Replacing springs without removing the dampers...

[pothole]

Hey guys

Just wondering if anybody has any insight on this topic - fitting springs without removing the dampers.

It's easily doable on the front axle. You just put the car on stands, jack up the front hub, zap the nut off the top of the strut through the hole in the strut tower, then carefully lower the jack to release the spring tension and finally whip the spring out. You don't even need to angle the strut out of the arch, can all be done within the arch. Then reverse the process. You can change a front spring like this very quickly.

Not clear if this is possible at the rear? Can you access the nut on the top of the strut, for instance?

Thanks!

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by pothole

Not clear if this is possible at the rear? Can you access the nut on the top of the strut, for instance?

Thanks!

You should be able to access the top nut, when I had KSports the adjusted was threaded up through the top nut and you could reach it.

The rear strut actually pokes up through the body about an inch or two, so I think that might make it more difficult to do the approach you are talking about, since the spring would have the clear that extra height.

I wonder if you could "thread" the spring off without having to lift it clean over the top of the strut? If you could get just the top of the spring over, then maybe you could turn it and "unwind" it off the strut?

That would be a novel approach!

If you disconnect the sway bar link, and loosen the inner LCA eccentric (just a little to let the bushing pivot down, you shouldn't lose the alignment setting, at least I didn't the one time I tried this) and maybe loosen the toe eccentric, to free that bushing, this would give the maximum amount of droop for the rear suspension and give you the most room. If you are doing new springs you are looking at an alignment anyway so there wouldn't be a concern with loosing the alignment.

[pothole]

Yes, at the front I 'threaded' the spring off the piston. You do not need to fully 'clear' the top of the piston on the front, so you don't need to get the strut terribly low.

That was actually on a 987 Cayman, but it's basically the same car with the same suspension design.

Rear is probably the same in that regard. I think it would mainly be a question of whether you can get a gun onto the nut on top of the strut...

[steved0x]

In the Cayman, this thread has some pictures:

https://www.planet-9.com/reviews/cayman-performance-modifications/p33-h-26amp-3br-2f-eibach-2f-techart-2f-bilstein-lowering-spring-install.html

Looks like the nut might be under the edge of the body, but if you remove the 3 little nuts and drop it down, that might give some additional clearance.