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257 Posts
It all went fairly well, but I was disappointed with the working space GM provided for R&Ring that top nut on the front shocks. On the left side, I could have used an impact wrench to remove the top nut, but there was no way to snake it through on the right side. I had to use the air ratchet, plus WD-40, plus the oxy-acetylene torch, plus a lot of alternating between CW and CCW in order to get the top nuts off. Even though the van is very clean, the threads on the shafts were rusty. The old shocks had GM PNs on them, so they were probably original from 1987.
I can't give a driving report yet because I went straight into exhaust work after shocks, then to shower and bed after that.
Highlights:
1) Removing original nuts sucked due to lack of accesss for impact tools or even a saw to cut off the shaft above the nut.
2) Front KYBs are longer in the body than the OE units. I was a little bit alarmed, so I went to KYB's website and verified that RockAuto sent me the right fronts. They did.
3) The rubber bushings that KYB provided did not squish to my satisfaction before the nut was bottomed out, so I reused the best-condition OE bushings on the top side in place of the KYB units to get more squish. That worked. I recommend doing the same, and possibly reusing all four original bushings if your situation calls for it.
4) The air ratchet was the best available tool for tightening the top nut. I still don't feel like I got that nut tight enough because I didn't get that satisfying slowing down feeling when you know that everything is tight. But the bushings are squished out to the edge of the washers and the threaded portion above the nut shows that the nut is bottomed out on its thread.
5) The KYB fronts have more droop than the originals, requiring me to use a floor jack and large socket to push the bottom flanges into place so that I could get the bolts started. I hope that these shocks have enough space for compression even though they have more droop.
6) The rears were a cakewalk compared to the fronts. On the first rear, I removed the band that compressed the shock before taking it under the van to install. Compressing it back into place requires some force. On the second rear, I took the shock with the band under the van, installed the upper bolt loosely, then removed the band and slipped the bottom bolt through when it reached that point of extension. Now, that didn't really go as smoothly as it sounds, but it is easier to hold the shock at a certain amount of compression than to compress it from full droop. YMMV, but that trick worked better than compressing manually from droop. A cleverly placed ratchet strap would probably be the hot bananas.
I can't give a driving report yet because I went straight into exhaust work after shocks, then to shower and bed after that.
Highlights:
1) Removing original nuts sucked due to lack of accesss for impact tools or even a saw to cut off the shaft above the nut.
2) Front KYBs are longer in the body than the OE units. I was a little bit alarmed, so I went to KYB's website and verified that RockAuto sent me the right fronts. They did.
3) The rubber bushings that KYB provided did not squish to my satisfaction before the nut was bottomed out, so I reused the best-condition OE bushings on the top side in place of the KYB units to get more squish. That worked. I recommend doing the same, and possibly reusing all four original bushings if your situation calls for it.
4) The air ratchet was the best available tool for tightening the top nut. I still don't feel like I got that nut tight enough because I didn't get that satisfying slowing down feeling when you know that everything is tight. But the bushings are squished out to the edge of the washers and the threaded portion above the nut shows that the nut is bottomed out on its thread.
5) The KYB fronts have more droop than the originals, requiring me to use a floor jack and large socket to push the bottom flanges into place so that I could get the bolts started. I hope that these shocks have enough space for compression even though they have more droop.
6) The rears were a cakewalk compared to the fronts. On the first rear, I removed the band that compressed the shock before taking it under the van to install. Compressing it back into place requires some force. On the second rear, I took the shock with the band under the van, installed the upper bolt loosely, then removed the band and slipped the bottom bolt through when it reached that point of extension. Now, that didn't really go as smoothly as it sounds, but it is easier to hold the shock at a certain amount of compression than to compress it from full droop. YMMV, but that trick worked better than compressing manually from droop. A cleverly placed ratchet strap would probably be the hot bananas.
