Whereas the front suspension has a strut unit consisting of the shock running inside the spring, the rear suspension contains the spring separate from the shock. Replacing the rear shock is relatively easy. It is held with two bolts at the top attached to the frame body, and one bolt and bushing at the bottom attached to the wheel unit.
The lower bolt goes through a bushing on the shock and screws into a welded nut. Since this is fully exposed to the elements, everything was heavily corroded, and it was hard to even notice that the nut was actually a welded nut. The bolt just wouldn’t budge, even with an air impact wrench.
I had to pull out my oxyacetelyne torch and heat the nut until it was cherry red. The rubber inside the bushing was also starting to burn. Using an impact wrench while the whole thing was still hot did the trick in removing the bolt.
In comparison, the upper two bolts were a lot easier to remove. However, the threads are not very deep, and it is easy to strip the threads.
Leave a Reply