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Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question
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56D500boy
Posted 2018-10-14 2:07 AM (#571656)
Subject: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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The last time I installed shocks on a Mopar it was my 1968 318/727 Fury I (in around 1974) that obviously had torsion bars so no issues wriggling the shocks into the suspension. I did own a 55 KingPin/Coil Spring Dodge 1967-72 but I only ever did the rear shocks/helper springs, not the front shocks.

I was out adjusting my 56 Dodge D500 Center Plane (Windsor) left front brakes today (very grabby due to high humidity and lack of driving). While I was there, I loosened (and then retightened) the bottom and top shock mounts. After I let the car down off the jack, I realized that I have no clue whether I can get the car high enough with a jack (and jack stand) while on the garage floor (no hoist) to a) get the old (red NAPA) shock out and b) install the new KYB KG5460 Ford Aerostar RWD front shock.

Do you think I will need a hoist or will I be okay if I just get the car up on my ramps? I think I would have to loosen/remove the top mount bits before I drove the car up on the ramps.

These shocks:



Edited by 56D500boy 2018-10-14 2:12 AM
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GaryS
Posted 2018-10-14 4:59 PM (#571687 - in reply to #571656)
Subject: Re: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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I had no problems removing or installing them on the front of my '56 Plymouth. The rears are still hanging loose and fully extended as I don't have enough weight on them yet. I may regret not modifying the plates when I installed the '70 B-body rear end.
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56D500boy
Posted 2018-10-14 5:03 PM (#571689 - in reply to #571656)
Subject: RE: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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Hmm...I wonder....

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Beltran
Posted 2018-10-14 6:23 PM (#571693 - in reply to #571656)
Subject: Re: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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I use a floor jack and stands. But I dont know why you would have an issue getting the old ones out. Now if the new ones are Gas charged then your going to have to compress them if your on ramps. That may be a challenge.
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56D500boy
Posted 2018-10-14 8:42 PM (#571697 - in reply to #571693)
Subject: Re: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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Beltran - 2018-10-14 6:23 PM
I use a floor jack and stands. But I dont know why you would have an issue getting the old ones out. Now if the new ones are Gas charged then your going to have to compress them if your on ramps. That may be a challenge.


Based on what you are saying, I will try at least the driver's side one on jack stands. If there is an issue compressing the shock to mount it, I will get it up there and then jack the bottom of the shock into place, either with my handy floor jack or my little bottle jack (and some blocks of wood under the jack).

Maybe. Working on getting the front grill stuff back on at the moment.

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wizard
Posted 2018-10-15 1:02 AM (#571708 - in reply to #571656)
Subject: Re: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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I've demounted and mounted front shocks on a 56 New Yorker with floor jack and stands, no big deal.....
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DepsilonD
Posted 2018-10-17 12:53 PM (#571860 - in reply to #571656)
Subject: Re: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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Never had an issue using only a floor jack.
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ronbo97
Posted 2018-10-17 3:13 PM (#571871 - in reply to #571860)
Subject: Re: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question


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I just removed the original front shocks from my 55 Desoto. The hardest part was removing the lower two bolts, which were frozen on after 60+ years. I had already removed the upper bolt. So once the lower two were removed, the shock just dropped out. Car is on jack stands.

I plan to use the KYB gas shocks when everything gets put back together. Currently rebuilding the steering linkage. Then the king pins.

Ron

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56D500boy
Posted 2019-04-30 2:34 AM (#581556 - in reply to #571871)
Subject: Re: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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After installing the rear Monroe 31131 shocks on my 56 Dodge on the weekend, I finally got around to installing the KYB front shocks that I purchased sometime ago.

REFERENCE: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=68745&...

I had previously loosened the top and bottom bolts/nuts so the old shock came out very easily. I had the car up high enough so the front tire was about 1.5" off the garage floor. With the jackstand under the frame, the height was enough that there were no issues getting the old shock out the bottom. Getting the new shock back in was a bit tricky (to get the top of the threaded rod through the hole in the rubber grommet at the top took a few tries).

As suspected I needed to put a bottle jack under the bottom of the new gas shock to compress it enough to get the bottom bolts started. That is where I encountered an issue:

I had NOT noticed the width of the opening on the bottom mounting ears of the shock I removed and had assumed that the KYB opening was wide enough. WRONG-O. The after removing the new shock and comparing it to the one that I had removed, I could see that the old one had been modified to open the throat up to accept the 3/8" x 24 tpi bolts. No biggy. After a few seconds of grinding with my angle grinder loaded with a thin metal cutting cut-off blade, the opening was widened enough so the bolt could fit.

After that, installation was easy.





(TheTwoKYBsWhiteOneAndSilverOnePaintedWhiteAndTheNapaShockThatIRemoved.jpg)



(KYBShockShowingNarrowThroatsOnTheEarsAndPreviouslyModifiedNAPAShock.jpg)



Attachments
----------------
Attachments TheTwoKYBsWhiteOneAndSilverOnePaintedWhiteAndTheNapaShockThatIRemoved.jpg (241KB - 217 downloads)
Attachments KYBShockShowingNarrowThroatsOnTheEarsAndPreviouslyModifiedNAPAShock.jpg (206KB - 198 downloads)
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56D500boy
Posted 2019-05-01 1:25 PM (#581630 - in reply to #581556)
Subject: Re: Installing front shocks on a 55 or 56 King Pin/Coil suspension question



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Finalized the job yesterday and installed the remaining KYB front shock. This time I had opened up the throat on the mounting ears *before* I started the installation (duh). The job would have been under 30 minutes from start to finish if I didn't decide to clean and paint some of the right side front suspension (I had done the left side some time ago) *AND* grease all the available right side suspension components (most of them were full of grease but the odd one took a few pumps of the grease gun to fill the cavity).

I also adjusted the brakes again which is a bit fiddly.

The only downside was I got rushed at the end and, although I did tighten the nuts with the wheel in the air, I forgot to tighten and torque them after I dropped the car off the frame jack.

First thing to do today is to tighten and torque those nuts.

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