Rear shock removal

[GRWeldon]

Maybe this should be a question for the "Stupid Question" thread....but.... In just visually sighting the upper mount for the rear shock, it looks like it's in the interior of the car! Will someone please shed some light on this? I've worked on a bunch of them but never replaced rear shocks!

 

[MadMikeyL]

Yes, pull back the trunk carpet and you will see the top shock nut. Make sure to take them off while the car is down on the ground. When the suspension is hanging, the shock is what limits the travel, and if you take it off with no load on the suspension, it’s pretty violent when it lets loose.

 

[GRWeldon]

Yes, pull back the trunk carpet and you will see the top shock nut. Make sure to take them off while the car is down on the ground. When the suspension is hanging, the shock is what limits the travel, and if you take it off with no load on the suspension, it’s pretty violent when it lets loose.

So the upper mount is in the trunk?

 

[jco1385]

Yes. Pull back the carpet and you'll see it.

 

[Derphound01]

So the upper mount is in the trunk?

 

[jco1385]

The trunk carpet. Pull the side of the trunk carpet back and they are easy to spot.

You can get to them from inside the trunk, or you can pull the rear seat and they're right there.

 

[GRWeldon]

The trunk carpet. Pull the side of the trunk carpet back and they are easy to spot.

Thank you for the clarification. I just wanted a yes or no. Much more informative than the "palm in head" icon that Derphound posted. It's not easy for this old fart to crawl in the trunk to look until it's time to do the job. Thanks again...

 

[XR7-4.6]

I've seen upper mounts in the rear package tray on cars with rear struts, ours are pretty easy, yanking the push pin holding the carpet to the deck support is more annoying than the task at hand

 

[Grog6]

The contour was 10x worse, lol. If you take out the back seat Back, as said, it's easier than crawling in the trunk. Put the bottom back in to sit on.
IIRC, the top bilt is a 14mm, a ratchet makes it easy.
Get a set of the Mustang konis, they'll lst forever, and are adjustable, so you can make them match the fronts. Unless you jump some hoops, front shocks suck.

 

[racecougar]

So the upper mount is in the trunk?

Pretty common location for cars.

 

[GRWeldon]

Pretty common location for cars.

Unfortunately, the newest car I've ever owned is an 07 and the last car I changed shocks on was a 1973 Cutlass circa 1980! Loved that car!

 

[XR7-4.6]

Very common spot on unibodies, new or old, but some frame cars have access holes (or people cut access holes) through the trunk to get to the upper shock mounts too

 

[Grog6]

If you swap the vbracket for the L brackets, they're right there. The v brace in the red one was broken at the top pass side. WTF does that?

 

[97 30th]

On my 69 xr7 convt you have to take out the back seat to get at the upper shock mounts.

 

[Grog6]

Damn! post up some pix of that one!

 

[97 30th]

Damn! post up some pix of that one!

It's the 2 oval holes up against the bulkhead. I suppose you could get at them from the trunk but it would be a pain.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I didn’t remember them being that hard to get to via the trunk on my other friends 69 but his was a hardtop without that extra vert stuff

 

[Grog6]

It's the 2 oval holes up against the bulkhead. I suppose you could get at them from the trunk but it would be a pain.




View attachment 4891

I meant pix of the car, lol. Old Cougars are awesome!

 

[Ericv8thunderbird]

On my 69 xr7 convt you have to take out the back seat to get at the upper shock mounts.

I have to do that in my ‘99 sable.