Technical Replacing rear springs

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Technical Replacing rear springs

nuddmann

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I'm considering my second foray into the world of DIY mechanics, having changed a track rod end without a front suspension collapse I'm obviously F1 pit lane material................

Anyway, is it as simple as it a) appears and b) everyone I've spoken to tells me i.e. up on axle stands, wheel off, jack under trailing arm to stop it dropping, undo bottom bolt on shock absorber, lower trailing arm on jack until spring can be removed, fit new spring, jack up trailing arm?

If I've got to start faffing around with brake pipes I won't bother and will get my mate to do it as I don't have the time/gear for that.

Anyone able to confirm or otherwise.

Ta
 
I did mine while the subframe was removed, but yes, it is a simple job to replace them. There are some rubbers and retaining caps at the bottom of the springs that can be a bit fiddly; other than that it's straightforward.

Note that the dampers act as the lower limit for the swing arm travel. Removing them allows the arms to drop down a lot further, which will make life easier.
 
I did mine while the subframe was removed, but yes, it is a simple job to replace them. There are some rubbers and retaining caps at the bottom of the springs that can be a bit fiddly; other than that it's straightforward.

Note that the dampers act as the lower limit for the swing arm travel. Removing them allows the arms to drop down a lot further, which will make life easier.

How do you get them off and is it possible to get the new springs in without taking them off as I don't have any spring compressors
 
Yes, that's why I mentioned the dampers. Once the back wheels are off the ground, it's the fully-extended dampers that act as the downward 'stop' for travel of the swingarms. After jacking up the car, I'd try to get the hard plastic mushroom clips out that sit inside the springs at their bottom end. The bottom of the springs have pig tail ends. Then undo the nuts that hold the bottom of the dampers in place and pull them (the dampers) off of their pins. That will allow the swingarms to drop down enough to get the springs out.

There are a couple of photos of my subframe off the car about half way down this page that may help. Note that the subframe is upside-down in them, so the swingarms are uppermost:

https://www.fiatforum.com/multipla/306049-lets-get-party-started-2.html
 
Just occurred to me, when you say dampers do you mean the shock absorbers, I think working nights this week is shrinking my brain!!
 
Thought I'd post an update...........

Fitted new springs and shocks, thought I'd treat the old bucket as the springs were original with 152k on them and the shocks at least 3 years old and as the roads are so crap that the toll on my suspension is becoming horrific I reckoned "in for a penny" etc.

Anyway, it's not quite as straight forward as the you tube videos I watched on other cars as the springs are slightly curved when under tension, getting them off is a one person job, but getting the new ones in needs an xtra set of quite strong hands.

Having taken the shocks off it's simply a case of using a pry bar to lever the bottom of the spring off of the sub frame mounting, all the rubbers were fine, treated them to some rubber and plastic trim restorer, when it comes to fitting the new springs you cant get enough downward movement on the rear trailing arm without, I'm guessing, disconnecting the rear anti roll bar, as only 2 of the bolts wanted to come off without the heads round off I binned that idea...........

Anyway, enter mate and neighbour Paul, handy with cars and owner f a set of extra long breaker bars. All it needed was for me to stand on the wheel hub, exert some considerable downward pressure with my feet and that gave enough room to prise the new springs on. A bit of twisting needed to ensure that they're seated properly in the top rubber mounting as this has a recess into which the end of the spring sits and the car is once again nice to drive.

Couple of things I found: remove the spare wheel and unhook the back box of the exhaust to give yourself some room o get the shocks off. Top nut on the nearside shock was a right bar steward, friend Paul had to scurry home and get a 15mm hex socket as my Halfords one was making no impression on it and I didn't want another rounded off nut. OOeerr missus
 
Glad i read this before getting my rear springs off... Checked on here as they have lots more spring left in them and thought there might be a trick to do it... Now just need to find those extra pair of hands:rolleyes: but maybe best leave it til a day when rain isn't threatening quite as much;)
 
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