I, too, have had my share of trouble installing these
gas shocks. They exert about 100 lbs of pressure on
the fronts, and thus are tough to compress short
enough - or for long enough time - to thread thread
them through the narrow opening of the shock tower.
They will not go through this opening if they are
extended full length.
The trick is to remove the shock from it's nylon
packing sleeve - but DON"T CUT THE SLEEVE. Save the
sleeve. Grind off the lower mount to correct size
(dipping in cold water regularly so the heat from
grinding doesn't damage the bushing), and install the
upper bushing and washer on the shock.
Then compress the shock and re-install it in its
original nylon packing sleeve. This way the shock is
now short enough to easily maneuver it into position.
Align the upper mount to the hole in the frame. Cut
the nylon packing sleeve and guide the upper end of
the shock through the mounting hole as the shock
extends itself. Simultaneaously guide the lower end
into position. It will hold itself in place now by
pressure until you can screw both ends down.
Easy and simple, compared to the hours of cursing and
compressing I did the first time I installed them!
Chris H.
60 NY T&C
66 Crown Convertible
66 LeBaron
tach the lower mount and
--- "D. Dardalis" <dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> At 06:16 PM 2/10/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>
> >The front KYB shock needs to have it's lower
> bushing shortened from 1.50 to
> >1.25 inches. This is what I had to do for my
> installation. My guess is that
> >the same mod needs to be made for other years as
> well.
> I installed KYB's on my 68 sedan a few years back
> (front only). What we
> had to do as I recall was open up the lower ball
> joint to allow space to
> install the larger diameter shocks. I paid a bit
> extra to the SHEARS
> people for labor,
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