Swift Spring Install Issues

[sandersd]

I seem to have the worst luck anytime I want to do anything to one of my cars. A simple job that shouldn't take more than a couple of hours drags out for days - like my recent exhaust install.

Today I started installing my Swift springs. I jacked the car up on four stands, nothing to that except the HKS exhaust is in the way when I place the jack under the differential. Luckily the pipes have enough play with the rubber mounts to prevent damage. Went to retrieve the locking lug key from the glove box but it wasn't there. Searched the console, rear storage, my toolbox, workbench, no luck. Decided to check the glovebox one more time and found it in a white plastic bag. Removed the wheels without incident.

Spent some (more) time reviewing the workshop manual instructions for removing the front suspension. (I didn't have anything to do at work last week so I read the the entire procedure and all the references.)

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Pulled the front wheel sensor cable from the shock clip. When I loosened the bolt on the shock that holds the brake line the bracket bent.

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No way to prevent that since there was nothing to counter hold. I'll just bend it back after I reinstall. Removed the sway bar link completely after determining the bolt would never come out of the bottom of the shock without doing so. The procedure then calls for removing the upper link from the steering knuckle. I loosened the bolt but the pin would not come out without a puller of some kind or perhaps a big punch and hammer, so I abandoned that and simply (ha!) removed the bracket holding the bottom of the shock. I say ha! because my 14mm socket broke while removing the third bolt.

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Finished with a box end wrench and removed the shock/spring assembly. Here's where it gets really fun.

I took out my spring compressors, the kind from Sears which is essentially a long bolt with two hooks, and started compressing. Had to go to my 1/2" drive impact to tighten. I kept tightening more and more until finally it wouldn't tighten any more. Luckily it was compressed enough I could try to remove the end nut that holds the hat but it wouldn't budge which is not surprising since it is torqued to 44 ft lbs. After wrestling with it for a while I decided I didn't have the right tool - an offset box end wrench, so I headed off to Northern Tool which is five minutes from my house. But they don't carry offset wrenches, so it's back in the truck and off to Sears, another 20 minutes away. By the time I return home I've wasted an hour and a half but I have the proper wrench and a replacement 14mm and I'm ready to get back to it.

But that nut is never coming off with me trying to hold the shock with my foot, one hand with the box end and the other trying to counter hold the shaft with an adjustable wrench. Sure wish I had one of these handy-dandy tools:
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But I didn't. I know I'm not suppose to let the shaft turn while removing the nut. A Google search fails to reveal the reason it shouldn't turn but I figure it not coming off any other way, so I grab the impact gun and it zips off in half a second. Did the shaft turn? Who knows. If the shock fails at some point I'll just buy coilovers.

So now I have to remove the spring compressors but guess what - they're jammed. They had to be tightened enough to compress the springs so the hat could be removed but they're so tight the hooks are acting as a lever arm and bending the bolt to the point it's jammed the threads. Even the impact won't budge the bolts. I figure if I buy or rent another set of compressors I can take enough pressure off to allow the bolt to turn so I'm back in the truck and off to Northern Tools again. I'm hoping to find a tool with a little different configuration that will not bind as mine had. NT has three different brands but they all fit inside the springs which is silly since I could never get the shock in with the compressor inside the spring.

So I go to three different auto parts stores - none have any, but they could order me one or in one case rent me one just like the one I have. They also all suggest Harbor Freight which I loathe because 99% of their stuff is junk that lasts until you use it, then it falls apart. But having no other option I hope for the best all the way there and find a compressor dissimilar to the one I have and buy it for $65 with the clerk's assurance I can return it if it doesn't work.

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It did compress the springs enough for me to cut the jammed bolts with a hack saw - they still wouldn't budge - and remove them.

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Then the piece-of-junk Harbor Freight compressor fell apart.

So that's where I'm at right now. I figure I'll call around and find a shop that has a real compressor and can remove and install the new springs for me, then I'll install them back on the car. In the meantime I'll do the rear springs tomorrow and I can return the piece-of-junk Harbor Freight compressor.

