Replacing the shocks

The new and the old

So my shock absorbers were in a pretty bad shape. They were dirty and probably they were still the factory installed shocks. The ride was pretty rough too so I thought maybe it's time to replace them. I had some new Monroe's Heavy Duty shocks lying around, and I had a day off, I got to work.

Ofcourse first you need to do is jack the front or back up, depending on which side you want to replace first. Always use jack stands to support the vehicle. Take the wheels off, and if it makes you feel more safe you should put the wheels on their side under the car (that's what I usually do).
With the shock absorbers exposed, get a wire brush to brush away all the dirt and rust off the bolts holding the shock together, and give it a nice batch in penetrating oil (or whatever you use for getting rusty bolts loose).
Now comes the most difficult part of the job - getting the bolts off - it took me about a half an hour to get only one loose.

Upper and lower bolt position

On the picture you can see the upper and the lower bolt (yes I forgot to take a picture with the old one still on). Get them both off and you can simply take the shock absorber off. You can see a little comparison with the old one on the first picture. As I said the old ones were pretty bad, when I compressed them by hand they didn't even decompress but stayed in the same position.

The green plastic wrapping on the new shocks - don't cut it off if you haven't placed the new shock absorber in its place - they will start to decompress if you do and it will get more difficult to get them in the right spot.

There is a chance that the new ones won't fit in the right spot anyway - you can just compress them making them shorter which will allow you to get the bolts in place. If you don't have enough power to do that - as I didn't neither - you can you a small jack to lift the shock up with it until you can get the bolts in place.

Jacking the shock up

After you get the bolts in place, fasten the upper bolt with about 140 Ft-lbs and the lower with about 115 Ft-lbs (for the rear shocks) and about 140 Ft-lbs for the upper and 60 Ft-lbs for the lower bolt (on the front).

Or  if you don't owe a torque wrench (just like me) which are really expensive - just get them really tight.

That's it, wheels back in place, lower the car and you can enjoy your new shocks!

(The pics are only about the rear suspension - didn't had the time to replace the front shock absorbers today!)