Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 18:29:31 -0400
Reply-To: David Katsuki <katsuki@BBN.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: David Katsuki <katsuki@BBN.COM>
Subject: Re: Front Shocks Replacement
In-Reply-To: <980420.124515.CDT.JWALKER@UA1VM.UA.EDU>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The only thing I could add is that there is a trick to getting the bottom
of the shock and the hole in the control arm aligned during reassembly
which makes it much easier (I know this is true for vans with the cast
lower control arms and might be true for the welded assemblies also, but I
forget which the 86 vans have):
THE TRICK:
The hole that the lower fixing bolt for the shocks goes through has what
looks like a bushing at the rear end. This is actually a split bushing
that goes in a tapered hole in the lower control arm and ensures that there
is no play between the bolt and the control arm. After the shock comes
out, take a long drift and gently tap the bushing out towards the rear
(comes out easily). This gives lots more room to wiggle the bottom of the
shock around as you align the holes. To reassemble, just put the bushing
back on the bolt (taper facing the right way), align it with the outside of
the hole and tighten up.
Dave
At 12:35 PM 4/20/98 CDT, Joel Walker wrote:
>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
>
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