upcoming new rear springs and shocks

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DrBeavis
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Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:40 pm

upcoming new rear springs and shocks

Postby DrBeavis » Mon Jan 22, 2018 3:36 am

2005 SE 4x4 186K miles.
so i took my pathy for a routine oil change only to learn that my rear springs are busted. of course i took it to the youtube to get a clearer picture as to what exactly his may entail, and in the process came to a realization that i may as well change my rear shocks as well. i then combed through this site and decided to go with Bilstein 4600 (part # 24197434) for shocks and Moog 81119 for the springs. i am not looking for anything over-the-top, but something that is best bang for the buck. Moog springs are $62 for the pair, which, btw, is less than half of what nissan dealer is charging for OEM pair. Biltein shocks are ~$150 for the pair. i am not handy in any way, but a number of money-saving fixes in the recent past have me emboldened in performing more and more fixes on my own rather than paying someone else. so as one can imagine, i have a number of questions:

1) how good are the parts and the prices listed above? are there better bang-for-the-buck parts and/or deals?

2) do i need to purchase additional parts to accommodate the parts listed above? spring seats, bushings, etc?

3) would i need to compress springs prior to installation?

4) are torque numbers specific to each individual part or to the car?

5) should i use loctite on any of the screws?

6) would i need to perform wheel alignment afterwards?

thank you for your time!


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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Mon Jan 22, 2018 2:39 pm

1) I think that's a pretty good combination if for one who is sticking to the stock ride height. The Moog springs are better than the original Nissan parts and they don't have the sagging and bottoming-out issues, I've heard. The Bilsteins are a monotube design and have been proven to be a good choice on the R51.

2) You shouldn't need any additional parts, assuming all of the bolts and nuts come apart okay and don't need to be cut off, but a good visual inspection should be made just to be sure. Occasionally, The control arm bolts will seize to the sleeves inside of the bushings, meaning the bolts will have to be cut and replaced and either the control arm or it's bushings will need to be replaced, as well. You really don't know until you start disassembling.

3) No, but you will need to put a jack under the control arm to support it. As you lower the jack, the tension will decrease on the spring until you can remove it, and vice versa. That said, you should always be careful when dealing with loaded coil springs.

4) I'm not sure what you are asking, but all bolts have a specific torque range as specified by the manufacturer. Make sure that when you tighten bolts that go through control arm bushings and such, the weight of the vehicle is loaded onto the suspension. In other words, don't have the vehicle jacked up on the frame with the suspension hanging when you tighten suspension bolts.

5) Loctite shouldn't be needed on any of the rear suspension bolts.

6) Yes. Anytime you change any suspension part you should get a four-wheel alignment.


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