Shock replacement question

Daniel Romero

Daniel Romero

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Hello,

This is my first time posting but I need some advice. I own a 1973 Plymouth Fury III Sedan and I'm having a hell of a time with replacing the front shocks. There isn't enough clearance to remove the old shocks, even with it fully compressed. I'm wondering if the new ones will be even harder to get in. Right now and for the past two days I've been trying to disconnect the lower control arm from the lower ball joint but it is stuck fast and I have no torch to heat it up. I've been using a pickle fork to try and separate everything but it still is stuck. Last week I had my brakes replaced and an alignment done. My question is "Did the alignment cause my car to not have the clearance it had before that is now causing me so much pain in removing my shocks?" "Is it normal to have to drop the lower control arm to get the shock out?" I feel like I'm going about this the wrong way. I've seen YouTube videos that say to hit the side of the control arm and that will knock the lower ball joint free but that has got me nowhere as well. Please help me out here so I don't have to ride my bike to work for the foreseeable future!
 
This question comes up here every now and then. Try doing a search.

In short, you need to cut off or break off the portion of the threaded stud on the top of the old shock absorber that protrudes through the mounting hole. Then you should be able to slide the old shock out without having to loosen a control arm, provided the car is jacked up and the wheel is hanging down (you might have removed the respective front wheel at this time already to facilitate operations). The new shock absorber should also be a gas-charged one, so you'll need to tie it together to prevent it from expanding. Use a piece of rope, cable or wire-ties. After sliding the new shock in, make sure the tip of the threaded stud already comes up through the mounting hole, then cut the wire/rope and remove pieces.
 
Do you have your jack stands under the lower control arm? If you do and have the weight of the car on them you will never have enough room to remove the shock. Make sure your jack stand is under the frame and let the lower control arm hang all the way down, then follow the advice in the previous post.
 
hey ya hang on a second be careful, especially if you don't know what you are doing.

there is stuff under tension under there,, you gonna pop yoself in the face then have the car fall on you.

IMO an old shock should fall out, almost literally.

ask more questions here.

try not to die -

- saylor
 
Thank you so much for the advice and rapid response everyone! I'm going to put everything back together and try it out your way. I told my buddy helping me that's what I thought had to be done but he didn't think the new one would fit in. Hopefully I can prove otherwise. I'll let you know how it turns out! Now I just need to get ahold of something to cut the top of the shock off.
 
Well... Unfortunately, I'm still in a bind, figuratively and literally. I managed to obtain a grinder, saw one of the shocks' tops off and drop out the old one and prepare the new one by compressing it down and binding it with zip ties. Sadly, due to the new shock's bottom washer and rubber bushing, it doesn't have enough inner clearance to slip in. And, yes, I had it cranked down as far as it's able to go in. Anybody have any other suggestions. I'm almost to the point of throwing in the towel and taking it to the pros. I have no air compressor, power tools or torch, so my resources are limited. :BangHead::(
 
Double check to see if the new shock is the same length as the old one. If they are then it should go right in.
 
If the washer from the old shock is smaller, use that one.
 
This was the first thing I did to my Fury as well and ran into the same issues you did and actually posted the same question here :)

The new ones will fit in - make sure the lower control arm is free floating (the jack/jack stand isn't holding it up). I had to kinda snake the new one up into the tower as far as I could and then cut the zip tie so I could push the bottom into the bracket as the shock expanded upwards...

I had the gas-adjust shocks and for some reason they didn't come wound down, I had to use zip-ties like you are.
 
If I do end up having to disconnect the lower control arm like I was originally trying to do, do I have to disconnect anything else beforehand so it doesn't come flying out at me? Saylor's comment kinda got me nervous that I'm messing with something I don't fully comprehend the design behind. I kinda like having front teeth y'know.
 
Daniel Romero said:
If I do end up having to disconnect the lower control arm like I was originally trying to do, do I have to disconnect anything else beforehand so it doesn't come flying out at me? Saylor's comment kinda got me nervous that I'm messing with something I don't fully comprehend the design behind. I kinda like having front teeth y'know.
Click to expand...
You HAVE TO RELEASE THE TENSION IN THE TORSION BARS!!!!!!

I hope that got your attention. It can KILL you otherwise.

I really think you are doing something wrong here. I'm not sure what, but everybody has done this job before without disconnecting the lower control arm.

But... Since you may be insisting on disconnecting the LCA, at least do it the easy way and unbolt the lower ball joint (2 bolts) from the spindle rather than separating the ball joint. YOU WILL STILL HAVE TO RELEASE THE TENSION FROM THE TORSION BARS!!
 
If you are stuck then I'd suggest getting it over to a shop to swap them out for you.

If you are going the route of removing the LCA then there's a lot of other pieces you should consider changing out at the same time (ball joints, bushings, tie rods, etc).
 
Big_John said:
You HAVE TO RELEASE THE TENSION IN THE TORSION BARS!!!!!!

I hope that got your attention. It can KILL you otherwise.

I really think you are doing something wrong here. I'm not sure what, but everybody has done this job before without disconnecting the lower control arm.

But... Since you may be insisting on disconnecting the LCA, at least do it the easy way and unbolt the lower ball joint (2 bolts) from the spindle rather than separating the ball joint. YOU WILL STILL HAVE TO RELEASE THE TENSION FROM THE TORSION BARS!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the warning! I'm throwing the towel in and taking it to my mechanic. I don't feel like killing myself. I want to be around to actually enjoy my ride. I'm disappointed that I couldn't see it through on my own but I would rather swallow my pride than get injured. Besides, my mechanic said he's only charging $50 or so to do it.
 
pay him another $50 so you can watch the procedure... or buy some pizza, that usually gets you real far at the mechanic shop.

i send pizza to every place i take my car. insurance. and for some reason all the shops like me :)

so - ya - you shouldnt need to unbutton the front end for a shock change. i dunno if anyone asked about where you are lifitng from, but lift from the center frame k member thing under the motor - big square steel frame piece. dont lift from the arm, or wheel, or any of that. you need the wheel and suspension to drop/sag at full travel/extended. the shock should go right in.

undoing the torsion bars - while easy in of itself - now you are messin with the whole geometry of the front end. torsion bars are the 'spring' of the front end, also ride height, wheel position changes, etc. and - they are under about 6 megatons of pressure. when you adjust the torsion bar, you are TWISTING the bar. literally. a big *** 1" thick iron bar. twisting it. literally. there is a LOT of energy in that bar. bad things happen when t-bars break. bad things man.

i would NOT mess with unhooking the LCA, torsion bar, etc, etc.

step back and review.

try not to die -

- saylor
 
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