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.
2. Loosen Nuts.JPG
2. Jack up and support the car. Then remove all nuts, and remove the wheel.
1. Jack Up Car.JPG
3. Loosen the strut top nut. If you skip this step, you may have to struggle once the strut is on the floor.
3. Loosen Strut Top Nut.JPG
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.
4. Remove Caliper.JPG
5. Unclip the ABS cable from the brake hose.
5. Unclip ABS Cable.JPG
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.
6. Rest Caliper.JPG
7. Remove the ABS sensor.
7. Remove ABS sensor.JPG
8. Now loosen and remove the tie rod end nut.
8. Remove Tie Rod End.JPG
9. Remove the tie rod end ball joint with a separator. Be careful, and expect a lound and fierce pop up.
9. Remove Tie Rod Ball Joint.JPG
10. Now, loosen the ARB link top nut just enough to enable the removal of the lower screw, no need to remove entirely.
10. Loosen ARB Link Top Nut.JPG
11. Now, remove ARB link lower screw.
11. Remove ARB Link Lower Screw.JPG
12. Loosen and remove the lower arm ball joint mounting screws, 2 pcs.
12. Remove Lower Arm Ball Joint Mount.JPG
13. Now, you can loosen the strut top mount securing nuts, leave the nut hanging the strut loosely.
13. Loosen Top Strut mount screws.JPG
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.
14. Detach strut from lower ball joint.JPG
15. This is how it looks like with the strut removed.
15. strut removed.jPG
16. With the strut assy out, press the spring with compression tools, till the top mount plate is loose
16. clamp spring.JPG
17. Then remove the top nut, be careful, the spring might plunge out, never place your hand in front of the spring.
17. remove top strut nut.JPG
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.
18. top mount removed.JPG
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.
19. remove strut top cap nut.JPG
20. Put in my new Bilstein.
20. Bilstein Gas Shocks.JPG
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.