I'm in the middle of trying to put stock struts and springs on the front, but I hit a huge snag. I am going back to stock from Koni Reds and Goldline springs. My problem is that the stock strut/spring combo is much longer than what I had before and I can't get the strut mounted to the 2 bottom bolts on the knuckle. I was finally able to get the strut and knuckle to somewhat line up, but its sticking so far down that its hitting the outer boot. I can't seem to push the knuckle down far enough.
Make sense?? Any help would be great!
Do you have the Koni/Goldlines off of both the drivers and passengers side? If you still have the opposite side bolted in and the Konis are shorter your now fighting the sway bar when you try to push the knuckle down. I'd try jacking the other side up so the shock is fully extended or even just take it off.
Make any sense?
had the same issue when i went back stock from coilovers what a pain it was what u have to do it worked for me was get a lug and put it onthe stud and screw it down doent need to be tight just all the way down and then using a 4point lug wrench u know it looks like a big plus and put the matching one on the lug and then put the top of the strut in and to get the bottom just sit on the plus looking lug wrench ur body weight will push down enough to get the line back. this gives u the leverage u will need. just make sure ur car is sercurly stable before u do so which if ur this far would hope it is. that worked for me.
Well, I gave up and was putting the koni back in and I compared the 2 before doing so and they are the same length. I just have one side of the car jacked up and was thinking that may be the problem. Thanks for the help so far!
Sleepy was right! Got the first one in there, then got the last one done in 20 minutes, lol. It has been a few years since I installed any suspension, but I knew it wasn't that hard/impossible to get in there. It does feel weird being on stock suspension for the first time in 6 years....feel like I couldn't even get on the interstate its so "squishy" and not stiff lol
Thanks sleepy!!
for future reference... make you sure you lift the car front and rear not side to side. Also unbolting the sway bar end link will let you push the control arm down more to free up some more space.
only thing ive found useful when doing suspensions is bolt the strut to the knuckle first then push it up thru the strut tower.
You should always unbolt the sway bar whenever you're changing struts......
The Rebirth of AAG Pioneer! wrote:only thing ive found useful when doing suspensions is bolt the strut to the knuckle first then push it up thru the strut tower.
I've actually always found it easier to put it into the strut tower first so you're not fighting the weight of the strut and control arm when trying to get it into the shock tower.
1983 Camaro Z28
