98lincmk7lsc
Dedicated LVC Member
So, my last day at work was Sept. 8th. I'm getting out of the Navy on Oct. 9th. I was pretty bummed that I wasn't able to get my extra set of front struts prepped for the Koni install before I left.
Well, I was granted permission to come back in (Navy, high security facility, have to have a swipe badge, etc. to gain access) to get some of my final paperwork that wasn't ready before my last day. It wasn't ready, and they told me to come back on Monday. Since I had my badge back and everything, I decided to make good use of it, and went in today and got my front struts all ready for the Koni's. Unfortunately, cameras aren't allowed on site, so I don't have any pictures of the real progress...
Here's me taking apart one of them: I took a picture for each step to show the disassembly of the top, and to help me put it back together in the right order.
First, the top nut. It's a 17mm. I had to hold onto the large washer beneath it with a channel-lock pliers, otherwise the shaft just spins with the nut...
Next, the first washer...
Followed by a much smaller washer...
And another large washer...
This is the top of the air bag assembly. You can't see it very well, but there's a small o-ring tight around the shaft that will need to be removed...
Here's where I start to fail with pictures. I turned the air strut upside-down used a soft face hammer and hit the small tabs at the base of the air bag assembly where it goes into the shock bottom alternately until it started moving, and then used a screwdriver to pry and some of my immense strength to dislodge the air bag assembly from the shock base...
Once the air bag assembly is removed, this is what you see. Another small o-ring, a washer, and some kind of bumper thing. Take all of those off...
At this point, I went in to work, and was unable to take any pics until I left many steps later...
I did very much the same thing that DLF did for his...
I chucked the shock assembly into the lathe and drilled a small hole into the very bottom of it to release the pressure. Being on a lathe, I didn't have to worry so much about the pressure release, but if you're using a hand drill, exercise caution, cuz it shot oil out of the hole almost 6 feet away...
After the pressure was all released, I used a very large tubing cutter (pipe cutter?) to cut the top off of the shock assembly, and removed the shock innards and drained the rest of the oil from inside.
Next, I drilled the larger hole in the bottom, for the bolt to run through. I chose to drill and tap it, so the bolt threads through the shock assembly first, and then into the Koni cartridge, rather than just drilling a larger hole for it to slide through. Didn't have to do it that way, I just wanted to. The thread pitch for the bolt is M12-1.50 (metric), and the hole drilled for that thread size is 13/32's. I chucked it back up in the lathe and used the lathe and tail stock as a guide for the drill and the tap so I knew it was perfectly centered and tapped straight.
I threaded the bolt through until it was tight and then threaded the shock cartridge onto it and took it to the weld shop to weld the bolt to the bottom.
I ended up using a couple hex-head bolts I bought from ACE hardware rather than the supplied bolts. I don't know why, I just did. lol. I TIG-welded all around the bolt head (very hard to do, BTW, because of space constraints). After I got it sufficiently welded, I went back to the lathe and turned down the head of the bolt so it didn't stick out so much. This also gave me an easier chance at a better weld, since it was a little more open now. I took it back to the weld shop and welded on it some more since I'm pretty anal about stuff like this. Here's how it turned out...
That's where I'm at, right now, at the end of today. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to get some more done on it tomorrow...
Thanks for reading!
Well, I was granted permission to come back in (Navy, high security facility, have to have a swipe badge, etc. to gain access) to get some of my final paperwork that wasn't ready before my last day. It wasn't ready, and they told me to come back on Monday. Since I had my badge back and everything, I decided to make good use of it, and went in today and got my front struts all ready for the Koni's. Unfortunately, cameras aren't allowed on site, so I don't have any pictures of the real progress...
Here's me taking apart one of them: I took a picture for each step to show the disassembly of the top, and to help me put it back together in the right order.
First, the top nut. It's a 17mm. I had to hold onto the large washer beneath it with a channel-lock pliers, otherwise the shaft just spins with the nut...
Next, the first washer...
Followed by a much smaller washer...
And another large washer...
This is the top of the air bag assembly. You can't see it very well, but there's a small o-ring tight around the shaft that will need to be removed...
Here's where I start to fail with pictures. I turned the air strut upside-down used a soft face hammer and hit the small tabs at the base of the air bag assembly where it goes into the shock bottom alternately until it started moving, and then used a screwdriver to pry and some of my immense strength to dislodge the air bag assembly from the shock base...
Once the air bag assembly is removed, this is what you see. Another small o-ring, a washer, and some kind of bumper thing. Take all of those off...
At this point, I went in to work, and was unable to take any pics until I left many steps later...
I did very much the same thing that DLF did for his...
I chucked the shock assembly into the lathe and drilled a small hole into the very bottom of it to release the pressure. Being on a lathe, I didn't have to worry so much about the pressure release, but if you're using a hand drill, exercise caution, cuz it shot oil out of the hole almost 6 feet away...
After the pressure was all released, I used a very large tubing cutter (pipe cutter?) to cut the top off of the shock assembly, and removed the shock innards and drained the rest of the oil from inside.
Next, I drilled the larger hole in the bottom, for the bolt to run through. I chose to drill and tap it, so the bolt threads through the shock assembly first, and then into the Koni cartridge, rather than just drilling a larger hole for it to slide through. Didn't have to do it that way, I just wanted to. The thread pitch for the bolt is M12-1.50 (metric), and the hole drilled for that thread size is 13/32's. I chucked it back up in the lathe and used the lathe and tail stock as a guide for the drill and the tap so I knew it was perfectly centered and tapped straight.
I threaded the bolt through until it was tight and then threaded the shock cartridge onto it and took it to the weld shop to weld the bolt to the bottom.
I ended up using a couple hex-head bolts I bought from ACE hardware rather than the supplied bolts. I don't know why, I just did. lol. I TIG-welded all around the bolt head (very hard to do, BTW, because of space constraints). After I got it sufficiently welded, I went back to the lathe and turned down the head of the bolt so it didn't stick out so much. This also gave me an easier chance at a better weld, since it was a little more open now. I took it back to the weld shop and welded on it some more since I'm pretty anal about stuff like this. Here's how it turned out...
That's where I'm at, right now, at the end of today. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to get some more done on it tomorrow...
Thanks for reading!