[Trips]

I hope this helps if you haven't already gone thru it!

I've done mine a couple of times already and the front can be pia

DIY: 370Z Lowering Spring Install

[sandersd]

Originally Posted by Trips

I hope this helps if you haven't already gone thru it!

I've done mine a couple of times already and the front can be pia

DIY: 370Z Lowering Spring Install

Thanks, I read your thread (and several others) last week and again today when I ran into trouble. The Tein springs are similar to the stock while the Swifts have one end tightly coiled which makes it difficult to fit the compressor I have (and the one I had). I did take your advice regarding removing the top nut (air ratchet is my friend).

[sandersd]

Wouldn't mind having use of that spring compressor either...

[Zipper 104]

I've decided when the time comes for me I'm going to have my local Nissan dealer swap the stockers for the Swifts. Not going to mess with them.
..as for the Gorilla nut, I'm going to have a 1/2" drive breaker bar with a 3 foot cheater from work.

Best of luck with the rest of the job.

104

[sandersd]

Originally Posted by Zipper 104

I've decided when the time comes for me I'm going to have my local Nissan dealer swap the stockers for the Swifts. Not going to mess with them.
..as for the Gorilla nut, I'm going to have a 1/2" drive breaker bar with a 3 foot cheater from work.

Best of luck with the rest of the job.

104

I think that's a good choice. As for the nut, the kicker is having to hold the shaft - that excludes using a socket. I came up with a workable solution for using a torque wrench in combination with the box end to actually torque the nut, but I still haven't figured out how one would hold the shaft without some type of specially designed tool (besides vice-grips of course). Also, without the special tool that holds the shock in a vice it'd be difficult to torque to spec without the shock turning, and I don't want to clamp the shock tube itself for fear of damaging it.

I'm going out this morning looking for a decent shop to install the springs on the shock, then I'll install the rear springs and SPL replacement arms.

[sandersd]

Finished the first side this morning with no issues. Yahoo! The service manual says to torque the front lower shock absorber bolts with the tires on the ground in the uladen position. As low as this car is I'm not sure that's realistic without an appropriate lift.

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Also removed the other front shock/spring. Took ten minutes. Go figure. I decided to take them to the local Nissan dealer five minutes from my house. If anyone is set up to do it properly I have to assume they are.

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And found a screw in my tire
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[Trips]

What I used to loosen the nut was a boxed wrench and a pair of vise-grips.

Jammed a long screwdriver between the vise-grips to hold the shaft while I loosen the nut with the offset boxed wrench.

I don't know wtf was Nissan thinking when they re-designed the top hat without a slot to ensure when it gets installed or removed?

You can just remove the nut without the shaft spinning.

Thats how they were on my 70 240, 74 260, 90 300ZX.

I was really shocked to see they removed it.

Glad to hear at least its done.

[sandersd]

I adjusted the SPL arms as close to factory length as possible understanding that my negative camber will increase due to the lowered stance. I used bolts on both ends for the front lower link and for the radius rod I used a deep socket of appropriate diameter for the link end and a bolt on the other end.

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Luckily the screw I removed from the tire was short and embedded sideways so it didn't penetrate.

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[sandersd]

I've always been a DIY kinda' guy. I hate paying someone to do something I can do. I always figured I could buy the parts and the tools to do a job for less than a third party would charge me for parts and labor, plus I'd probably do a better job since I was working on my own property. I've spent my life in construction and engineering. I'm very meticulous and conscientious. I also have a bazillion tools from years of doing things myself.

I think I've reached a balance point. I don't want any more tools cause if I buy them then I have to store them and I'm out of room. I have tools I rarely use anymore but it's hard to get rid of them because I might need them one day and I wouldn't have them. I gave up yard work years ago. I'm tired of remodeling my house. I don't mind working on the car occasionally, maintenance and upgrades, but I have no interest in keeping an old car running with countless repairs - I'd rather pay someone to do it or just replace it with a new one. That's how I came to own the Nismo, I sold a 2002 911 (never buy a German car out of warranty).

