Crumpler

Looking for suggestions to be available for others down the road.
I’m in the middle of putting Bilsteins on for my DE car.
I remember doing this before and it being a lot more effort then the rears.

After unsecuring top of the strut tower and pulling bolt that secures shock to LCA and sway bar drop link. There’s a decision to be made right?
Moving all the ABS and brake sensor junk out of the way helps.
I unloaded the upper ball joint to get the A arm to go up.
Bonus points for best way to do that with out destroying the boot?
My ball joint looks done so I made a decision to pull the A arms and new bushings out of the deal. Pulling the A arms allow the shock and springs to come off without further steps, but without doing that, what is the path of least resistance?
You need more clearance at the bottom, for sure. Any cheats?
Many thanks.
Dave.

StratfordShark

Well on my MY91 pulling out the wheel well liner, and just using a jack to move the A-arm to horizontal created plenty of space for removing and re-installing front shocks. I found it w=easier than rears, as you're not trying to keep things lined up with that long pin through the hub.

joejoe

I dropped the lower arm and removed that way. When re installed and aligned there was no adjustment on driver side needed and very small amount on pass. This is on 2 86.5's and one '81 last summer.

jpitman2

I dropped the lower arm to get the shock assembly out. Are you also changing the springs to match the shocks?
jp 83 Euro S AT 57k M474

Crumpler

I am.
Eibach springs going on with the Bilsteins.

This car came with the sport suspension option. When the original reds gave out I put black Boges on. I found them way too soft for my liking.

Anyway, thanks for the tips and happy motoring.