Rear Shcok R&R

[Reaper]

Rear Shock R&R

Found shock discussions here, but no specifics on wrenching. So here you go.

Loosen rear wheel nuts.
Up on jack stands or rack. Remove wheels.
Place jack under beam arm next to shock. Apply slight up pressure to unbind lower bolt
Remove lower bolt with 15mm socket, pull bottom of shock free.
Upper bolts are removed from the wheel well.
For easier access to the top bolts I removed the two star retainers nearest the shock on the fender liner.
Grap edge of retainer with small vice grips and just twist them off.
Push loose fender liner out of the way and use 10mm socket and medium extension to remove top bolts.


Reverse works for installation. Might be best to do one side at a time. If you disconnect both sides perhaps the springs will get loose. Dunno, didn't try it.

 

[Intuit]

When you pull the strut tower down, do you see any sediment, debris, evidence of water?

Reason I ask:
My previous Ford had a design flaw that left a gap between the top of the strut tower and body. Water, debris and salt would get up there and rust out the strut mount and worse, the body. The mitigation I did, put a bunch of gasket maker on top of the strut tower right before wheel well insertion. Before: https://1drv.ms/i/s!AhsZJDCN8kMMgjBIksFxuesLGrvs Mitigation: https://1drv.ms/i/s!AhsZJDCN8kMMimwB4RnzPfGiXJ3K After: https://1drv.ms/i/s!AhsZJDCN8kMMimwB4RnzPfGiXJ3K

 

[Reaper]

I rallycross the car. It has a fine baked protective layer of mud everywhere.

 

[green_henry]

Found shock discussions here, but no specifics on wrenching. So here you go.

Loosen rear wheel nuts.
Up on jack stands or rack. Remove wheels.
Place jack under beam arm next to shock. Apply slight up pressure to unbind lower bolt
Remove lower bolt with 15mm socket, pull bottom of shock free.
Upper bolts are removed from the wheel well.
For easier access to the top bolts I removed the two star retainers nearest the shock on the fender liner.
Grap edge of retainer with small vice grips and just twist them off.
Push loose fender liner out of the way and use 10mm socket and medium extension to remove top bolts.


Reverse works for installation. Might be best to do one side at a time. If you disconnect both sides perhaps the springs will get loose. Dunno, didn't try it.

Yep, that's the way to do it, but I didn't mess with the star retainers -- as long as you have a nice, long socket extender, it's easy to work around the lining. You can disconnect both sides as long as you have a jack under the beam; otherwise, the beam will drop and one or both springs will drop out -- I know because I had a senior moment and forgot about step 3!

 

[Reaper]

First time I did it, I did it your way and worked through the hole in the liner. Having now done both, my preference is to remove the retainers and have more room to work.