How long does it take to replace shocks & springs?

[Mark 42]

I know I'm going to take a beating for asking, but...

I need to do my brakes and replace a tie rod end.

Easy enough.

Many of my tools, including my good floor jack are at our other house
(long story - we rented it but kept the 32 x 36 ft shop building for storage)

I don't think I have my strut compressor at our new house.

But, I'm thinking about trying to put in the lowering springs and the shocks I got with the car when I bought it.

Is there any hope of doing it all in one weekend with limited tools?

I don't even have a decent place to work - just a gravel driveway.
Actually, I might be able to get 1/2 the car on concrete if I do it
in front of the 3/4 car basement "garage".

I miss living out in the country. :(

[slammin.e28]

Sounds like you're going to get halfway done and have to stop because you'll hit some sort of roadblock.

I quit doing things if there is a single doubt in my mind I don't have the correct tools. Got tired of getting frustrated, trying to make something work, and either getting hurt, or breaking shit.

[10Toes]

With all the right tools it should only take 3 hours plus maybe a couple more hours if it's your first time.

You will want to get a sping compressor, autozone or orileys rents them out.

[Mark 42]

I've done them on my 1st generation MR2 - but that was 10 or 15
years ago. And I had a 6,000 sq ft barn to leave projects in if they
needed to sit. I didn't think about the Autozone... I think they rent them
for free - you pay the purchase price as a deposit, and it's acceptable
to keep the tools if you decide to just buy them.

I know some auto parts store used to do it that way.

But I may take the good advice and just wait until I know I will
have plenty of time, and after I have a chance to bring more of
my tools out of storage. That post made me flashback to some of
those extreme frustration situations in the past - I probably will
just play it safe. But if it's going well, I might get carried away.

I'm a little spoiled from when we lived outside the city - I'm used
to using air ratchets and impact tools and having welders and some
machine tools available. I'm not adapting well to city life.

Sounds like you're going to get halfway done
and have to stop because you'll hit some sort of roadblock. I quit doing things
if there is a single doubt in my mind I don't have the correct tools. Got tired of
getting frustrated, trying to make something work, and either getting hurt, or
breaking shit.

[glnr13]

i've done full suspension swaps on different types of cars before the e30 so i had some experience. springs, shocks, top hats, shock mounts swapped out of my e30 in under 4 hours. i did one side at a time vs front first then back. the left side took me about 2.5 hours, right side was a breeze, only had a hiccup with rear shock bolt that wouldn't break free. btw i rented compressors from autozone.

[TurboJake]

Last time I did it, 45 minutes for all 4 corners.

But I had everything preassembled and it was just swapping out the whole assemblies. So take that figure with a grain of salt :p

[mr ilia]

You can do just the rears, very easy and limited tools should be plenty enough.

[agent]

I just did this Sunday with help from a friend who has done it a number of times. Going from stock springs with relatively new Boge Turbos (true 4x4 status) to H&R Sports with Koni SAs took about four hours. That's not including the hour spent driving from store to store looking for a couple of 14mm x 1.5 strut nuts for the Konis since the guy I bought from didn't put them in the box. :hitler:

[Mark 42]

I did consider doing the fronts first, and just leave it like a 1960's-70's
hi-jacked Camaro if I don't finish.

If I had a backup vehicle, I wouldn't worry about it too much,
but right now, I don't. Yeah, we have 4 cars, and only one
is drivable right now.:eeek: :loco:

And I'm not going to drive the mini-van the insurance company got
us while the Excursion is being repaired.

[MaksV]

4 hours + alignment time.

[Mark 42]

I didn't factor in alignment. It's been a long time since I did that too.
Used to take me about 45 minutes to do a 4 wheel alignment without
hurrying, using the two string method.

[tonerrrr]

What exactly do you need to do with your brakes? Just the pads? No sweat, but if you plan on rebuilding the calipers, it will take a bit longer. Not that it's hard to do, it's just you want to do it right when you put the rubber pieces back in and get it right cleaning them in general.

Depending on the shocks you get there's a special socket that allows you to use an allen key on the shock while turning the socket to tighten the nut on.

-Remember the washer (number Eight) that goes between 1 and 9 in this pic:


If you forget that you're steering will bind up, ask me how I know.

-Be careful getting the tie rods and control arms out of the strut. Many say you can whack the strut on the side and it will come out, others use prying methods. I just use a ball peen hammer and a sledge and am very careful not to mess up the threads.

-Also, when tightening the tie rod and control arm back on to the strut they may spin so just put your floor jack under them to stop them from moving. Not a lot of pressure is required.

-Respect the springs, stock ones will be under a lot of pressure.

-Have a friend with you (who knows just as much or more about cars).

aaaaand I second all of what slammin.e28guy said.

[Mark 42]

Most likely all I will need is brake pads. The brake lining warning light
came on, so I need to do a brake inspection, and will go from there.

I doubt I will mess with the springs & shocks right now.
I'll wait until I have more tools, and a better place to work (we might
pour a concrete driveway sometime this summer - late this summer).
When I did the MR2, it consisted of gutting the struts and putting in
inserts (Tokico, IIRC). It was messy, but went well. I think the E30
will be simpler, unless I find that I am dealing with inserts in the stock
strut body again. I'll have to look closer at what I have got.
When I'm ready, maybe I'll post an APB then asking if anyone wants to help.

But I need to do the brakes (at least inspect them), and that I can
do myself. Brakes are easy to do. Changing rotors is easy enough.
I should repack the front wheel bearings while I have the wheels off.
How are the rear wheel bearings designed? Can/should they be re-packed
like the fronts?

The tie rod end should be easy too - I only need to replace the outer end
on the left side. If I run out of time, I can take it to a shop for alignment,
but if I measure toe before and after I should be fine for a day or two.

[iXe<30]

Sounds like you're going to get halfway done and have to stop because you'll hit some sort of roadblock.

I quit doing things if there is a single doubt in my mind I don't have the correct tools. Got tired of getting frustrated, trying to make something work, and either getting hurt, or breaking shit.

+50 i used to work in my own garage but said f, swallowed my pride and work at my grandpas because he has it all... They dont necisarilly have to be your tools so long as you have them. right?

[ButtJuice]

I needed to use a monkey wrench and a huge hammer to take off the shock collars.