Question about reassembly of dampers

[gobble]

I'm replacing my stock springs and dampers with Bilsteins and Eibachs and have a question about bolting them together with the damper mounting base that was on the stock damper.

The service manual shows a picture from the top of how the dampers are reassembled. It shows stud bolt positions, angles, mounting bolt directions, etc. Apparently, the thing has to be put back together so that everything lines back up when installed in the car.

My question is this - Since the rod that goes into the base of the damper turns, why can't I just bolt the assembly together, mount the damper base in the top of the car, and turn the bottom to make it fit in the mounting bracket on the suspension? I did correctly align the top of the spring with the impression in the rubber part of the base. I'm just not sure if the perch where the bottom of the spring sits is aligned correctly on the damper, but don't see how this could matter.

 

[gobble]

Figured it out. When I had turned the bottom of the damper, I messed up how the spring was resting on the perch. I took them back out and reassembled according to the service manual. I guess they have the diagram in there for a reason.

 

[ATERPAK]

I'm not sure what the big issue is about lining everything up. The only thing that seems to be in correct alignment for the front shocks is the mounting tab for the brake line. You should just be able to bolt it all together and then line things up once you start the install process. It's worked for me on numerous cars without fail. The main thing is to make sure you have all the parts you need are put back in during the shock/spring assembly. Then the whole unit should just bolt back in with a little alignment mod. to get it into the proper holes and such.

:biggrin: