RE: Replacing rear shocks on 69 1750 Spider

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@xxxxxxxxx>]

> The Biltseins have flexible, not collapsible, boot around the shaft.
> Compared to the original shock, the Bilsteins are inverted.  That is,
> the shaft is on top.  The diameter of this boot is too large to pass
> through the opening.

still not making sense (to me).  there's a shoulder that the top of the
shock bolts into, and which in turn bolts onto the body of the car (inside
the trunk), right?  the diameter of the shock must be small enough to fit
inside that shoulder piece, and yet that shoulder piece with a standard size
shock bolted onto it will fit through the opening between the cockpit and
the trunk - what am i missing?

> Haven't been able to find the special tool -- saw its illustration in
> the Alfa manual.
> The bolts can't be on backwards, the extended necked down section is
> where the connecting link to the rear sway arm is bolted.

i'm probably missing something here as well - last time i dropped a trailing
arm i had no problem getting the rear bolts out.

> When you lowered the front of the trailing arm, do you happen to
> remember how far down it had to be lowered before the springs were
> unloaded?  Remember, I have the car up about two feet from the floor.

i try to be really cautious when making posts like this one - when working
with springs, things can get really dangerous.  that said, the trailing arm
is only a couple of feet long - i had the pleasure of doing this job on a
lift, but 2' of clearance under the car should be enough (the trailing arm
doesn't have to become vertical to get the spring out).  i took out a stock
set of springs, and the distance that the front of the arms needed to be
lowered to get to the point where there was no more spring force was about
6" - 12".  i put in a set of w&d springs, and that distance shrunk to
probably 3" - 6".

put the floor jack under the front of the trailing arm, and stand beside the
car while you're lowering it.  you might even bolt a wheel/tire back onto
the hub and position that between yourself and the spring while you're
lowering the arm, just in case.  probably also a good idea to leave the
shock attached to the trailing arm during this process, again, just in case.

if the spring decides to come shooting out of there, the trailing arm will
want to go down and the spring will want to go forward.  be careful with
things and you will be ok, just be careful.

> I need these comments.  They make think trough these processes before I
> screw something, or myself, up.

good luck with it,

bs

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End of alfa-digest V7 #151
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