Chowbow

I'm in the process of putting in H&R springs and Konis. I got the fronts done without any problems. Everything went quickly and smoothly in under 2 hours.

As hard as it is to believe, I'm stuck on the rears. I got the spring and strut out. Put the new spring and shock on, and I need to raise the control arm back up and put the bolt through. I'm WAY off on the bolt. Like 1/2" off. When I jack the control arm back up the bolt hole is sitting too far towards the center of the car. There's nothing to pry against in order to try and get the arm in the right position to fit the bolt through.

Suggestions? Ideas? As ridiculous as it sounds, it's taken me longer to try and get this bolt through than it has to do both fronts completely! And of course, I find out the wheel carrier ball joint is hammered so I'll need to redo this job to replace that ball joint in the future... UGH!

efzauner

hmm? send us a picture! I have replace the rear springs but not shocks.

phister

Which bolt are you referring to? The one for the shock or the one connected to the hub?

Chowbow

Hey guys,

I was referring to the bolt that connects the rear lower control arm to the rear subframe.

Anyway, I got it sorted out. Ended up needing a friend come out to help me and we were able to pry and jack the control arm to get the bolt through. This only occurred on one side. On the other side it was a simple affair with a minimal amount of contorting to get the bolt in. So it must mean that something is bent on one side. Nothing is visually off but I bet one of the control arms in the whole multilink setup is bent. I'll see how well it aligns. I doubt I'll throw new control arms into it since this car is more of a DD / commuter and it drives fine as is. Not trying to get it perfect here.

On a side note about the H&R springs and Koni yellows on full soft: Feels OK, but full soft might be a bit too soft. It jounces a bit more than I thought it would, almost like a blown shock and underdamped. Probably just too little rebound. Will try a 1/2 front and full turn rear tomorrow to see how it goes.

phister

It would have been easier removing the control arm from the hub and dropping it and putting it back. Just fyi for next time.

Chowbow

Thanks. That was going to be our next move if we couldn't get the bolt through. There's just a lot more possibility of movement on the hub side. It will have to come off soon anyway since I need to replace the wheel carrier ball joint. Both sides are completely worn. Although it is strange I'm not hearing any weird clunks and squeaks, they're in pretty bad shape.