piccardo

I am replacing all four shocks on my 90 s4 and I thought I would share some thoughts on this job. The rear shock removal is cake. Three nuts on top under the rear carpet and one large bolt at the bottom that passes thru the lower control arm. The front shocks are a different story. I read the manual first and it says to detach the upper ball joint and unbolt the upper control arm from the frame of the car. One look at the upper control arm hardware and I thought, “ there must be an easier way”.
Ends up there are easier ways.
One is like Tony describes on his website. Drop the lower control arm. Fairly simple deal, with five large bolts you can swing the lower control arm out of the way and pull the shock straight down thru the center of the upper A arm. The benefit of doing it this way is you won’t have to disconnect the lower ball joint from the lower arm and this might save you a few bucks and some time on the realignment.
I did not read this write-up before I did mine or else I would have done it this way.
I unbolted the lower control arm from the lower ball joint and lifted the upper control A arm all the way up. This allowed the shock to slide down thru the upper control arm without the removal of either upper or lower A arms. However you will need to have it realigned after you get this done.
Second deal is pressing the delicate aluminum threaded collars from the old shock body. Not easy! If you had a press and the right size tubing you could press it right out however I do not. So, I found that if you cut the shock right above the collar with a hacksaw you can insert the collar in a vice and drive the remaining shock body from inside the collar with a large punch or pipe and a hammer. 2 min to cut the shock and one to remove the collar. Easy, fast and will not damage the collar if done with care.
The down side is this is that it can be very messy with all the oil in the shock. You are suppose to drain the shock and dispose of the oil anyway. But I spilled all the oil sopped it up with shop towels and what am i suppose to do with the nasty towels? In the trash i guess

Jim M.

I've changed the shocks on five different 928's and never had to cut the shock in half to get the aluminum threaded sleeve off the shock body.

Leave the nut on the threaded sleeve and tap the sleeve off with a plastic or rubber hammer. Done in 30 seconds and no oil to clean up or rags to throw away.

Jim Mayzurk
93 GTS 5-spd

heinrich

Wow Jim so it sits there under friction while the spring rides on it but it comes off with a mallet? Dang, it surprises me we don't see the sleeves migrating over time? How about using the sleees on Konis, I hear one needs to glue them?

the flyin' scotsman

Didn't the OEM shocks come with 'bumps' in their bodies to prevent the sleeve from moving?

I'm not sure 'cause I never removed mine, they went straight to the used parts pile when installed the Bilstiens which from the factory threaded.

mark kibort

on the devek level II koni's, is it easier to remove them up front, without unbolting any of the suspension? they are much more narrow and compact. I thought there was a way to remove the fronts without too much fuss. i know the rears are a piece of cake, especially with the more narrow and lighter set up. my shocks are toast, at least on one side and ill be revalving them after this season.

mk

piccardo

I tried the hammer thing first and the little gray BOGE laughed at me. I beat that shock so much it lost the gas and spewed oil all over the place and the still only got it to move but about 2 inches. I used the pb blaster stuff on it for two days before the failed attempt.

heinrich

Mark it's the coils that are difficult. Stock are tight but doable.

Bill Ball

On S4s with stock springs, I drop the lower A-arm body mounts and swing it out of the way and maneuver the coilover down through the upper A-arm opening. Even though the eccentrics are not touched, this method can change the alignment because the bolt holes in the lower A-arm have some plsy in them. I've tried other methods with no success. If you could get the shocks off by just removing the A-arm ball joints from the steering knuckle, that would allow you to get things back together w/o an alignment change, but that hasn't worked for me. On early cars, or with smaller springs, the shocks can be removed upward out the upper A-arm opening with a little prying or slight compression to clear the shock tower recess. I've tried it wih stock S-4 coilovers, but couldn't clear the shock tower recess.

The ride height adjustment collar is a slip fit on the shock body for Boge and Konis, seated against stops. I've had a few that wouldn't come off easily, but most slip off with a few smacks.