After pulling two all-nighters at work this week (and one more ahead of me the next day) I got home friday and could think of nothing I wanted more than to just wrench alone in my garage on this hog.
I started by backing the thing in and swapping out the rear springs. Easy peasy, probably about 5-10 minutes per side. Springs are not wrapped around the struts so a couple bolts and they just slide right out. Got the rear back on the ground and I'm thinking, 'HOT! Now on to the front!'
I quickly found myself at the point of no-return
Zee germans have attached the front sway bar end links to the struts instead of the knuckle and just like other sway bar endlinks, they are gobstopping-whoremongers to get off in one piece! Out came the sawzall and 15 minutes of cutting got me where I wanted to be: up shit creek!
Zee germans also have made removing the strut from the knuckle fuking pointlessly impossible. Another 20 minutes of pounding and hammering and wiggling (and cussing!) and....still up that creek.
Getting the springs off/on at this point is cake.
So, I decided to fight on and get the passenger side apart before calling it a night. I had sprayed the living daylights out of the sway endlinks with PB Blaster but it was pointless--this side was stuck as well!
After I got it mostly apart, it occurred to me that I may be able to do something completely stupid--remove the spring with the strut still attached to the swaybar. I couldn't get the knuckle low enough to get the strut top out from the fender but after about an hour of finagling, wiggling, pounding, smashing, and more cussing, I ended up here:
Swapped the spring, reassembled, and called it a night. So proud but so pissed at the same time! Bleh! The next morning I picked up a few packs of sawzall blades and a new endlink and proceeded to cut cut cut for hours on end until that wh0re of a swaybar was back to the way I wanted it.
Finally got it back together, and then while it was up in the air I fixed something stupid I had noticed earlier--there was no access hole in the plastic undertray for the oil drain plug. Easy fix
Aaaand voila! Missing a axle cap in this pic but you get the idea
She's a little lower but the stance (I hate how tainted that word is now but fuk it) is real nice.
Bombing on crappy side streets is dandy, car isn't too low. Highway is dandy, and this hog handles quite a bit better--not so bobbly and roll happy now.
Let's not forget what I got this thing for though---TRUCK STUFF! She went immediately back into service hauling hundreds of pounds of gear that night:
Next mod: oil change
Linear Mode
