Rear Suspension Swap Gone Horribly Wrong....

[harrydunn]

Victory! Employed the help of a neighbor with a welder and welded in a stud as an alternative. Shock installed and everything buttoned up.

Hopefully the front will be a little less eventful.....

Looks good! Fronts should give you zero problems.

 

[car-car]

Did the front today after work. Far less drama, which was welcomed. I'm happy with the results.

 

[car-car]

So I have a question on which shocks to run up front? I am now set up with the 850 springs (2.5" heavy) with a 1.5 spacer/trim packer.

I have some Old Man Emu N73L shocks (older style Nitrochargers) that I was running when I was running the 850J springs up front with a 1.5 spacer/trim packer.

I also have a set of some Old Man Emu 60018 (Nitrocharger Sports) that are supposed to be for the 2.5" lift.

My question is, because I have the 1.5" spacer/trim packer in there, which shock should I be using?

I am using this rig as an expedition/overland rig, so I don't plan on wheeling it too hard, which is why I migrated down from a J spring set up to a lower suspension package.

Looking forward to some feedback on which shocks to run up front from my two options.

Thanks.

 

[landtank]

I'll share my techinique for removing these bolts everytime.

I start by cutting the bottom of the shock eye to remove a section from the bottom of it.

With the frame resting on a jack stand I lower the axle so the rear spring will extend and pull the shock out around the rubber cushion.

Now that the shock is off I then cut away the cushion to expose the metal stud itself.

At this point it's just a matter of using a torch to heat the stud and remove the bolt.

To finish off the shock removal I remove the spare tire and use a sawz-all with a metal cutting blade to cut the nut off of the upper stud.

It might sound like a lot of work but if you break one bolt it's a time saver for sure.

 

[sail2fast]

Everyone will hate me: I've replaced the entire suspension and rebuilt the drivetrain on both my landcruisers, and every bolt came out easy as can be. It's really nice to have access to California soccer mom landcruisers.