There's certain things I'm not going to DIY on my car, alignments for example. I know some guys do it with strings and levels but I just assume pay someone with an efficient and accurate setup and be done with it, no hassle. I'm adding installing coil springs to that list of things I'd rather pay someone else to do.

In all my years of building things I've learned to buy the best tools one can afford: they do a better job, they do it faster, and they do it safer. If I can't afford the proper tool, pay someone who has it. It's certainly cheaper in regards to time and frustration, but more importantly I end up with a better finished product.

[Zipper 104]

Originally Posted by sandersd

I've always been a DIY kinda' guy. I hate paying someone to do something I can do. I always figured I could buy the parts and the tools to do a job for less than a third party would charge me for parts and labor, plus I'd probably do a better job since I was working on my own property. I've spent my life in construction and engineering. I'm very meticulous and conscientious. I also have a bazillion tools from years of doing things myself.

I hear you. I have a ton of tools, but they're all at work. It sucks having to lug them back and forth so I find myself accumulating duplicates at home, and nowhere to store them.
I'd rather do everything myself 'cause at least if I mess the job up it's on me. I don't want to second guess the job anyone else does, but frankly, but I don't trust anyone to do it right. I'd end up pulling the wheels off again afterwards and checking the job they did so I might as well just do it myself in the first time around. The bummer is, I really don't want the hassle of dealing with things that go wrong if, and when, they do. (don't they always?)

So, back to the install...I was under the impression that the 'Gorilla' nut everybody gripes about is the lower shock mount bolt, hence requiring the cheater bar. Reading your thread it now sounds like getting the top nut on the shock column undone is the tough part. Is that right?
I guess taking the shocks to my Nissan dealer after I get 'em out lets them deal with this problem, huh?
Anybody else able to weigh in on this?

Thanks

104

[sandersd]

Originally Posted by Zipper 104

So, back to the install...I was under the impression that the 'Gorilla' nut everybody gripes about is the lower shock mount bolt, hence requiring the cheater bar. Reading your thread it now sounds like getting the top nut on the shock column undone is the tough part. Is that right?

Well the nut on top of the shock was the only one I had trouble with. I do agree that one of the lower arm nuts is difficult and requires a 24" breaker bar and short socket due to limited access but I don't think it was the lower shock nut. I use impact guns for disassembly everywhere I can and it took the nuts off lickety-split.

But without the impact gun a breaker bar is required unless one likes things to be more difficult than they need to be. Sixty ft lbs is tough to break with a 3/8" ratchet or even a 1/2".

[sandersd]

BTW I have to relay the conversation I had with a representative at Swift Springs. There are no instructions included with the springs, just stickers and a warranty disclosure. The stock Nissan spring coils are evenly spaced top to bottom whereas the Swift springs have one end tightly coiled and the other 2/3 evenly spaced.

I had no way of knowing which end went up so I called Swift. The guy told me which end went up and I mentioned that information might be good to include with the springs so one knows the proper orientation. His very condescending response was

"That's why we don't like to sell to end users, only to professional installers. They know which direction to install them."

I had the information I needed and I didn't see any point in challenging him but I wondered how "professional installers" magically know which end is up, as opposed to us ignorant DIYers, so I did a little search and found many instances of "professional installers" installing the springs upside down.

All it would take is a sticker that says "TOP" or an arrow pointing up to prevent confusion. But what do I know, I'm not a "professional installer".

[sandersd]

If anyone has any documentation from a manufacturer as to why the shock shaft cannot turn without damaging the shock please post a link. I've searched and cannot find anything definitive other than the admonition not to let it turn. Google gave a link to KYB's faq answering this exact question but when I clicked it it gave a 404 error. I manually went to the KYB website but the faq has changed from Google's search results.

I'm wondering if the shaft not turning requirement is simply to allow the nut to be torqued properly and not to prevent damage to the shock. Visualizing the working of the piston in the cylinder I don't see how the shaft turning could possibly damage anything.

[Amj2020]

I totally envy your DIY nature, but I read threads like this and thank myself for spending the 100 bucks on the install and 200 on the alignment and saves me the headache! Good luck moving forward.