back shockers

[Hawaii]

Afternoon all

Need a bit of advice - tried this afternoon to fit new springs & shocks to rear of my truck.

Jacked it up, put stands under chassis, another jack under rear diff, took off wheels, fixed & tighned up spring compressors, dropped diff 7 axle and old springs fell out, fitted new ones as a reverse process - job done, now to shockers (here's the problem)

Loosened the bottom bolts (easy), removed the "hard/soft" solenoid from top of old shock (easy, once you know how) but every time I got a 17mm socket on the top nut of the shock, it just keeps turning the top half of the shock with it.

Now I'm quite happy to strip off the outer collar & put a set of stilsons etc. on the piston, which should loosen the nut (I assume it's a normal thread & feels like a nyloc type nut) which is fine for getting the old shocker off but how to I make sure that the new nut is tight enough without some sort of clamp for the piston (which I don't want t odo as it's a new shock).

Manual isn't a lot of help, just says "remove top nut" - anyone got any ideas or already done this & can advise me how you got on. I'm determined to do this myself, but don't want to break/damage something.

Sorry for the length of the thread

ta in anticipation

hawaii

[stormforce]

get some one to hold the top half of the shock while your under the truck sorting the nut.Or like you said just put a pair of molegrips opn the shock and wedge them agaist the chasis

[Hawaii]

cheers stormforce

am I right in thinking that the "someone holding the top half" will be enough to secure the new top nut (it's a nyloc)

as it's now p1ss1ng it down here - job for weekend

thanks again, forum comes good again

ta

hawaii

[stormforce]

if they are not standard shocks and like es3000's then you can put a pair of molegrips on the disc part at the top of the ram of the shock top hold it still while doing the nut

[Hawaii]

cheers pal

happy puppy now & will do the job as son as rain stops - according to weatherman, that should be next monday!!!!

ta

hawaii

[davemaxx]

like stormforce says ---
if the new shocks are the es type procomps, the top part of the shock where the nut your talking about tightens down, well the first 8 or ten mill of that shaft is thinner if you look at it and its square on the end, so you can get the nut on the thread and there is the end part of that shaft sticking out, you might have even been supplied with a small tube with the end flattened down, well thats the spanner to hold it, i would suggest running the nut down the thread a bit ,and then off again beffor you fit them, because although its an easy enough job to do, when your under the truck they sit at an angle and you can cross the thread up.



like i did to mine, just a bit , but its all right now

[Apache]

The top threads on mine were painted, which makes the thread pretty stiff.

[Hawaii]

evenin all

just a quick update - object of today was to change the back shock, springs & fit a new tailpipe.

Following some excellent advice started the job at 10:00 this morning, by 12:30 all done (including taking off & putting back on the wheels).

ride is so much better (went with standard shock but 20% uprated springs - I tow a caravan a lot)

how happy a puppy am I?????

thanks again for all your help

ta

hawaii

[legendgamesmaster]

Afternoon all

Loosened the bottom bolts (easy), removed the "hard/soft" solenoid from top of old shock (easy, once you know how)

hawaii

er... HOW!!?? do they just pull off? please tell me as i dont want to break them!

[si tate]

er... HOW!!?? do they just pull off? please tell me as i dont want to break them!

He's probably on holiday this weekend "caravanning", I'm trying to grab a weekend off of him to see how he has fit his transmission cooler.

[TonyN]

er... HOW!!?? do they just pull off? please tell me as i dont want to break them!

It just two 10mm bolts hold the cover on.

[Hawaii]

mornin'

didn't need to touch the bolts on teh solenoid cover things - they clip on the housing, just pinch in the tangs (mine were on the outside edge so I could get my fingers in or a small flat blade screwdriver would do)

then they just pop off, removed the wiring plug and tidied that away (new shocks didn;t have the hard/soft option fitted) discarded teh solenoid plastic bits and fitted the new shocks.

UPdtae, shocks from Milners only lasted less than 2 years -few weeks ago replaced with new standard shocks and 30% uprated springs from Roughtrax - let's see how long these last - having said that I do about 20,000 miles a year in the truck and that includes a lot of towing the caravan.

hope this helps

hawaii