Fitting a front shock In a car

[lebronmtb]

Hi all,

Recently my car (76 mazda capella) has been making a weird noise at the front left wheel when steering, so today I decided to see if anything obvious was wrong, unbolted the shock and pulled it out but now it's about 1ft longer than the spot it goes in as it has decompressed, so basically I have no idea how to get the shock back in, i tried putting a jack under the disc rotor and winding it till the shock compressed but it keeps slipping out, i'm sure theres some sort of trick that i'm unware of.

[LeeD]

Do a google search.
I`m sure theres a capella club owners forum out there

['Ross]

Hi all,

Recently my car (76 mazda capella) has been making a weird noise


It makes Plenty of weird noises;)

[NCR600]

If it's Macpherson strut type front end on those things, you will need to buy, borrow, steal or jury rig a Macpherson Strut compressor.

It basically compresses the spring by hooking around it and screwing it down. You might be able to acheive the same effect with a couple of big g clamps and some hefty steel bars, but be careful if you do it this way as everything will be under considerable force and I'd hate to see you with a steel bar embedded in your face!

[lebronmtb]

If it's Macpherson strut type front end on those things, you will need to buy, borrow, steal or jury rig a Macpherson Strut compressor.

It basically compresses the spring by hooking around it and screwing it down. You might be able to acheive the same effect with a couple of big g clamps and some hefty steel bars, but be careful if you do it this way as everything will be under considerable force and I'd hate to see you with a steel bar embedded in your face!

I've got those big spring clamps but

a: they dont fit on the spring when the shock is up in the engine bay sorta
b: and even if they did the shock and brake assembly is still damn hard to push up that far to get on the hole

[agoer]

Im not familar with the car but.....

Try bolting the shock to the top mount letting it hang close to the bottom mount.

Jack the car (using a trolley jack or a spare jack) till the spring and bottom assembly hang as far down as possible.

If the bottom mount is still too far out jam a bottle jack or lever bar in til it matches up.

Like i said im not familar with the arrangement but let me know if it will or wont or does work.

G

[Jon]

If as NCR said its a mac strut with the shock inside the coil,then the top of the shock will have a thread on it to attach the spring retainer plate. Hire a pair of spring compressors for coil springs ,compress the spring enough then insert the strut through the spring, put the retainer plate back on and bolt it up.Release the spring compressors slowly then when the spring is by the retainer put the whole assembly back into the car. If the retainer will not sit properly then the spring is upside down,recompress it and flip it over.
If it is not a mac strut then compress the spring and hold it with 2 loops of chain,take the spring compressors off slowly then reinsert the compressed spring back into the suspension.
Use CAUTION when doing all of the above as the compressed spring holds alot of energy and will break ribs or arms if it pops out of compression in an uncontrolled way.

[lebronmtb]

Im not familar with the car but.....

Try bolting the shock to the top mount letting it hang close to the bottom mount.

Jack the car (using a trolley jack or a spare jack) till the spring and bottom assembly hang as far down as possible.

If the bottom mount is still too far out jam a bottle jack or lever bar in til it matches up.

Like i said im not familar with the arrangement but let me know if it will or wont or does work.

G

Thats exactly what I've done but when jacking up the shock to compress it, it either rolls off the side or gradually goes out on an angle towards the outside of the car.

Jon, The shocks are coilovers, with the brake and everything in one piece if that defines what kind of set-up i have for you. I have spring compressors (and by that i mean those two big clamps that you turn with a spanner that compress the spring) when their on the spring their too big and wont fit up the shaft in the engine bay, at the moment I have the top 3 bolts in the engine bay done up and the shock is just hanging there

[lebronmtb]

Im not familar with the car but.....


If the bottom mount is still too far out jam a bottle jack or lever bar in til it matches up.



G

What do you mean by bottle jack or lever bar, I assume lever bar means like a crobar and just lever the shock in? The shock has to compress about 1ft which is a fair way to lever, I can only see that resulting in injury to me or something on the car breaking?

