well today i replaced my rear shocks, and couldnt find a how-to so i made one.

tools needed

breaker bar
ratchet
penetrating fluid
18mm socket
19mm socket
21mm? socket (i used a 13/16 socket since i didnt have a 21mm)
torque wrench
ratchet extension

EASE OF INSTALL:
easy. took about 15 mins per side

STEP 1
jack up the car and take the wheel off. if you dont know how to do this, then just kill yourself.

STEP 2
get the penetrating fluid and spray it on both the top and bottom bolts

wheel off and penetrating fluid in there


STEP 3
get your breaker bar and the 18mm socket. Loosen off the bolt, then take your ratchet and take the bolt out.



The axle will drop once you take the top bolt out, dont worry about it yet
STEP 4
Get your breaker bar again and the 21mm socket and loosen the bottom bolt. get your ratchet and take it out. the shock will fall out now.



STEP 5
take your new shock (mine is a fe5 shock) and put the top bolt in. dont tighten it yet, as you still have to move the shock to get the bottom bolt in.

STEP 6
get your jack and jack up the axle. put the bottom bolt in and jack until it lines up. tighten the bottom and top bolts. torque spec for the top bolt is 66 ft/lbs and the bottom bolt is 81 ft/lbs.




STEP 7
take the jack out, and put the wheel back on. torque the wheels and your done.

 

i hope someone finds this useful

 

Even though doing the rear shocks is stupid easy, Im sure someone will find it helpful. Nice write up

 

great write up!

 

those bolts are ******* long lol

 

Yea, I used a impact.

 

i dont have one, so breaker bar and ratchet had to do

 

quick question on this tread....since im doin this friday, and this did help visually...would changing out the spring to the lowering springs be easier. Never done this before hence the noob question (one shot deal)???

 

you take out the bottom bolt to do springs. the axle will drop, relieving the pressure on the springs

 

the rear springs come out very easy when doing the rear shock replacement. just grab em out, swap the rubber pieces to the new spring put back in.

 

but you have to drop the axle, which involves taking a bolt out of the shock

lol he deleted his post

 

i did because i read it wrong lol. i though he was asking if swapping shocks and swapping springs did the same thing lol

 

i thought it was implied to do the swap while doing the shocks.... atleast thats how i meant it lol

 

and yeah its easier to do both at the same time because you need to take out a bolt either way

when swapping springs only you just remove the bottom bolt

 

ya, misunderstood at first. When axel drops while changing the shocks, i can swap the springs out too...(duh)..i just ordered B&G springs. So now imma wait till they get in to do everything. i gotta change front and back everything..Struts/shocks/sprinigs..BRAKES..lol...im at 88k miles and still running stock drums..never changed em yet. Parking brake works, still locks up when ebrake is pulled. And now i come to see that my brake fluid is black. FML

 

omg thank you so much. you saved me such a hastle cause i had to buy tools and i wouldve had no clue what socket sizes they were!! just did this today only did one and litterally took 15 min and that was slow. definitely no more than a 10 minute job and lifting the rear axle wasnt needed just so you know. it dropped out and the new one fit right in place. mightve just been luck though! thanks again

 

glad to help

 

Just wondering but on the bottom bolt, is there supposed to be a gap between the shock bushing and the head of the bolt? Mine is making a noise over bumps now. I checked it out to make sure everything was good and found about a quarter inch gap between the bushing and bolt head. Is the right or should I get some washers? I also tried to see if the bolts were loose and they are not.

I replaced the fronts and rears about 4 months ago with KYB-GR2's

 

when i swapped mine out yesterday i didnt notice a gap, i can check later something might be bent its sounding like

 

I got that figured out. I forgot that there is metal in the center of the bushing so the bolt head doesn't even touch the bushing.