Removing Coil Springs

[Dutch89]

Hi Guys

I have a Suzuki Escudo 1990 and im having a few problems removing the front coils. Have taken bolts out of the top of shock and lowerd the whole arm (whatever you call it) And i have a manual spring compressor with 2 hooks to take the tension out of the coil so it can be removed. But its still not enough to get spring out, and i have bigger springs on the way so i can imagin getting them in if i ever get the old ones out.

Cheers

[truck-fixer]

Bolt the shock back up, jack up the control arm with a floor jack, unbolt the bottom balljoint, lower the control arm and the spring will fall out at your feet, no need for a spring compressor.

[Dutch89]

Thanks heaps for your help, ive been trying for 3 days the hard way i see. Will try again tomorrow the correct way.

Cheers

[Dutch89]

After i fit the new coils i need to fit shocks with longer travel to the front and rear. How can i figure out whats the longest travel shocks i can fit it without destroting my CV joints or anything else.

It has after market shocks in now and i dont know what the std travel may have been for my model Zuk, but the travel seems a bit limited from what i can see.

Thanks again for your help truck-fixer

[spanky]

just use what you have in the front, but flip the top mount which gives you about 30mm. in the back i use commodore shocks and c33 laurel springs, but you need to extend the diff breather and un do the hand brake cable bracket things, front springs are ea falcon with 2 1/4 coils cut off .




vaughan

[Dutch89]

Have got new coils in now, just the flip to do now on the top of the Shock. I see there is a large nut on the top and i think this has to be removed. Then the existing bolts have to be romoved some how and put in from the reverse side ? after the hat section has been flipped?

[spanky]

yep thats right,if you limit your front travel to that you wont keep snaping cvs.
vaughan

[Rotazuk]

To put a dampener on the strut flip . You say you have aftermarket shocks already . If they are longer than standard and then you do the flip you will want to check they do not bottom out before the bump stops .

Easiest thing to do would be measure your current shock at full length and compare it to a standard one , have one in the shed I could measure next week or Spanky may know already , to see if they are standard length or longer .

Chris

[Dutch89]

Good point, funny that it had never crossed my mind the shocks in it may be longer. Probably because the Zuk has never been off road by the looks of the underside. Not a single dent anywhere.
I made the assumption the the travel was crap because when i jacked the car up the wheel lifted after a few centre meters (less than 5cm) and it seemed to be more on one side than the other. More stuff to look at over the weekend and see whats going on.

I pulled shocks out and end to end they were 53cm extended and 38.5cm pushed down. Brand is "Monroe Gas-Magnum"

Thanks again

[Dutch89]

Just did a measure of both shocks while they were out and 1 is 5mm shorter than the other, is that so bad only 5mm?

[spanky]

standard front struts are 370mm compressed 540mm open,thats measured from the bottom of shock to the top of the thread.you can gain alot more movement if you remove the front swaybar but they are almost dangerous on the open road ,so be aware,mine will lean and the tyre will hit the guard if you hit a bump mid corner ,now make the rear move and you will be away,plus we need pics .cheers
vaughan

[Dutch89]

Cheers and thanks for the help, hope to post sum pictures by the middle of the week - body lift should be done by Tuseday all going well. Sway bar removed and i will be carefull untill i get used to the extra movement. Might ask a mate at work whats it like driving a drunken 4X4 (he has a Rocky LOL)

It seems im 10mm shorter in length, i will keep that in mind if the tyres i bought dont fit. I have a set of 31x 10.5x15" they are so big they scare me, might need a grinder and an axe yet.

Cheers

[meece4x4]

Cheers and thanks for the help, hope to post sum pictures by the middle of the week - body lift should be done by Tuseday all going well. Sway bar removed and i will be carefull untill i get used to the extra movement. Might ask a mate at work whats it like driving a drunken 4X4 (he has a Rocky LOL)

It seems im 10mm shorter in length, i will keep that in mind if the tyres i bought dont fit. I have a set of 31x 10.5x15" they are so big they scare me, might need a grinder and an axe yet.

Cheers

best thing I ever did was to remove the sway bar off my Feroza ... not only did it increase articulation by about 30% it also made it handle better on the open road ... with the IFS setup the Feroza's and late rockys have the sway tends to transfer a large bump right through the front end .. and if your running wide tyre makes it very skittery, taking the sway bar off ment the bump stayed on that side only and you didnt get that sudden "jump to the Left" ... as for leaning over going around corners I found that when I wound up the torsion bar for the 2" lift the leaning went away anyway YMMV on yours tho, but the Diahatsu work better without the stonking grat factory roll bar.

[Dutch89]

Can only load picture of what i have done by putting it in the Avatiar. Have to work out how to post pictures, how hard can it be