removing rear shocks -- 300E
 

Did a search but turned up nothing, which leads me to believe I'm missing something very basic.

I've removed the top (in trunk) and bottom bolts from the shock, but there's not enough room to clear the top entrance hole to remove it, and I CANNOT hand compress it to give me room. In fact, I can't compress it at all.

These must be HD's because my replacements compress much easier and they're Bilstein comforts.

BTW, there's a number 5 on the bottom of the existing shock. My new ones have 2's. What do these #'s signify?

Thanks in advance!

~Paul

Paul,

Dumb question, but.....

Car is jacked up?

Nic

Or, more specifically:

Is the car jacked up and supported by the frame so the suspension is hanging freely? In other words, you're not trying to compress a shock that's already fully compressed, right?

Assuming that's not it, how about taking a big screwdriver and prying the bottom mount up and out of the lower control arm. If your suspension was working, the shock MUST be compressible and you only need to compress it enough to get it out.

Yeah, the rear end was jacked up with nothing supporting the rear arm. The shock was fully extended.

I took out the plastic bar link (sway bar link?) right next to and parallel to the shock and that gave me enough room to jimmy the shock out of there.

Once out, I realized it didn't need to be changed at all, after 198k it was still good. Had the exact same pressure as the new ones I'd bought.

Ah well, thanks for the replies...

~Paul

Paul,

Glad you got it out. On my '85 300CD, I had to put the mighty tug on the front shocks to get them compressed enough to remove. Back ones were no problem. Go figure.

Although the old shocks seemed ok (they still had compression), my ride has improved quite a bit. Maybe yours will too. Hope so.

Nic