Shock Absorber Replacement Problem

Bob Fenton · Mar 31, 2018

Hi,

I'm new to DIY Defender projects and this forum so please pardon my ignorance.

I recently bought a 2006 TD5 90 Truck Cab which has a 3" lift on the suspension. Since I only really use the vehicle on the road I decided to change the suspension height back to standard. To do the job, I've purchased a set of 4 Britpart standard spec shocks and springs. The old front LH shock and spring have been removed but I have hit a problem with the installation of the new parts. The threaded posts on the top and bottom of the Britpart shock are much shorter than on the one I removed. With all the new bushes and washers in place there is no thread visible for me to get either the top or bottom retaining nuts started. Clearly the rubber bushes are going to need compressing but I cannot see how to achieve that with the shock in situ.

Am I missing something obvious here?

Any help much appreciated.

Bob
.

Scooby22 · Mar 31, 2018

Can you post

Bob Fenton said:
Hi,

I'm new to DIY Defender projects and this forum so please pardon my ignorance.

I recently bought a 2006 TD5 90 Truck Cab which has a 3" lift on the suspension. Since I only really use the vehicle on the road I decided to change the suspension height back to standard. To do the job, I've purchased a set of 4 Britpart standard spec shocks and springs. The old front LH shock and spring have been removed but I have hit a problem with the installation of the new parts. The threaded posts on the top and bottom of the Britpart shock are much shorter than on the one I removed. With all the new bushes and washers in place there is no thread visible for me to get either the top or bottom retaining nuts started. Clearly the rubber bushes are going to need compressing but I cannot see how to achieve that with the shock in situ.

Am I missing something obvious here?

Any help much appreciated.

Bob
.

Can you put some photos on so we can see what you have.

Brown · Mar 31, 2018

It usually works out OK. Is there any way in which you can get the bushes more deeply seated in the cups? A bit of grease on them sometimes helps. Some kinds of washers have a flange sticking out that's supposed to go through the hole in the mounting. If yours have this, are they fully home? If it is possible to take a washer out so that a tiny bit of thread is exposed, you can sometimes get the nut on and tighten it a few turns to squeeze everything into place and then take it off again and get the full set of washers on before the bushes expand back into shape.

Al2O3 · Mar 31, 2018

Bob Fenton said:
Hi,

I'm new to DIY Defender projects and this forum so please pardon my ignorance.

I recently bought a 2006 TD5 90 Truck Cab which has a 3" lift on the suspension. Since I only really use the vehicle on the road I decided to change the suspension height back to standard. To do the job, I've purchased a set of 4 Britpart standard spec shocks and springs. The old front LH shock and spring have been removed but I have hit a problem with the installation of the new parts. The threaded posts on the top and bottom of the Britpart shock are much shorter than on the one I removed. With all the new bushes and washers in place there is no thread visible for me to get either the top or bottom retaining nuts started. Clearly the rubber bushes are going to need compressing but I cannot see how to achieve that with the shock in situ.

Am I missing something obvious here?

Any help much appreciated.

Bob
.

This is what I did.
I put an old trailing arm washer over the top.

Then I put a strap around the axle and used some timber to compress the spring.

Still a faff with the body off

Bob Fenton · Mar 31, 2018

Thanks for the replies. As requested, I've added a photo which shows the problem.

I have since found that if I don't put the shock into the mounting I can just about get the nut started. So, I've installed the bush assemblies on the bare shock and tightened up the nuts. Hopefully the rubber will remain pre-compressed long enough for me fit the mount. It also looks to me that AI203's mount may be a thinner gauge steel than mine so I may have to resort to new mounts.

This is a real pain which would be totally avoidable with just a few mm of extra thread on the posts.

flat · Mar 31, 2018

Mine were like that, I put everything in, assembled all the bottom parts of the shocks etc then put the road wheel back on. Then I slowly lowered it till the weight of the car compressed everything then I could get the nut on and tighten it properly. I then jacked it back up and re-checked tightness of everything.

Worked for me.

Make sure everything is lined up carefully first though and lower it very slowly.

Paul D · Mar 31, 2018

What @flat says, hand tighten everything you can, then lower onto it's wheeland use the weight to compress the lower bushes, then it's just the very top one that needs hard work, but mostly doesnt!

Al2O3 · Mar 31, 2018

flat said:
Mine were like that, I put everything in, assembled all the bottom parts of the shocks etc then put the road wheel back on. Then I slowly lowered it till the weight of the car compressed everything then I could get the nut on and tighten it properly. I then jacked it back up and re-checked tightness of everything.

Worked for me.

Make sure everything is lined up carefully first though and lower it very slowly.

Yeah, I know I had the engine in, but there were no body panels on to put more weight on the springs. If you had a set of spring compressors you could tighten the spring down just 5mm and you'd be off.

flat · Mar 31, 2018

Paul D said:
What @flat says, hand tighten everything you can, then lower onto it's wheeland use the weight to compress the lower bushes, then it's just the very top one that needs hard work, but mostly doesnt!

Yep all you need to do is get a couple of turns of the thread out then you can use a ring spanner to tighten it down with another stupid bastard small spanner to hold the damper rod still.....

Bob Fenton · Mar 31, 2018

Al2O3 said:
Yeah, I know I had the engine in, but there were no body panels on to put more weight on the springs. If you had a set of spring compressors you could tighten the spring down just 5mm and you'd be off.

The springs aren't the issue here. The extended shock is plenty long enough to reach both mounting points, it's simply that the threaded posts need to be 5mm - 10mm longer or the rubber bushes 2mm shorter.
It's cold and wet here now so I'm going to give it another go tomorrow if the weather improves a bit.

Thanks all for your help.

Al2O3 · Mar 31, 2018

Bob Fenton said:
The springs aren't the issue here. The extended shock is plenty long enough to reach both mounting points, it's simply that the threaded posts need to be 5mm - 10mm longer or the rubber bushes 2mm shorter.
It's cold and wet here now so I'm going to give it another go tomorrow if the weather improves a bit.

Thanks all for your help.

Aye, sorry. That's why I squashed the turret down on top of the bush

Was talking shizer there, hadn't thought it through. If fitting them was as easy as compressing the spring a tad, that would be very nice indeed

Bob Fenton · Apr 2, 2018

After leaving everything compressed on the bare shock overnight and then working quickly, I managed to get the nut thread to "bite" on both the top and bottom mountings. Strangely. the RH side was OK at the first attempt so that's now done as well.

The only bit I'm still unsure about is how tight the bottom nuts should be. I'm comfortable with both the right and left top mountings as they were done on the bench but the lower mounts were both a bit fiddly and, since I can only get an open ended spanner on them, whether they are tight enough is anyone's guess.

I still have the rear axle to do so I intend to press on and finish the job and I'll recheck everything for tightness after a test drive.

Thanks again for the help from everyone.

flat · Apr 2, 2018

THERe is a torque amount in the book, but I did them up till the bushes were about half compressed, drove a bit then checked them

Ttwo · Apr 3, 2018

Man I had this the other week....just abit of force and some luck you get it to bite. This is how I did the bottom tho lol just to much leavening will push the shock away and lose thread..and just used the correct spanner to keep nut turning while I pressed on it

Shock Absorber Replacement Problem

Bob Fenton

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Scooby22

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Brown

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Al2O3

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Bob Fenton

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flat

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Paul D

Old, nackered 'n broke, but the Landy is fine . :)

Al2O3

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flat

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Bob Fenton

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Al2O3

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Bob Fenton

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flat

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Ttwo

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