Ray Calvo

After 84K miles in my '95 993 I finally decided I had to replace the shocks. Ordered a Bilstein PSS9 setup. Now, as I'm looking at it, I'm wondering if a special tool is needed to loosen/tighten the large height adjustment nut and it's locking partner on the shock/strut unit. I would like to keep the height at about the Euro height I have now with my Euro M030 setup due to the joyous road conditions around Steelertown and the high potential for bottoming if I put the car at an RS ride height.

I can't find anything in the archives or anyplace else on the web or in various aftermarket Porsche shop catalogs that sell PSS9 setups about what to use to do this adjustment. I'm sure a hammer and a wide-blade screwdriver or a chisel would work but this seems crude.

So, go ahead and hammer me if the answer is a click away!

Mike J

The PSS=9's that I have came with the pair of wrenches to adjust the lock rings. Be aware though that you cannot adjust the rear shocks much without removing them. This is because of the lower sway bar mount. What I did is set the sway bar mount as low as possible...the RS bar clears fine and I can adjust the height a bit. Also if you do change the height its likely you will need to recorner balance the car and possibly an alignment. I think that if you adjust the height on the fronts and backs the same (i.e. up or down so many turns) the corner balance should be preserved...but I am guessing about that.

Oh, the fronts are no problem.


Cheers,

Mike

nels415

Ray,

Your set will include wrenchs to adjust the rings.

-nels

Ray Calvo

Ray,

Your set will include wrenchs to adjust the rings.

-nels
[QUOTE]

Change "will" to "should" and you have my situation - no wrenches (and purchased from a Rennlist sponsor, too)! And I wanted to install it next week.

RE corner balance and alignment redo. Agree. Wanted to get the height where I wanted it, drive around the block a few times to settle and check everything, then bring the car in to a shop for a pro realignment (basically what I did with the M030 installation ages ago).

boostid

Ray;

If you want to adjust them before you get the Bilstein wrenches, use a couple of larger channel lock pliers. I used to use them on my 964 car and other than chew off a little paint on the rings, they worked fine.

Hal

maurice97C2S

Ray, these babies are what you need - commonly known as hook wrenches, and often available from bike/motorbike shops as well as a proper tool shop.

These are Gedore #40, for a nut size of 80-90mm. You need a pair ....



HTH, cheers, Maurice

Don Magee

Ray, you may use my wrenches, but I'll have to ship them to you. PM if you need them.

Arrwin

Use the search, lazybones.

Sorry...I couldn't help it. j/k of course.

Greg Fishman

Hammer and a flat bladed screw driver will work in a pinch. Crude but effective.

Jeff 993TT

Ray, I can also let you borrow my wrenches. PM me if you need them.

viperbob

Ray, I have lots of extra Bilstein wrenches. PM me with your address and I will send them to you.... I keep spares as Bilstein does not include them many times with the PSS9 sets, and they are supposed to be there.

chris walrod

Ray, get out of the garage and get your lazy bones on the computer:

http://www.af1racing.com/store/Scrip...?idProduct=919

Sorry Ray, couldn't resist

chris walrod

I forgot to include a 'numb nuts' somewhere in there...

Arrwin

Ray Calvo

E-mailed the place I bought them from. They gave me an 800 number for Bilstein North America (think that's who they were). When I explained the situation, customer rep on the other end was rather ticked. He said, "we ship these units to the retailers with the wrenches inside the box, but we get umpteen phone calls a day from customers saying the box had NO wrenches." Apparently in between leaving Bilstein Hdqtrs and the customer getting them, the boxes are broken into and the wrenches are "stolen".

They're shipping out a set of wrenches to me.

Passing on this info to anybody ordering a PSS9 setup. You SHOULD get the adjustment wrenches with the order. Thought might be to check with the shop/store you're ordering from, and ask them if wrenches are included - and what should you do if they aren't in the box when you get it.

Now, in reply to you characters who decided to stick a knife into a guy when he's down:

- To Greg and boostid: I was thinking of using a hammer and screwdriver or chisel, but seemed mighty crude after spending well into four figures for the coilovers. If I paid $20, might be different. MY experince with chan-nel-locks is that I have a good chance of gouging the rings pretty bad.

- To Arrwin and Chris: I DID - I DID - I DID DO A WEB/ARCHIVE SEARCH!!!! (many thanks to Tweety Bird for this saying). Did a web/archive search for "PSS9"; came up with nothing re the wrenches. Didn't know they were called a "hook" wrench (spanner wrench? Give me a break - that's an ordinary open end/box hand wrench but in England!).

- To Jeff: thanks for the offer to borrow your wrenches. Asking for such a favor was next on my list if I couldn't get help from the place I bought the PSS9s from.

- To viperbob: what are you doing with more than 1 set???? You break into my shipment and steal my wrenches? In any case, thanks for the very generous offer.


Now, to see when the wrenches actually arrive. Thanks to one and all.