Ground Control not sittin low in the front??

[deucey]

how do you take it apart just cut the bottom end off or what?

These are the instructions I was given.

"You have to unscrew the shaft from the bottom of the strut. Remember the front Bilsteins are upside down monotube shocks. You should have a 17 mm nut and a slotted screw in the bottom of the strut. I recommend buying a screwdriver bit for your rachet. It takes a lot of effort to screw the shaft out of the housing, especially if it has seen some weather.

First back the 17 mm nut off until it is flush with the end of the screw. Don't remove the nut. It will help hold your screwdriver bit in place. Now the hard part. If you have a vise - great. Clamp the strut in the vise. Or else have a friend hold the strut steady for you as you bear down as hard as you can with your screwdriver/rachet and turn the shaft. Remember to turn it CLOCKWISE. You are screwing it into the housing.

Hopefully it breaks loose and you can turn the slotted shaft without damaging the threads. You can try some WD-40 etc. to loosen it up. But what finally worked for me was to put the screwdriver bit on an air wrench and zapping it off. If you can put enough weight on the rachet, I think you can probably get it off. Good luck.

Eventually you will have to remove the nut entirely. Just carefully screw the shaft all the way into the housing.

Once you have this accomplished, it is simple. Just pull the top out. Don't worry about anything exploding in your face. The troublemaking bumpstop will be obvious. It is 2 7/8 inches long. I recommend just taking it off and throwing it away. Put the strut back together without any bumpstop. I promise you, any impact hard enough to fully compress a Bilstein strut will destroy the car. Bumpstops with Bilsteins are redundant. If you want to keep part of the bumpstop, use a hacksaw and cut 1 inch off. Use the 1 inch part and throw the other 1 7/8 inch away."

[mo diesil]

here is a pic of the bumpstop inside.

how do you take it apart just cut the bottom end off or what?

[Stephen]

Think the dissasembly is the same between sports and HD? i would think so..

[E30_fiend]

It would be much appreciated. I would love to see the opening of the shock and the picture of the bumpstop

[ragehardintothebendies]

I think it's the HD's that have 2 7/8 inch long bumpstops, the sports are supposed to be much shorter. I have a pair of HD's sitting around, I'll pull them apart and take pics when I can find the time.

[E30_fiend]

i know hellabad recommended only cutting an inch off, i think i may go that route. Unless you can go shorter with these?

http://www.ground-control-store.com/...tion.php/II=10

I dont see the need to buy new ones when the old ones just trimmed down will work just fine. At least when you trim it down you dont have to take the whole shaft out. just cut around the up and down so you can take it off. It seems really simple.





Taylor

[dinanm3atl]

GC camber plates and coilovers on this car. Non modified strut tube. Had about 1" left on coilover threads.

This. Is how I want mine. They should be here Wednesday :)

[Stephen]

i know hellabad recommended only cutting an inch off, i think i may go that route. Unless you can go shorter with these?

http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=10

[E30_fiend]

Any pictures of the process? Some things are unclear with the writing. Pictures tell it more easily

[ragehardintothebendies]

These are the instructions I was given.

"You have to unscrew the shaft from the bottom of the strut. Remember the front Bilsteins are upside down monotube shocks. You should have a 17 mm nut and a slotted screw in the bottom of the strut. I recommend buying a screwdriver bit for your rachet. It takes a lot of effort to screw the shaft out of the housing, especially if it has seen some weather.

First back the 17 mm nut off until it is flush with the end of the screw. Don't remove the nut. It will help hold your screwdriver bit in place. Now the hard part. If you have a vise - great. Clamp the strut in the vise. Or else have a friend hold the strut steady for you as you bear down as hard as you can with your screwdriver/rachet and turn the shaft. Remember to turn it CLOCKWISE. You are screwing it into the housing.

Hopefully it breaks loose and you can turn the slotted shaft without damaging the threads. You can try some WD-40 etc. to loosen it up. But what finally worked for me was to put the screwdriver bit on an air wrench and zapping it off. If you can put enough weight on the rachet, I think you can probably get it off. Good luck.

Eventually you will have to remove the nut entirely. Just carefully screw the shaft all the way into the housing.

Once you have this accomplished, it is simple. Just pull the top out. Don't worry about anything exploding in your face. The troublemaking bumpstop will be obvious. It is 2 7/8 inches long. I recommend just taking it off and throwing it away. Put the strut back together without any bumpstop. I promise you, any impact hard enough to fully compress a Bilstein strut will destroy the car. Bumpstops with Bilsteins are redundant. If you want to keep part of the bumpstop, use a hacksaw and cut 1 inch off. Use the 1 inch part and throw the other 1 7/8 inch away."

[Stephen]

bueller?

[Stephen]

yeah. i rember someon saying you just open that part and cut the internal bumpstop.. i guess

[E30_fiend]

just makes me wanna find a set of blown billies and screw around with them.

[Stephen]

i dont think they explode if you open them that way. If they do, Hellabad probably shouldve put a disclaimer there :p

[E30_fiend]

here is a pic of the bumpstop inside.

Only problem is finding a way to open them without them blowing up in our faces. Another problem I see is putting them back together and getting them recharged. I wouldnt know how to go about doing that.