Rear shock removal woes.....

[Dave M]

Now that the front end is disassembled and awaiting new Lemforders and springs, I decided to tear apart the rear end. After the PITA rear seat removal, headrests and all, I thought I'd whip the shock assembly out in a couple of minutes, but....
After removing the lower bolt, it won't budge, not even the proverbial inch, not even a proverbial millimeter. Now, I've done this job on a few VW's with no such problem. Am I missing something? I've removed the dogbones for replacement, but can't imagine that causing problems. Do I need to give it a few swift blows toward the vehicle to free it?? Does anyone have any suggestions. Everything to this point has been simple, no frozen bolts on the car, thrust arms off in 5 min a side with a puller. I guess I was asking for it.

Humbled by a rear shock,

Dave M 91 525im, 485,000km

[Mike]

did you remove the top bolts under the rear window shelf?

[Tiger]

Three nuts on the top... not one... and one bolt on the bottom and should be free while up in the air.

[Dave M]

All steps were done including loosening the three 13mm top mounting bolts. I had no idea that a sleeve ran through the shock to trailing arm,

Thanks Bruno,


http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/maintenance/suspension/rear_shocks.htm

[Tiger]

I have no idea what you are talking about... I done mine... back was the easiest... pops right out. 540iA

[632 Regal]

before I took it apart the first time. I put some antiseize on it since its now a Michigan car.

[BigD]

Use a bigger hammer. I'm not kidding! When Bruno and I did it on the E28, we damn near bent one shock in half before it came out.


Now that the front end is disassembled and awaiting new Lemforders and springs, I decided to tear apart the rear end. After the PITA rear seat removal, headrests and all, I thought I'd whip the shock assembly out in a couple of minutes, but....
After removing the lower bolt, it won't budge, not even the proverbial inch, not even a proverbial millimeter. Now, I've done this job on a few VW's with no such problem. Am I missing something? I've removed the dogbones for replacement, but can't imagine that causing problems. Do I need to give it a few swift blows toward the vehicle to free it?? Does anyone have any suggestions. Everything to this point has been simple, no frozen bolts on the car, thrust arms off in 5 min a side with a puller. I guess I was asking for it.

Humbled by a rear shock,

Dave M 91 525im, 485,000km

[Dave M]

I just had an hour to kill, so I went out for another session. As per Bruno's instruction, I Liquid Wrenched the crap out of it and then (since inserting a prybar into the bolt hole and 'wiggling' seemed futile) got a large crowbar and sledge and hammered at the bottom of the shock from the outside it with no success. I'm afraid of missing and modifying my rear wheel well.
I gave up as I was starting to dent the shock (cylindrical mounting section) and felt some frustration setting in, not a good sign when you have all winter to do things properly.

Again, any additional advice would be appreciated. Exactly what tools did you use? Did you guys remove anything else to improve access? I guess "damn near bending a shock in half" implies damage which I'd like to avoid. Can't have everything though. As a LAST resort I will finish all other projects and take the car in for someone else to deal with removal in the spring, but of course, would prefer not to.

Gone for a couple of days,

Thanks again,

Dve M 91 525im

[Elekta]

sawsall with a metal blade?

[MicahO]

I ran into this problem on the driver's side - the extra heat and environmental stress on the lower mount froze the driver's side with rust, while the passenger's side popped right out. Some anti-seize and a hammer got it out, and I used some anti-seize on the new shock. (This was when I removed the original, 134K mile, 12 year old shocks)

[Tiger]

Use Air Hammer to knock it out.

[Rocky A.]

set one end against the lower end of the shock housing, and gave the other end a shot with a BFH. Came out with a couple of blows. Using the 2x4 gets you away from the body, so you don't do any impromptu fender mods with the BFH.