now that i have the front suspension removed, i'm going to tackle the rear suspension. are there any words of caution/advice on taking it apart? do i need to take special precautions because of the shocks/springs being under pressure. i used a floor jack to hold up the a-arm on the front so the spring didn't rip my head off. are there similar precautions that need to be taken for the rear?
rear suspension removal
- Thread starter undercnstrction
- Start date
I would get the car in the air first, then remove the E-brake cables, brake lines, quad shocks, and main shocks. This gets the rear end to drop down quite a bit. Next remove the springs with a spring compressor. If you don't have one, that's okay. You can get a jack under the rear mounting bolt of the rear lower control arm. Take the bolt out, then lower the jack down slowly, the rear spring will release it's tension and fall out. Then take out the UCA and LCA bolts and everything is out.
+1, The rear springs are soooo much easier than fronts.
I've said it before, using a ratcheting strap to hold the axle in place when taking off or putting on control arms helps a ton. That rear end is heavy and under a lot of pressure, so when you start taking things off of it that hold it in place (shocks, control arms, etc), its going to try to get out of whack on you and make it hard to remove or install bolts.
^^Yup...it's a PITA sometimes to get in aftermarket UCA and LCA's. On the two notches, it was a PITA. But on this hatch it was much easier since I used stock uppers. The lowers went right into place. I bolted the uppers to the car, then moved the rear end up and slipped the bolts in the housing for the UCA's. Much easier than aftermarket UCA's.
SpartaPerformance
10 Year Member
I would always put the car on jack stands then put a floor jack under the pumpkin of the rear, once all the lines and shocks are unbolted then you can slowly release the floor jack and the whole rear will drop out if that's your plan but if you're just installing suspension parts you should do it one side at a time, at that point the rear springs can be removed quite easily by hand.
- Jul 21, 2005
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Another issue that can be had is if you have a car that has been driven moderately hard when you remove the control arms if the car has "flexed" at all the holes dont always line up perfectly. Using something to help wedge in conjunction with the jack always makes it a bit easier, but not much.
as far as i know everything will need to come out. i'm converting to 5-lug and 4-wheel disc. i'm also going to be adding a panhard bar and torque arm. i'm still not sure about the rest of the suspension though. i'm guessing it will be some form of lowering springs/shocks instead of coilovers. MM advised against coilovers, although i can't remember why.
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