Say Gang..........Tommorow I'm going to begin the replacement of my shocks. I've got some Bilsteins and also a Pacbrake Airbag kit to install.

The question I have is, when removing the front shock, do they come out by way of the engine compartment? The coil spring surrounds the shock, and I can see a triangular plate above the top of the shock, bolted down from looking above in the engine compartment.

Am I on the right track? Any suggestions would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

 

I'm sure there is a write up somewhere but I'll tell you what worked for me.
Take the nut off the shock. Then loosen the three nuts that hold the shock houseing on, you'll need to press it down while removeing the nuts because the shock will try to push up on you. Now remove the lowerbolt at the bottom of the shock. You can now remove the shock from the engine compartment and put in the new one.
Reverse the procedure by bolting the bottom first, then place the houseing over the new shock and press it back down till the housing is over the three bolts. Start the three nuts and get the ratchet and tighten her up. Now you need to put the nut back on the shock bolting it to the center of the shock tower. Thats it! You may have to use a wrench on the outer shock housing nut depending on what sockets you have. I couldn't get a socket in there and just did it with a wrench.

 

Thanks Buzzy...........I kind of gathered that by looking it over the other day. I looked for a comprehensive write up but have not found one yet. I may not need to, butI'll probably remove the tires just for more access to the area to work.

The rears shouldn't be much of a problem, haven't crawled underneath yet to look. While I'm down there, I have the airbag kit to install. Don't think I'll much trouble there either...famous last words!

 

I changed the front shocks on my '04 2500 myself. Believe it or not, the shock towers and the shocks will come out from the top. It's a bit fiddly and very, very close quarters, but it will do it.