hey guys i have succesfully lowered the rear of my VL, easiest thing ever.. now when it comes to the front, i have used spring compressors, but im having trouble loosening the hat. i have done front shocks on other cars but the VL is weird. the nut sits very deep in the hat. so i was wondering is there a special tool or way i can get at it? thanx Carl

I might be wrong but I think it has to be rattle gunned off.

Yeah a rattle gun is the easiest way to undo it

i had them on my old car was the worst ride ever just be careful

Hey champ i had the same problem, me and my old boy cut a socket piece and welded it to a bar and used that and a spanner on the top of the shock to undo it Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Just get vice grips and hold the shock tube (it doesnt damage it) and then get a deep socket if you have one and turn as normal, if you dont have a deep socket you can use a normal one but only have it sitting half in the ratchet. Or take the struts to a workshop and ask them to use the rattle gun and take it off straight away, but take everything with you so they can tighten it back up again!

"Just get vice grips and hold the shock tube (it doesnt damage it) and then get a deep socket if you have one and turn as normal, if you dont have a deep socket you can use a normal one but only have it sitting half in the ratchet." Thats how I did it.

Quote: Originally Posted by idtrp2 i had them on my old car was the worst ride ever just be careful Had what in your old car? He never even said what he was putting in!

Maybe he though he was leaving the spring compressors in to lower it.

Quote: Originally Posted by RB30X Maybe he though he was leaving the spring compressors in to lower it. There really is some dumb people in this world isnt there!

Quote: Originally Posted by VLHERO There really is some dumb people in this world isnt there! really now Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

rattle gun is easiest, i just got both struts out, got someone to take me to the local suspension joint and borrowed their rattle gun for a few minutes.

there is another way you can undo the nut but this way would have to be done before you pulled the strut out with the strut fitted in car with the weight of car on it and car on the ground thats how ive done it other times

Quote: Originally Posted by macca747 there is another way you can undo the nut but this way would have to be done before you pulled the strut out with the strut fitted in car with the weight of car on it and car on the ground thats how ive done it other times So it is possible to just use the weight of the car to hold the spring in place while you take the nut off the stroke rod then? Then drop the strut out of the car, change springs, and just bolt it all back in?

exactly loosen nut with car on ground then remove strut from vehicle then unassemble and re assemble then fit strut back in carand then with car on ground tighten nut after final instalation

Quote: Originally Posted by macca747 exactly loosen nut with car on ground then remove strut from vehicle then unassemble and re assemble then fit strut back in carand then with car on ground tighten nut after final instalation So whats stopping the strut insert from spinning around inside the strut body?

i tried that and it didn't work, couldn't undo it without it spinning and i'm sure you wouldn't be able to get it tight enough when doing it back up

dont know it worked when i fitted my springs maybe the nut/fitting in my strut was cslightly crushing the insert making it easier to undo ,i dont know maybe insert was stuffed any way sorry if that info was incorrect also iwas going off doing it to a vn as i thought the suspension setups were the same but maybe not ?