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Tips
Tips

Rear Shocks

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S

shorn

Jedi Knight
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After replacing the front shocks on my early BJ8, I thought it wise to check our the rears even though the PO said he replaced them not long before I bought the car, 2000 miles ago. The rear shocks had plenty of shock oil and seemed very firm, but the PO or whoever put the shocks on the car did not use lock washers when attaching the shocks to the frame. Both bolts in each were not tight. The body of one shock actually broke around the bolt hole. So it's time to order another shock. Probably wise to check that the nuts are tight on a regular basis, perhaps on every oil change /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I don't know about every oil change, but yearly anyway. They get loose a lot. When they are loose, it sounds like you are hauling a load of loose lumber in the boot.
 
A few tips. When you take the rear shocks off, look at the holes on the mounting brackets on the frame. Often they get elongated by the movement of the bolts with a loose shock. It's best to weld up the oversized hole and drill/ream/grind back to original size. Use flat washers to spread out the load on the shock body (the body is a relatively soft material) and lockwashers to keep everything tight. Use new bolts and nuts if there is any indication that the moving shock has damaged the threads.

Cheers,
John
 
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