jayntee

I am in the process of installing my coilovers on my 96 ls400. I got the driver side front done, but ran into some issues with the passenger side. It seems like the shock is stuck to the top of the tower (where the top hat meets the tower of the car) I tried spraying somw w-40 and tapping it with a hammer. I also tried jumping on the hub/rotor, but it seems so stuck that it won't allow any play on the lower arms. Has anyone ran into this issue? Or any ideas on how to drop the shock?

I did have the tap the driver side lightly, but it fell right out. Also my car has 250k miles, so i am thinking that might have made it really hard to get out.

lexxpro

Keep taping on all three studs of the tower and eventually it will break free. Careful you dont mess up the threads or use a brass hammer it you have one

jayntee

i've hit it pretty hard for a some time, still nothing. But that's probably the only way huh?

usoff89

iTrader: (2)

Unbolt the sway bar, and I bet it falls out. I had the same issue. Hope it works for you.

akitomk3

iTrader: (2)

Rubber mallet and go at it, top 3 mounting bolts. I had this problem when i installed my coilovers. It was just stuck on there for a good bit.

usoff89

iTrader: (2)

When I put mine in, the first side went smooth. Then the second side would not come out at all. It was as if somebody had welded it to the shock tower! I could not get the bolt out of the bottom of the shock, because it was pushing down on the bolt. Since I was throwing the old struts away, I even cut the spring. I know what your thinking, but it was late and I was tired of fusing with it. I thought if I cut the spring it would relieve the pressure on the bolt and come out..... Didn't work though. Finally after getting frustrated, I unbolted the sway bar, and the dang thing just fell out of the shock tower. Oh, and I did NOT unbolt the sway bar on the first side.

I think it had something to do with the first side already being bolted up the coilover and being at a diffrent angle than the second side.

lsd4hunnit

Happened to me last weekend installing my Function & Form Type II

BippuJRo

You took out the stock ones and installed the new coilovers on the driver's already?
If so i would loosen the driver side coilovers and then take out the stock ones on the passenger side. Then begin install.
If you didn't, you can try lifting up the hub with a jack on the driver side. Maybe that will help free up the passenger side. Hope this helps.

When installing the BC's on my car, the rears posed the most issues. Good Luck

jayntee

been out of town so going to try to go at it again tomorrow. Going to try to PB blaster around the top hat area, if that doesn't work i'll try everything else you guys suggested. Thanks

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Use a wood block like a 2x4" on top of the top hat bolts with a modest weight ball peen hammer. A few good smacks should get it free. Don't hit the bolts directly, this is an easy way to dome the bolt and have you shopping fora new top hat or die to clean the threads.

jayntee

undoing the drive side solved my problem thank you

BippuJRo

No problem boss

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

you always have to unload the sides evenly due to the sway bar. you need to lift the whole front end, or rear end, together. because the coilovers are almost always shorter than stock, bolting one side first will cause the sway bar to give tension to the opposite side making it harder to work with. i don't like to unbolt the endlinks. i don't see the need to!