Hi, I need to replace my rear shocks on the above and am wondering re their
operation. Specifically, when at rest... is the strut compressed or
extended? The reason I ask is that I note there is no 'bottom' (ie
under the wheel well) support on the strut shaft. there are big rubber
grommets above the wheel well along with two nuts. I hear mention that
shocks are typically 'pre-compressed' which would seem to imply that
there should be supports on the shock for below the wheel well...
anyone know?

cheers, guenter

This is the most confusing question I ever read... could yo please clarify.

Guenter Scholz schrieb:
The shock absorbers are under gas pressure and extend maximally if
removed. By their maximal length they confine the vertical axis movement
e.g. in case you take the corner on two wheels only. Removing them must
be done with weight of car on the wheels, otherwise the springs will
break your axes and come out of their bearings.

--

Roland Franzius

In article <Z8wMh.15$ek6.13 (AT) newsfe12 (DOT) lga>, Tiger <tiger0002 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:
hydraulic type and started ratteling around in my wheel well with fluid
leaking out of them. The inner shaft of the shock was ratteling against the
hole in the wheel well.... it was all lose and I could freely extend the
inner shaft of the shock up and down by hand... no resistance whatever

I then removed the top screws, and jacked the car up and removed the
bottom bolt on the swing arm to stop the ratteling around and to get
ready to put a new shock in on the weekend.

What has puzzled me is what keeps the shock (when working properly) in
place. I did not notice a support on the out body of the shock that would
support it against the wheel well (ie from below)... since the shocks are
supposed to compressed when installing, this has puzzled me because it seems
to me that when the inner shaft of the shock extends, there is nothing to
stop it extension once it goes through the hole in the wheel well.

cheers, guenter

thanks for your answer Roland

I'm not sure I made myself clear.

I've been driving the car just fine for a few days without one of the
rear shocks in place.... seems a bit bouncier but not hugely different. Mind
you I do notice a lot more 'chatter' when going over bumps... consequently
braking etc would ceretainly be affected in worse case situations....

re taking the shocks out, I simply jacked the car up and removed it since the
hydraulic fluid was all out and it wasn't doing much anymore... in fact the
inner shaft was simply ratteling around in the hold through the rear wheel well

thanks for your answer

cheers, guenter

In article <etu4iv$5op$1 (AT) newsserver (DOT) rrzn.uni-hannover.de>,
Roland Franzius <roland.franzius (AT) uos (DOT) de> wrote:

Never drive without shock absorber... even if it is completely dead.

Ya, sounds like a bad shock absorber... uh huh! What prevent the rod from
forcing out of the hole in the shock body is the piston head. But the rod
can be unscrewed from the piston head too if you let the rod keep spinning
while trying to remove the nut. If under pressure, the rod would have shot
out.

Since you have no pressure whatsoever, rod wouldn't come out that fast.

In article <UXBMh.47$ek6.18 (AT) newsfe12 (DOT) lga>, Tiger <tiger0002 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:
that the reason for the failure of mine was that a support washer that is
essentialy press fitted onto the rod near the top had rusted and slid down
the rod. so, the shock is normally compressed and what keeps the rod in
place is a press fitted washer below the wheelwell sheet metal, and a couple
of nuts that clamp another washer onto the top of the wheelwell sheet metal.
I know, very confusing if one can't point at things.

cheers, guenter

cheers, guenter

I just finished installing a rear shock on my 190E. Absolute piece
of cake (ie very easy) .... sometimes i read that you need to jacks.. no way.
simply jack up car normally, remove tire and then compress shock (strut)
agains pavement ... it takes 15 sec or so to extend again .... and then
simply pop the shock into place and tighten carriage bolt at bottom and the
two nuts on top.

don't even ask what the dealer quoted me for this job.... all in all I
was not out there more than 1/2 hour

cheers, guenter


ps re driving without shock in place.... absolutely not a problem, although
your braking will be compromised because of the excessive wheel chatter

quite agree changing shocks are so easy,after readiing the first post
i thought wouldnt like to do that job i must have a different car as
quoted 15 mins job done have done mine a few times

"Guenter Scholz" wrote:
--
Posted at author's request, using http://www.AutoBoardz.com interface
Articles individually verified to usenet standards. Visit URL to contact author/report abuse
Thread archive: http://www.AutoBoardz.com/rear-strut...ict209716.html