So the Book Lied

[The_Eagles’_Nest]

I went to finish up the shock absorbers on my 73 Imperial and I started on the rear. They were straightforward. The fronts are almost a nightmare and the procedure in the Factory Service Manual can’t be farther from accurate. They tell you to remove the upper control arm bumper, and the shield around the top of the shock.

There is no shield, and the front end must be almost disassembled to access the shocks.

You must remove the caliper, undo the torsion bar tension, disconnect the sway bar link, and the upper ball joint.

I am surprised the engineers got away with such a blatant misrepresentation of the job. Just a PSA.

 

[CBODY67]

When I looked in the '73 Parts book, I noticed that the lower control arm had a 1967 or 1968 part number on it, so I looked in the '68 parts book and found a very good "Imperial Only" illustration for the front suspension.

The "upper shield" is in the illustration. Looks like it probably is a rubber cone to cover the exposed upper shock abs shaft. Probably removed by a prior tech as "not needed".

Also appears that the lower control arm has a hole in it for the shock abs to be insearted through or removed through? Was the replacement shock too large for that, or the shocks on it too large? Or were you installing KYBs or Bilsteins? Just curious.

When I put Chrysler HD front shocks on my '80 Newport, I knew the front shocks were limited in diameter as to the tube they had to reside in. I noticed that the new Chrysler HD shocks had an extra bulge near the bottom, but that was below the tube's lowest part, but the low-pressure gas would make the shock extend slowly on its own. FWIW

A FEW things I saw in the '73 parts book I had not seen. One was the "slip 'n slide" front end alignment system I knew the '74 C-bodies had. Second thing was that the front sway bar cushion (mentioned in another thread) for the '73 B-body was the one some people sell to replace the C-body item with the thick tab on the top.

CBODY67

 

[polara71]

The FSM is frequently wrong.

 

[The_Eagles’_Nest]

When I looked in the '73 Parts book, I noticed that the lower control arm had a 1967 or 1968 part number on it, so I looked in the '68 parts book and found a very good "Imperial Only" illustration for the front suspension.

The "upper shield" is in the illustration. Looks like it probably is a rubber cone to cover the exposed upper shock abs shaft. Probably removed by a prior tech as "not needed".

Also appears that the lower control arm has a hole in it for the shock abs to be insearted through or removed through? Was the replacement shock too large for that, or the shocks on it too large? Or were you installing KYBs or Bilsteins? Just curious.

When I put Chrysler HD front shocks on my '80 Newport, I knew the front shocks were limited in diameter as to the tube they had to reside in. I noticed that the new Chrysler HD shocks had an extra bulge near the bottom, but that was below the tube's lowest part, but the low-pressure gas would make the shock extend slowly on its own. FWIW

A FEW things I saw in the '73 parts book I had not seen. One was the "slip 'n slide" front end alignment system I knew the '74 C-bodies had. Second thing was that the front sway bar cushion (mentioned in another thread) for the '73 B-body was the one some people sell to replace the C-body item with the thick tab on the top.

CBODY67

These are the original factory installed shock absorbers.

 

[Boydsdodge]

I found that on the Imperial it needs a longer rear shock to remove rear tires easily, that in turn means that you need a longer then current replacement brake hose. The Imperials orginaly did not come with C-body rear shocks. The original Imperial part number crosses over to a 72 dodge pick up truck shock and brake hose. I wrote a post about this last year. I'll try to find it after I recover from an all day in the sun car show.
Ok, had a beverage. rear shock KYB KG5413