Anyway, I’ve got the old strut, spring and top mount off the car but for the life of me I cannot get them back in. Is there a knack to it that I don’t have?
I’ve tried to put the strut and top mount in first and then put the spring on - that doesnt work. I’ve tried to put them in together like the video but I can’t get the top mount in position.
If anyone is close to Dover and is willing to come and show me how to do it for beer tokens (or whatever you charge) that would be very appreciated.
Another thing that can help is to compress the shock up inside the spring then pass a long bolt/screwdriver/ratchet extension through the spring and lower shock bush, so it jams the shock in the compressed state up out of the way. This will make the bottom end of the assembly just the spring without the protruding shock.
Once you have the spring seated, ease the shock bush over the opening in the arm and take out the bolt. As it will be quite tight, use a small bottle jack that can pass through the opening in the arm and on to the bottom of the shock. A small amount of pressure will be enough to compress the shock slightly and you’ll be able to slide out the bolt. You can also use the bottle jack to control the position of the lower bush and align it with the bolt hole on the arm.
The process of removing the coil spring and shock absorber is good as per the video.
I found that jacking up both sides of the rear allowed the arms to drop further AND chock the front wheels, take the handbrake off, and then turn the hub so that the universal joint is positioned horizontally because that allows the arm to drop another inch or two which really helps.
For the life of me I could not get the top mount, shock absorber and coil spring back in as one. I put the top mount and shock absorber in loosely at first (but not with the shock going in to the hole in the lower arm). I only put a couple of bolts loosely on the top mount to just hold it roughly in place. That gives you enough room to lift the shock absorber up and slide the coil spring up it. I had to turn it a few times to effectively screw it in, but it worked ok. I then compressed the spring and forced the shock to compress to get over the mount on the lower arm. Then just turn it to the right position and undo the spring compressors. A bit of fiddling to get the bolt through the bottom of the shock and we were done.
