Lowering guide: rear suspension

Sorry, I have no pics for this one, so please submit if you can, and hopefully a mod will put them where suitable.

Tools:
Jack
Axle stands
1/2 drive socket set
Spanners
WD40 or similar
Ramps

Time:
About an hour

Difficulty:
Easy

Following is a brief guide to removing/refit rear springs.

Firstly, plan ahead a couple of days, get to the various nuts and bolts with some WD40 or similar, it will help a lot.

Removal

Get the back of the car up with a jack under the sill, careful not to lift under the floor, as the jack might go up, and the car might not. Once up, as high as you can get it, secure it with axle stands.

Remove each rear wheel

On the passenger side, you might find it easier to remove the exhaust back box, to aid access to the rear arm mounts there.

Under the car, using a socket and spanner, crack undone the 4 mounting bolts holding both rear arms to the subframe, you just need to loosen them slightly to allow the rear arms to drop down easier.

Put a jack under one of the rear arms, a block of wood as a spacer if needed, jack the arm up slightly to compress the spring.

Undo the bottom nut and bolt that holds the shock absorber, push the shocker upwards out of the way.

Carefully let the jack down, the bottom arm will drop much further than the opposite side, and the spring will decompress and become loose.

Take care not to stretch the brake pipe, if it looks like its under stress, undo it - but bear in mind of you do that it will need to have a brake pipe clamp to stop the fluid from dribbling out, and also, you will need to re-bleed the brakes upon refitting.

When fully decompressed, the spring will pull out from the top of the arm.

Leave the bump stop how it is, unless your new springs are REALLY low, then you may need to cut it slightly.

Refitting:

Insert your new spring, remember which way up it goes, as long as both sides are the same, it will be fine.

Carefully, jack up the arm, and make sure you position the spring top into its housing.

When happy the spring is seated correctly, continue to lift the rear arm with the jack, and pull back the lower shocker and line it up with its holes, put the bolt back in, and tighten it up.

Release the jack, the spring will now be held in place by the shocker which stops the arm from dropping, and keeps it under tension.

Ideally, refit the wheels and get the car on some ramps, retighten the bolts holding the rear arms, this will ensure the bushes are twisted too much when your car is lowered back to the floor.

Repeat other side, afterwards refit back box [if removed]

Refit wheels, lower car to the ground, if you have fitted lowered springs, then put a couple of bricks under each wheel or blocks of wood, otherwise it might drop so low that you cant get your jack out, then just roll the car off once the jack is out of the way.


This job is easy, the only hard part is initially getting the rear arm mounting bolts undone, which can take a lot of force, have somebody around to make sure you are safe, as the force can possibly make the car unstable on axle stands. Better be safe than sorry.

Nik

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