New Susspension 300tdi

Well with everything at hand I decided to make a start on fitting the new Springs, Shocks, Wheels/Tyres, rear Brake Disks and pads all round. The first problem was undoing the bottom shock nut on the frount as it was badly corroded on, I ended up having to use a stilsons (sp) on the shock its self which fitted nicely through the coil spring and with the spanner on the lower nut wedged up against the trailing arm, it undid nicely. next job was to undo the upper Spring seat bolts, no dramas here as all but 1 sheared off nicely, luckily I had new ones ready to fit. In order to remove the shock and turret it was essential to remove the airbox and turbo hose to have enough room to get it out, again no dramas here as I always keep a little grease on jubilee clips so they don't rust up. Anyway with the Shock and turret out the next problem was undoing the top nut to separate them, There was no way of holding the shock inner arm and the flattened end where its possible to hold with a 9mm spanner on a new one simply rounded off. To solve the problem I put the shock in a workmate and with a hacksaw simply cut down through the nut parallel to the threads, 3 cuts and an old screwdriver and hammer split it off. Removing the spring was simple enough. By putting a bottle jack between the axle and the chassis it only needed about an extra 2" of movement to give me enough room to free it.

Rebuilding with new parts took about 20 mins and was effortless. new brake pads fitted at the same time. The whole job to do 1 corner took me about 2 hours and that included tidying up afterwards. Hopefully I can get the remaining three corners and rear brake disks done tomorrow.

If anyone has any tips about likely problems I'll encounter please let me know.

ive got the monsta 4x4 2" lift and Procomp shockers waiting to go on mine but im going to have to cut the bottom of the shock off to remove it as its completely cream crackered.