[gerry]

hi lebron

im not quite sure on the set up of the mazda mac strut but most struts are a sub assembly i.e the whole thing is assembled then fitted to the car.

see if the top strut mount (where the shock bolts through the rubber to the body) bolts in from the top or the bottom.If it bolts through from the bottom, remove the mount from the car , assemble the shock/spring using spring compressors then refit complete assembly to the car , fitting the top first.

hope this helps, if not post some pictures and we can look at how it goes back together.

[slip]

You really should be able to fit the spring compressors so the long parts are facing down into the wheel well, therefore giving you room to work.

[Alec McJo]

I can't believe you took your front shock out

['Ross]

I can't believe you took your front shock out

Perhaps he needed to do something to his car?:rolleyes:

It would be like some n00b to mountainbiking saying 'zomgz you took your forks off your mtb? you crazy!'

[Jon]

You should not need to have the spring compressors on the strut to bolt it back up to the car.You will be able to compress the spring and reinstall the spring retainer and nut which will screw down onto the thread on the end of the shock shaft. Tips- you will have to over compress the spring as you are probably not compressing the whole thing ie some uncompressed coils will be outside of the compressors. Also the shock shaft will want to sink back into the shock body all the time so pull it out as far as possible through the retainer plate before you attempt to put the nut back on.See the pic

[Alec McJo]

Perhaps he needed to do something to his car?:rolleyes:

It would be like some n00b to mountainbiking saying 'zomgz you took your forks off your mtb? you crazy!'

He pulled it out cause it was making funny noises, and obviously doesn't have a huge knowledge of how the suspension worked before he did so.

I only said it cause if you think of it simply it sounds funny. Don't take it to seriously bud.

['Ross]

Yer I know, it just sounded like your tone (yes its hard to detect tone on the internet) was kinda like 'woaaaahhhhh dude you took your shockies out:eek:'

[lebronmtb]

He pulled it out cause it was making funny noises, and obviously doesn't have a huge knowledge of how the suspension worked before he did so.

I only said it cause if you think of it simply it sounds funny. Don't take it to seriously bud.

I pulled it out so I could get a better look at the ball joints and just get in there better, I like to attempt to do everything myself and figure it out generally. I was unaware that that shock would lengthen when I pulled it out. For the record I know fairly well how my suspension works I just don't know all the technical terms and what not, Tomorrow I shall try what Jon said and to lever the control arm down with a large bar

[gerry]

Lebronmtb

just checking that you have both front wheels off the ground when trying to reinstall the shock because the sway bar will tend to not let the suspension sag all the way down.

hope this helps.

[lebronmtb]

Lebronmtb

just checking that you have both front wheels off the ground when trying to reinstall the shock because the sway bar will tend to not let the suspension sag all the way down.

hope this helps.


I had the other side raised but not off the ground, thanks for that

[spyderman_au]

Maybe if you don't know what you are doing you should get a mechanic to do it for you?

[lebronmtb]

Maybe if you don't know what you are doing you should get a mechanic to do it for you?

Maybe I'd like to learn about my car and try to figure out stuff for myself? I just finished putting the shock back in now so no harm was done and i'm wiser because of it. There is really no point in trying to make a smart ass obvious comment for the sake of it mate

[Ham]

Maybe I'd like to learn about my car and try to figure out stuff for myself? I just finished putting the shock back in now so no harm was done and i'm wiser because of it. There is really no point in trying to make a smart ass obvious comment for the sake of it mate

there was a small chance he wasn't being a smart ass.


but i agree i prefer to try and fix things myself then get someone else to look at it if i was really stumped.

[lebronmtb]

there was a small chance he wasn't being a smart ass.


but i agree i prefer to try and fix things myself then get someone else to look at it if i was really stumped.

well he was pretty blatantly stating the obvious in a semi-sarcastic tone so i assumed so, second point is valid though

[Ham]

well he was pretty blatantly stating the obvious in a semi-sarcastic tone so i assumed so, second point is valid though

i said small chance :)