kick7ca

Hi, I have a 89 g50 cab with 63K miles, and have decided to replace the shock inserts. Rears I'm not worried about, but the fronts frankly scare me.

I've searched and several have done it by swinging the strut assembly out from under the fender to replace the insert, but according to Bentley, this method is not correct, rather the entire strut assembly should be removed first. So are people on this board doing it the cowboy way? Is this safe?

I'm concerned that I won't be able to properly torque off and on the strut collar nuts with the assembly still on the car. Seems like it would be awkward in there and you could end up messing something up.

There has to be a reason why Bentley says remove the assembly. Why the disparity?

Thanks

theiceman

i dod ,mine wit the stru assembly in along with about the other 90 % of the people here. I found it a breeze and easier to get the stru nut off as the strut was held in place for me .
BTW what type of struts do you have ? Boge Black // Bilstein Greem ?

Amber Gramps

Ice, you got that white sauce on your hands again?

kick7ca

Haven't even looked yet to be honest.
Just trying to decide if this is something I can handle or not. If it means taking the whole assembly out I'll pay to have it done. But your telling me otherwise.
I'm trying to understand why Bentley says the entire assembly must be removed.

Can I ask, what tool did you use to torque on the strut collar nut?

ron mcatee

The big nut in the front luggage are is removed with an impact wrench. You then jack up the car and put jack stands under it and remove the wheels. Then push the shock down until it clears the strut underneath the fender. I use coat hangers to hold th strut while I work on it. Remove the outer sleeve from the top of the shock and you'll see the ;arge gland nut holding the insert in the strut. I use large channel lock pliers to loosen the gland nut. Once the nut is off, slowly pull the insert out. it will probably have some oil in the tube. Leave that oil in there as it is a cooling liquid and dampner. When putting the new one in, drop the new insert in slowly or oil will go everywhere. Put the gland nut back on and tighten as tight as you can with the channel lock pliers. /reinstall the oouter sleeve and stuff you took off the shock. Push the strut back in and up in the hole ot the strut mount in the trunk. I use a guide in the top of the shock to get it in the shock tower and then slowly lower the car until the shock rods push up into the strut tower. Then i put the nut keeper and nut on with the impact wrench and fold over the tab on the nut keeper (whatever it's called). It doesn't affect alignment or anything else.

84_Carrera

Did mine in-car fairly easily, Boge housings w/ new Bilstein inserts. Watch damaging the fender lip & take your time.

KC911

Spider covered it pretty well. A couple of additional suggestions though. Typically, the Bilsteins will raise your car's height (even after they settle in), so that might lead to lowering, which will require an alignment. Put some duct tape on the fender lips to protect the paint. Also, the old Boges will be fairly easy to compress by hand to clear the fender lip, but you'll find the Bilsteins are a bit stiffer when new out of the box and difficult to compress in order to clear the fender lip. I "loosen" them up a bit by compressing / decompressing them a few times first which seems to make it a bit easier. It's not that you can't do it, but you don't want to have a "rut-roh" moment and mar the lip. I now use an impact wrench on the top nut, but have also used a pipe wrench strategically positioned (with a shop rag so as not to mar the large washer) to counterhold as you loosen/tighten the top nut. Hope this helps...it's not a difficult job, but I've eaten those words before .

Keith
'88 CE coupe

kick7ca

Thank-you for the replies but no-one has answered my question:

Why doesn't Bentley say to do it this way? There has to be some inherent risk in replacing the insert by swinging the assembly down and out.

KC911

It's sorta like aftermarket chips...someone invented a "better mousetrap" . Seriously, you'd have to ask the author of the Bentley manual for the real answer I'm afraid. From my perspective, the only risk is if you don't have control of the compressed insert, and it slips out of your hand while you're clearing the fender lip, hence my suggestions. This is a proven, "easy", timesaving approach used and recommended by pros that know more about these cars than I ever will...I trusted 'em, and it works.

Keith
'88 CE coupe

Peter Zimmermann

Bentley says it because they simply repeat the factory manual instruction. The risks involved with doing it with the strut in the car are (1) paint damage to a fender lip, (2) damage to the brake fluid hose (which gets stretched pretty tight), or (3) possible damage to a ball joint or tie rod end (which could both be liability issues that Porsche probably didn't want to deal with).

One point that I would like to make is that if you're installing a Bilstein insert into a Boge strut that was fitted with the original Boge guts, then all of the oil must be sucked out of the strut before Bilstein installation. If oil remains, the new strut won't be able to seat properly, and the installer runs the risk of not getting it tight, even though it will "feel" tight.

A few layers of duct, or painters blue, tape along the fender lip goes a long way toward not scratching your car, this was standard operating procedure at my shop. If you have non-DOT braided brake hoses disconnect them before insert replacement (we've actually had ends on those lines pop off during shock replacement, which won't happen to o.e. hoses).

911vet

I've heard this before, and I'm trying to figure out how inserts can raise the car. In a car with springs, it's the springs that control height. The shock has no effect on it. Of course, we have t-bars and a height adjuster. But I still don't see how a shock can affect height.

Is a Bilstein longer than a Boge? How does it raise the car?

Amber Gramps

The Bistein is gas charged and can raise the car in the back, motor and all, 3/4" over a worn out old Boge.

kick7ca

Thank-you to all who have replied. Time to order new Bilsteins!