment 18539

11. Now, remove ARB link lower screw.
Attachment 18540

12. Loosen and remove the lower arm ball joint mounting screws, 2 pcs.
Attachment 18541

13. Now, you can loosen the strut top mount securing nuts, leave the nut hanging the strut loosely.
Attachment 18542

14. Now, press down the lower arm until the strut is detached from the lower arm.
Hold the strut with one hand, remove the top mount nuts with another hand, then you can manouvre out the entire assembly.
Attachment 18543

15. This is how it looks like with the strut removed.
Attachment 18544

16. With the strut assy out, press the spring with compression tools, till the top mount plate is loose
Attachment 18545

17. Then remove the top nut, be careful, the spring might plunge out, never place your hand in front of the spring.
Attachment 18546

18. With the nut removed, remove the top mount components, remember the sequence. If you are replacing with a different make shock, some parts may be different.
Attachment 18547

19. To remove the shock from the strut, you need to remove the top cap nut.
This is how i did it, in the absence of a proper working equipment.
Attachment 18548

20. Put in my new Bilstein.
Attachment 18549

The rest is just the reverse.

Some extra considerations:
a) may have to further compress the spring when assembling
b) to reuse nuts meant for one-time use, you may use some thread locker on the thread.
c) to avoid wrongly positioning the strut, it may be a good idea to draw a circle on the top mount plate before removal from chasis.

I was thinking as I read, your car is pretty clean underneath!

This is a very useful post, thanks for that. I personally have no need to do it right now, but if I ever do, its posts like this one that would give me the confidence to have a bash at it myself.

My advice is to disconnect the abs sensor from the wiring loom at the engine bay, removing the sensor completly b*****s it up from the hub.

I tried to do this and found all the bolts rusted up. Ended up doing as above. I think new fixing bolts will be needed if I do ever remove the sensors, possibly use stainless ones to prevent this happening again. This probably only applies to the UK where councils think it's ok to cover everything with corrosive salt in the winter.

Excellent write up though, must get round to doing my car.