Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 12:35:43 CDT
Reply-To: Joel Walker <JWALKER@UA1VM.UA.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Joel Walker <JWALKER@UA1VM.UA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Front Shocks Replacement
In-Reply-To: <4178FC20DA0DD11185DB00805FBE4173126120@xch-aub-08.ca.boeing.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Mon, 20 Apr 1998 08:45:32 -0700 you said:
> Are the front shocks on a 86 Vanagon "McPherson? Has anyone
>replaced them before. Of course someone has.
not exactly ... they look sorta kinda like McPhersons, but they aren't
exactly the same. yes, i've done them several times on several buses.
> I've never done McPherson Struts before. Messing with big
>springs sort of scares me. Are the McPhereson strut tools universal?
you do NOT need to mess with the spring!! really. you can do it without
ever taking the springs off. the trick is, you need a FLAT level place to
do it, some jackstands, and a jack. you get the bus up on the jackstands
(front end only), and get the wheel off. then loosen the one nut on top
(you have to hold the shaft ... it has flattened sides ... to loosen the
nut). then loosen the big nut on the big bolt at the bottom. don't take
anything out just yet.
now, put the jack under the lower a-arm (the bottom suspension part, under
the spring), but keep the jack out of the way of the hole below the shock.
jack up the lower a-arm a little bit. be careful ... you don't want to take
the weight off the jackstands, you just want to compress the spring some.
now remove the bottom shock bolt. the shock should (it might take some
coaxing) fall out the hole in the lower a-arm. and you should be able to
wiggle it out. watch where all the parts on the top of the shock go ...
the dust cover and the rubber donut and such will need to go on the new
shock.
to get the new shock up into the hole easily, it helps to compress the
shock a lot. then you can stick it all the way up and put the one nut on
the top. now you'll need to extend the shock ... you can stick a screwdriver
between the coils of the spring and pry the bottom shock-bolt-hole downward.
takes a while, but it can be done and beats sticking your fingers through
the spring coils!
then coax the shock bottom into place to the holes in the lower a-arm and
the holes in the shock line up, put the big bolt back in, and put the
big nut on it. and tighten and torque everything up. this bottom part
is usually the most time consuming ... the bottom of the new shock seems to
never want to line up right (for me).
hope it helps. :)
joel
