Taking out a air shock in the front

Jeffintampa

Jeffintampa

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Man what a bytch. I ended up taking the upper contol arm off. Is there an easer way?
 
I compressed mine and plugged the hole where the solenoid goes and it stayed compressed. Still a pain in the ass but a lot easier then taking the UCA out.
 
All I did was remove the solenoid, unbolt and remove. Very easy when the air is out. I think it took me abut 15 minutes with hand tools.
 
why did you take the upper control arm out? all you do it pull the upper ball joint bolt out of the spindle, knock the upper control arm out of the spindle with a hammer, and pull the strut out, changing a front strut is a 4 minute job! i have never had a mark VIII that i removed a strut from that i even considered a bitch!
 
i'm guessing the op didn't jack up both sides of the car because with both sides up i just touch the wheels and air struts and nothing else...it's easier than changing brake pads
 
No I didnt jack both sides up. I did what Jamie said I pulled the upper ball joint bolt out of the spindle but before I did that I fought with a crow bar compressing the shock and pushing down the rest so the bottom would clear for 20 minutes
 
anytime you work with the air ride you must release the air pressure first, you had a hard time with the strut because it had air in it. letting the air out first is easy, it would have made your life easy too!
 
Man, the last time I changed out my front air spring/shocks, it took me less than an hour and I was on the road again. It's the easiest job in the world. It should be illegal charge money for it. It's that easy. The rears are even easier.
 
thaywood said:
Man, the last time I changed out my front air spring/shocks, it took me less than an hour and I was on the road again. It's the easiest job in the world. It should be illegal charge money for it. It's that easy. The rears are even easier.
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I think the I had the rears in the car in about 20 mins. That was to easy.
 
I have to believe the folks who advocate the change (Strutmasters, et al) have an obvious $$$ investment. This system, once seen and understood, can be replaced in an afternoon- compressor to bag. I am old enough to remember the maintenance of the old points style distributors and spark plugs. This isn't any tougher than that. Now that I have stated that, watch me run into a heretofore unheard of problem.............
 
BAD97LSC said:
why did you take the upper control arm out? all you do it pull the upper ball joint bolt out of the spindle, knock the upper control arm out of the spindle with a hammer, and pull the strut out, changing a front strut is a 4 minute job! i have never had a mark VIII that i removed a strut from that i even considered a bitch!
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Hello, I'm new to LVC and I'm having a similar issue. I have a 94 Lincoln Mark VIII. When you mention "pull the upper ball joint bolt out of the spindle...", are you using a special tool? The head of the bolt is 18mm but the design of the spindle prevents a socket from fully setting on the head. I was able to remove the nut, but can't release the UCA ball joint from the spindle. Any help would be appreciated.
 
You simply take a thick flat screw driver tip and tap it into the slot. This will spread the spindle hole and let it fall out.
 
You have to take out the bolt in order to release the ball joint not just the nut
And if you are doing just air suspension work removal isn't necessary
 
GreatVIII said:
Hello, I'm new to LVC and I'm having a similar issue. I have a 94 Lincoln Mark VIII. When you mention "pull the upper ball joint bolt out of the spindle...", are you using a special tool? The head of the bolt is 18mm but the design of the spindle prevents a socket from fully setting on the head. I was able to remove the nut, but can't release the UCA ball joint from the spindle. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

There's a ball joint "fork" tool that can be used, or a flat-head & hammer to convince the ball joint stud to come out. In either case, seems a bit too much just to remove the air spring.

All I do is:
  1. remove the 3 bolts from the top of the "shock tower"
  2. remove the solenoid to vent the air out of the air-spring
  3. remove the bolt at the Lower Control Arm
  4. put a jack underneath the LCA and jack it up to compress the air spring piston
  5. lower the jack and the spring comes out compressed
Sometimes the air spring may want to extend a bit as you lower the jack, so you'll have to be fast or you might be able to press the top of the spring down further with your hands once you lower the jack to finagle it out.

Removing the UCA from the spindle could cause the spindle knuckle to tear up the diaphragm of the air spring as it, in my experience, tends to tilt toward the spring with heavy pressure since the UCA is no longer holding the knuckle in place.

Good luck!
 
Thanks Scallywag, that sounds much easier to do. Im going to tackle it this weekend.
 
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