rear shocks:
removal:
- place car on jack stands. (entire car or rear only, doesnt matter)
- remove wheels
- with a jack and a piece of wood, support the diff so it raises a little, just enough to support it.
- remove sway bar (if equipped)
- unbolt lower shock bolts. if you have a spare jack, i suggest you use it to support the area where the shock is so it wont spring out and hurt you. if not, then use the jack that you are using to support the diff (yes, this means the diff doesnt need to be supported as stated above, but its a good idea to do so). repeat for other side. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN REMOVING THE JACK AS THE AXLE WILL TRAVEL DOWN. thankfully, the quad shock will keep it from falling too far.
- open truck and remove both the right and left truck linning, which requires you to remove the rear trunk linning.
- unbolt the shocks from the shock towers.
install:
- bolt in the shock from inside the trunk.
- with the shock fully extended, use the jack and lift the axle (from the diff....aka pumpkin) to align the shocks with the mounting points on the axle.
- install the lower shock bolts and tighten them.
-----REAR SPRING INSTALL-----
now, this is where you would install the rear springs of that sportline kit.
- with the new shocks fully mounted, place the jack under the control arm (close where it bolts onto the axle) and just support the control arm. make sure the jack is touching the control arm and not lifting it too much.
- unbolt the control arm
- SLOWLY LOWER THE JACK. the control arm will drop with the jack, but it is still supported by where it bolts onto the car. lower it enough to remove the stock spring.
- install the new spring, and make sure that the cut of the spring is facing the front of the car. if not, it will cause popping sounds as you drive or turn. dont forget to transfer the isolators from the old springs to the new springs.
- once the new spring is on correctly, use the jack to raise the control arm and align it with the mounting points on the axle
- bolt the control arms to the axle.
-----BACK TO SHOCK INSTALL-----
- re-install the sway bar
- make sure everything is tight as it should be, mount the wheels again, and you should be done.
Struts:
Removal:
- raise car on jackstands.
- remove wheels.
- remove caliper and place off to the side somewhere, preferably using zip ties or a shoe lace (you dont have to remove the caliper from the knuckle, but its a good idea and will free up some room, and you dont put unwanted stress on the lines), and remove the rotor as well.
- support the control arm with the jack and lift it slightly to remove a little pressure from the strut.
- unbolt the 2 lower strut bolts.
- SLOWLY lower the jack. this should free the strut from the knuckle.
- open hood and locate strut towers
- remove the one nut that holds the strut inplace. NOTE: there will be other bolts/nuts as well on the stock cc plates, you dont have to remove these to remove the strut, just the main one that holds the strut in. strut should now come off.
-----CC PLATE INSTALL-----
since you now have the strut removed and planned on doing the cc plate install, now is the time.
- remember those bolts i told you not to remove earlier, the ones for the stock cc plates? now you can remove them.
- take off the stock CC plates and replace with the new cc plates, bolt them down, and you are done.
-----BUMPSTEER KIT INSTALL-----
*see below*
-----SPRING INSTALL-----
- with the strut, caliper, rotors, and tie rods out of the way, raise the control arm with the jack and loosen the front sway bar. you only have to unbolt it from the sway bar links, not the actual control arm.
- once everything is off you should only have the spring and the knuckle that is in contact with the control arm. SLOWLY lower the jack until the control arm doesnt go down anymore.
- if you cant force the stock spring out of the perch, push the control arm farther down by hand and try popping it out now. the tire iron in the trunk along with some wd-40 work wonders.
- remove the stock isolators and put them on the new springs
- install the new springs in the same direction as the stock springs, or just follow the stamping on the control arm. again, wd-40 works wonders
- once the spring is in, raise the control arm and reinstall the sway bar.
-----BACK TO STRUT INSTALL-----
Strut Install:
- mount the strut in the wheel well and bolt it to the cc plates with the nut, just as the old one was.
- position the strut so it will slide onto the knuckle where the old one was bolted onto. (you can twist it for this)
- slowly raise the control arm with the jack and guide the holes on the strut so they are aligned with the knuckle.
- install lower strut bolts.
- make sure everything so far is nice and tight as it should be
- reinstall caliper onto knuckle/bracket. make sure you dont leave this loose or else it will fall off.
- reinstall wheels
- go get a wheel alignment.
- now you're done.
**as for the bumpsteer kit, not sure what is included in it, but i think its only the outter tie rods? if so, then just install them when the struts are off.
(when i refer to "tie rod" i mean outter tie rod unless otherwise stated)
Removal:
- since the struts are off, raise the control arm with the jack so the tie rod is parallel with the ground.
- remove the bobby pin that secures the crown nut of the tie rod. (no idea if its a bobby pin or not, thats just what i call it)
- remove the crown nut
- loosen the tie rod at this point. if you look at it, right after the tierod, there should be a nut. loosen that.
- remove the tierod ball joint from the knuckle. you can either get the ball joint tool, or be like me and use a hammer and hammer the sh!t out of it until it comes off.
- remove tie rod. with some vice grips, hold the inner tie rod (the shaft that comes out of the steering rack, where the tie rod is bolted onto) and then twist the tie rod off.
- get rid of that nut you loosened 3 steps ago, unless your new kit doesnt have one, then you have to re-use it
Install:
- install the new tie rod onto the inner tie rod in about the same location as the old one was. DO NOT TIGHTEN THE LOOSE NUT YET. this will be a later step.
(before you do this next step, go back to the front spring install part)
- install the tie rod onto the knuckle. put it in the hole for it, and using the crown nut, tighten it down as much as you can. if you can, find the torque specs for it and do it that way, if you dont ahve the torque specs then just tighten it as much as you can and USE A NEW BOBBY PIN thingy and secure the crown nut.
-- once the wheels are on, you can do what i call a poor mans alignment. just eye ball the tire and see if it looks like its pointing straight. if its not, adjust the tierod either to push the wheel out or pull it in, and do the same for the other side. make sure the steering wheel is somewhat straight too.
-- now that its driveable, go take it to a professional alignment shop and have them do it
-- like i stated above, not sure if this all thats included in the bumpsteer kit, so if there is something that is that i didnt mention, let me know and ill do my best to help you out.
hope this helps!
