Well, my long awaited (for me) suspension installation is done! I decided to do a "How-To" on this for everyone... (Even though everyone here knows how to do it!) This if for people that don't know how.
Please correct me if you have a better way for doing this or if I'm just wrong on something.
First, you order the suspension and wait for it to arrive at your house.
The box will look like this:
Then when you open it, it will look like this:
Make sure you have the whole day open to do this. Anything can go wrong and you might find stuff that you want to replace, like bushings or axle boots.
If your doing it like me (front first then rear) make sure your tires are chocked so the car will not roll:
Lift your car. I use the front of the car so I can get both tires off the ground at the same time:
Find a good place to put the stands:
Take tires off (make sure you have the bolts loose before you lift your car. Not all the way loose though, you still want it snug.)
Once the tires are off, take the steering link off the OEM suspension. This is tapered so it's pressed in. You will need a tool to take this off! Or, you can just bang on it with a hammer. When you bang on it, make sure you have the nut on the end so you won't damage the threads on the linkage. I highly recommend getting the tool for it, it's only $15 at Kragen.
It looks like this:
Next, come the two big bolts that connect the upper arm with the suspension unit. Now this is the tricky part for the EP3. You have to make sure your don't pop out the axle from its housing, or you will have a hard time putting it back together. (This is why you will want the whole day to do this!) **IT IS VERY EASY TO POP IT OUT! ** Even though I knew this, it still ended up popping out on me.
The big bolts look like this:
The axle looks like this:
Once you have all the bolts off you can now take the top three bolts off:
Once you have all three top nuts off all is easy it will just slide right out.
Next, slide your front suspension in. Make sure it's facing the right way and then bolt up the top three nuts--but not too tight yet; you will want a little wiggle room for all the other bolts:
Put all the bolts on. (You might need to hammer down the steering link down a little so it won't move when you tighten the nut. And, do not for get the cotter pin):
It's a good idea to jack up each side of the suspension like this (jack it up until the car lifts off the stands):
** Tighten everything down one more time! **
Once you are done with both sides, lower one side at a time. Lowering it from the front will not work now that your car is too low. Well, that's if you have the same jack as me.
Now that you have the fronts done the hard part is done.
Jack up the rear like this from the middle (make sure your front tires are chocked):
Take the bottom bolt out then the top two and it will slide right out. Just let it go all the way down:
Install the new suspension in bolt it up the top first then the bottom:
Once you're done, make sure everything is tight and snug!
Again, it's a good idea to jack up just the suspension like the we did on the front.
Once you're done, time to lower the car down from the stands.
** Make sure your wheels are ON before lowering the car! **
Yay you're done.
I did this in a rush, so let me know if I missed any steps or if you want to know how more details.
Author