Can't Get Rear Coilovers Off?

[636]

Hey guys, so I'm trying to swap out coilovers on my girlfriends FRS.

The front is all done, and now I'm working on the rear. I can't get these damn coilovers out for the life of me.

I've gotten the LCA to Swaybar bolt out, the LCA to coilover bolt is out, but I can't get the LCA to knuckle bolt out because it keeps colliding with something on the knuckle.

So I can't really sag the LCA to pull it out. Any tips? I've literally been at this for hours..

[Calum]

Take out the lower control arm to body bolt out. I've only had my rears out twice, but I learned on the first time that using the inner bolt to allow the LCA's the swing down made life much easier.

[wparsons]

Why are you even dropping the LCA? It was easy to get mine out without doing anything but unbolting the shocks from the LCA (I jacked up the whole rear, so the sway bar wasn't fighting me).

[yomny]

As mentioned no need to remove the lca. Remove the bolts and nuts from coil to lca and having already removed the swaybar to lca you should be able to push down the hub/lca assembly and the coilover come out. It has spring tension from the bushings so maybe having someone push it down while you wiggle the coil would help.

[stiboost08]

you can also use a jack to move the lca upward like wparson says so it can free the coilover a bit.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by stiboost08

you can also use a jack to move the lca upward like wparson says so it can free the coilover a bit.

What? Lifting the LCA will put more load on the shock and make it harder to get out.

What I did was undo the bolts inside the trunk with the car on the ground, then jack it up so both wheels were in the air and suspension at full droop. Undo the bolt holding the shock to the LCA and then just pull the shock out.

It took me less than 45 minutes to pull both rear shocks, remove the stock springs, put on the lowering springs, put the shocks back in and set the car back on the ground. You don't even need to take the wheels off to do the rears.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by wparsons

What? Lifting the LCA will put more load on the shock and make it harder to get out.

What I did was undo the bolts inside the trunk with the car on the ground, then jack it up so both wheels were in the air and suspension at full droop. Undo the bolt holding the shock to the LCA and then just pull the shock out.

It took me less than 45 minutes to pull both rear shocks, remove the stock springs, put on the lowering springs, put the shocks back in and set the car back on the ground. You don't even need to take the wheels off to do the rears.

My experience was different, but I wonder if leaving the wheels on, the weight of them, makes your way easier. Without the wheels on I found it too much work to try to push down on the suspension with one hand while manipulating the shock with the other. That was with the sway bar unhooked and both sides on stands. Originally I took out the outer LCA bolt to gain the extra clearance, but again, the effort to manipulate the suspension with one hand didn't work for me. That's when I took out the inner bolt, put the outer bolt in and realized it was a lot easier to just remove the inner bolt. Still not nearly as easy as your method though.

[GSpeed]

I just took out the outer LCA mounting bolt. Made it easy enough to get the shock assembly out, it certainly wasn't coming out without the LCA moving in some fashion.

Jake

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by Calum

My experience was different, but I wonder if leaving the wheels on, the weight of them, makes your way easier. Without the wheels on I found it too much work to try to push down on the suspension with one hand while manipulating the shock with the other. That was with the sway bar unhooked and both sides on stands. Originally I took out the outer LCA bolt to gain the extra clearance, but again, the effort to manipulate the suspension with one hand didn't work for me. That's when I took out the inner bolt, put the outer bolt in and realized it was a lot easier to just remove the inner bolt. Still not nearly as easy as your method though.

With the wheels on the suspension drooped enough without being forced to easily pull the shocks out. I actually left the nuts on the upper mount barely threaded so both wouldn't fall out as I lifted the car up.

[636]

I got em out in about 20 minutes after taking a nap.

The guys who installed the lowering springs on my girlfriend's car put a bolt in backwards, so it was hitting a knuckle. I had to drop the knuckle then pop the bolt out and it was home free from there. Here's a photo of the new ride height!

[stiboost08]

Originally Posted by wparsons

What? Lifting the LCA will put more load on the shock and make it harder to get out.

What I did was undo the bolts inside the trunk with the car on the ground, then jack it up so both wheels were in the air and suspension at full droop. Undo the bolt holding the shock to the LCA and then just pull the shock out.

It took me less than 45 minutes to pull both rear shocks, remove the stock springs, put on the lowering springs, put the shocks back in and set the car back on the ground. You don't even need to take the wheels off to do the rears.

I thought it was this bolt in the LCA he was having issue with so putting back the load on the spring will help him take that bolt out.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by PST

I just took out the outer LCA mounting bolt. Made it easy enough to get the shock assembly out, it certainly wasn't coming out without the LCA moving in some fashion.

Jake

Yep on the first side, I tried and tried to get it down low enough.

I finally just popped the LCA to subframe bolt out. I did the next side in like 8 minutes.