Are the rear shocks relatively painless to replace on a 2006 Dolbo MultiJet active 1.6? I got a warning on the service that the bushes had crumbled and don't want to get shafted by the locals any more. We have a dealer who cocked it a few times and the local mechanic is basically Manual from Fawlty Towers.

Not bothering to replace just the bushes so will replace both shocks.

Some research suggests all you have to do is jack the thing, wheel off, undo top and bottom bolts on the shock (which can be damn tight and require some WD40 the day before), swap shocks, reverse process. Any gotchas?

Also, which ones are less crap: Anschler or Sachs. Will grab parts from eurocarparts.com as there's a pick up desk round the corner from me.

I've done a Land Rover Series III and a Defender 90 a couple of times (the things are like meccano!) but not a Doblo so I'm not new to this game.

Assume being from Europe, it's all metric sockets as well?

Perfect - thanks.

Agh had the wheel off. Bump stops are mostly gone as well. That'll explain the crashing sound on speed bumps.

Anyone know of a stockist of these?

Eurocarparts don't stock them and ebay sells only dodgy looking ones for £23 a pop.

They are not bump stops they are spring assister's they wear out would think the pattern ones are ok have had them on mine, hey don't seem to be any worse than OEM.
I also have spring assistors as it spent a lot of time on these bits of foam. presume you have leaf spring type van

Yeah it's leaf springs and they are definitely functioning as bump stops even though they look like the stops on the front shocks. Thought spring assistors were for coils (I'm an electrical engineer, not a mech!)


They look like this:





The eLearn guide shows them fitted:

Yep thats the things Fiat thinks they are to assist the springs the springs sag especially if you carry any weight :bang:

I've done this with something very similar to the above picture. You just need to give the thing a good wallop with a hammer and an old screwdriver to undo/tighten it. That's what the small cut outs in the metal rim are for.