Ripinator
Old Man with a Hat
Installing front shocks on C-Bodies is a huge pain. Rear shocks - not so much. After diddling with it for an hour, I had a local shop do it. Money well-spent.
Time to replace shocks - recommend?
- Thread starter Verse
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Installing front shocks on C-Bodies is a huge pain. Rear shocks - not so much. After diddling with it for an hour, I had a local shop do it. Money well-spent.
As has been said, they are a pain, indeed!
If you want to, the easiest way I have found it to remove the lower two bolts at the bottom of the Brake plate. That allows the lower control arm to drop further, giving more room for the shock to come out and the new one to be put in. (You don't need to remove all the brake hardware as in these pictures; took these when I was swapping to disks. But you can see in the second picture that the control arm has dropped more.)
Oh, if you do, unload the torsion bars (large bolt underneath the control arms.)
Ripinator
Old Man with a Hat
Like I said. . .
You did? I don't see you saying to unload the torsion bars; you said it was a pain.
Ripinator
Old Man with a Hat
Yes. Like I said, the whole thing (including unloading the torsion bars) is a giant pain. . .
Ah!! Very well.
TxDon
Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the response, I will be going with the KYB Gas-Adjust front and rear, just ordered from RockAuto.
Were they still on sale?
live4theking
Old Man with a Hat
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If they were the same ones I ordered for my 68 the short answer is they didn't qualify for the sale.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
You got the best deal on the market! I did the same about a month back. Got new springs also, and will put it ALL together, God-willing, before July. Memorial Day weekend looks like a ++good time for that job. I've been running their Gas-Adjust in Mathilda's front for about a year now, and she steers, handles wonderfully for having them.
Happy Mopar Motoring!
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
It's really VERY EASY, IFF you use my little trick to get them in; tie the front shocks down fully depressed with rebar wire, double stranded as a single won't hold any shock worth installing, put the new shock up into the tower, make sure you have it in where you need it, then cut the wires! The shock will expand out to as far as your control arms will permit. then you just pull the rebar wires out and off, tighten down your nuts, jounce the body a little to assure that things have settled completely, re tighten the nuts one last time, and drive!
If I were close to you, I'd be DELIGHTED to do your shocks next time you need some.
TxDon
Well-Known Member
Where did you buy the rear springs? I think I will need to do that on the wagon also.
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
I have KYB on all four corners on both my '66 Coronet 500 (since 2003) and my '66 Imperial (since 2019) and they've worked out very well on both cars.
live4theking
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@Snotty When you remove the two bolts from the backing plate do you also have to loosen the torsion bar adjustment bolt. Or is just removing the two bolts enough?
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
Don, you get your springs yet? Try Springs n Things if you haven't.
TxDon
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I am kind of shut down on car work right now due to some foot surgery and also the purchase of another (non-mopar) hobby car. When I get back to it my first priority will be the brakes and the KYB shocks, rear springs will follow.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
A reasonable priority stack. Get the rear KYBs and then your springs. You'll be GLAD you did! I got mine done, though I have rear brake shoes to tidy up now too. THEN, time to start building a new eng for Mathilda!
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