[Guest]

i would personally like to drop a running chainsaw down the crotch of the SOB that decided not to use a caged nut on the top of those SOB's but yet they give us one for the lower front shock mount rrrrr i''ve been fighting these upper BMR control arms for about 4 hours .

 

[Guest]

im with you man!! i refused to a buddies 9c1 after doing both my caprices. utter hell, and i have long arms! some have made a trap door under the rear seat for that caca.

 

[Guest]

glad to see there is someone who knows my pain..lol

 

[Guest]

Wagons aren't any easier either. Damn near gotta have an extra elbow to get to them things.

 

[Guest]

I wonder if caged nuts could be added or grade 8 nuts tack welded on a steel plate or something.

I haven't put my body on the frame yet and this sounds like something to mod before I do.

As for why the caged nuts on the front arms but not the rear, not sure, but the front shocks do not take the weight of the lower arm, wheel, etc. because the upper arm hits a bump stop on the frame. The rear axle does hang from the shocks though. When you unbolt the shock the axle drops down farther. Maybe it needed stronger fastener to the frame because of this? I know there is enough force to cause this area of the shock tower to split if your frame is rusty enough.

 

[Guest]

96greengrey, another idea since your doing a body off would be to weld the upper bolts for the rear shocks.

When we did our 69 El Camino we tack welded the upper bolts to the frame, sure was a lot easier install those rear shocks without having to get up in there with a wrench to hold those little [email protected]#$%%ds to tighten them up...

 

[Guest]

Tacking some nuts onto the lower front control arm is a worthwhile thing to do, too. Gets rid of those crappy clips that strip easily, are hard to align, and are a bitch to remove when they do break.

 

[Guest]

I had a 3/8 ratchet with 16 inches of extension with a custom hacked wrench and still needed 3 extra hands. So, the new air shocks are still in the box....after 9 months! I almost drilled holes in the rear floor and put plugs in it just to change them.

 

[Guest]

Park both rear wheels on the ramps.

Go to Home Depot, get a rotary cutting tool, cut off the upper bolt hex-head, then use a rotary grinder to grind off the bolt flange cap, since upper nut is lock type, plus rust. It is not easy to remove.

If there is no rust on the bolt/nut, use a shallow 13MM-1/4 socket (or 14MM if rust built up on the nut) and ratchet to hold the nut, plus 10MM-3/8 socket and 16 inch extension bar to turn the bolt. When yon turn the 3/8 ratchet, let the 1/4 ratchet go, it will hit and against body or frame eventually as pivotal. It the bolt hex-head is round off, use rotary cutting tool.

The upper bolt is 8MM X1.25 X25. Prefer to 10.9 (equivalent to Grade-8) flange cap for both bolt and nut for easy installation. The lock type nut is not necessary, since GM truck only use regular U-shape upper nuts for rear shocks.

So, 2 hands are enough to finish the job.

Originally posted by DadSSled:
I had a 3/8 ratchet with 16 inches of extension with a custom hacked wrench and still needed 3 extra hands. So, the new air shocks are still in the box....after 9 months! I almost drilled holes in the rear floor and put plugs in it just to change them.

 

[Guest]

well i am lucky thiscar is fairly rust free and the p.o. had installed these POS airshocks on here not too long ago ,i just needed to move the shock over a little to get my impact on the upper control arm bolts so i could get these crappy stock control arms off