I was replacing my shocks & springs tonight. Got the front passenger side out fine but having problems with the drivers side. The problem is the bolt connecting the shock to the arm has a threaded sleeve it goes through that I stripped (the sleeve on the rear of the arm-towards the back of the car). According to the part diagram this sleeve can be ordered seperately. My question is how do I go about getting the old stripped sleeve out? Thanks.

 

i assume you are working w the lower mounting bolt on a front FD shock...

there is no "threaded" anything other than the nut on the end of the mounting bolt that goes thru the lower A arm and the shock.

since the A arm is aluminum Mazda pressed steel bushings into the A arm to re-inforce the aluminum. these bushings are able to be slid longitudinally so as to ease remounting. purchase a length of 1/4 or 3/8 threaded rod w some nuts and washers. after you remove the shock place the threaded rod w the washers between the front and rear sections and crank on the nuts and the washers will push the bushings apart allowing for an easier install of the lower shock mount. WD40 or any lube will aid the process.

hope this helps,

howard coleman

 

any tip on how to get the nut off? I tried rust eater, PB weld WD40...lots of stuff and it doesn't want to budge. I was excited when I pulled the wheel off and saw how wasy it was going to be...or so I thought. Tired of basking my forearm into the quarterpanel. Thanks again.

 

get a BIG wrench.

and a mallet.

the fronts were harder for me than the backs were, even though both looked deceivingly easy. you get soo much faster at doing this after the first time.

good luck
randy

 

yeah I went to the passenger side and I got it movings...it's just so much easier to pull than pullupand push in. Guess I just have to hit the weightroom or something. PB blaster has been on for over a day. tried smashing a socket on the nut with a hammer to shock it loose. I think have have original suspension from 93 because this stuff is GONE. Plus the lugnuts had me bouncing on a breaker bar. I think the former owner was one of those torque hulks. Can't wait to do an oil change lol. Thanks though. Off to Autozone to get a spring compressor since I got the passenger side off. They don't look that good but hopefully they work.

 

You need to hold the swaybar link with a wrench to keep the shaft from turning. Look closely right in front of the dust boot (28-180B in the pic above) There is a flat spot that can he held with an open ended wrench.

 

+1

You need to get the breaker bar in there on the nut while you use the open end wrench on the swaybar link. If you are using a typical wrench or socket, it is going to be tough. The breaker bar will take care of it pretty well. Just take it easy and keep using the PB. Work the nut back and forth so it doesn't just break off. My fronts weren't as bad as the rears. At one point it felt like I was going to lift the car off the jack stands with that breaker bar.

 

yeah i saw the flat spot on the passenger side. on the drivers side i couldn't figure out what was going on I though it was a 7 sided nut or something. it's just the drivers side nut isn't moving at all. I can't even wiggle it back and forth...almost wouldn't mind if it would just sheer the bolt at this point. Gotta find a better breaker bar =D. thanks again guys.

 

sorry guys one more quick question how mant threads should be showing through into the truck...seems I picked up quite a bit. Not even sure the cover will go over it now...that that just a tokiko thing? Or will i have to take it back apart to adjust another nut? Sorry for the questions.

 

sorry i meant trunk

 

finally got it off with a neighbors breaker bar. thansk again...but still got the question on how many threads should show.

 

Here are photos of the front right and left rear. I removed the red caps from the top of the shocks so you can see the threads. I didn't take off anything else other than remove the plastic cover from the rear.





Hope that helps.

 

yeah mine seems to have a few extra threads. I'll sort it out later, but you are an immense help. Was pretty worried I'd get flamed on a simple job. I've been scared to wrench on this car just because well it's an RX7. Now I'm starting to see that it's just another car....nothing to be afraid of. I'm more used to Hondas and old Chevys and those are simple and basic. RX7s rear suspension just looked impressive to me. Maybe I'll keep this car after all...it's growing on me again. Thanks again for all the help guys. Time for the test drive and see if that solved my problems. I fully compressed to old struts and one didn't even come back out and the other moved about a cm after a few seconds.

I'm assuming that I'll have to change the front out now after seeing how bad the rears were, but at least it'll be a bit less skittish. On down side is that since I reused my R1 springs I was expecting a similar ride height but it kind of came out a bit truckish. I didn't even see how I'd be able to lower it anymore...Oh well....reviving this car one day at a time.

 

drove it around....seems like it's bouncing from right to left now, but the ride is WAYYYY better. Looks like I put a small lift kit on it. Checked out the old struts in the garbage and they still haven't retracted yet. I put on the drivers side strut on backwards....was wondering if that made a difference...at all...the top piece was just aligned that way and I didn't got a little anxious. Any harm in it. I think it might be my alignment now since it sits so much higher.

 

Haha I started working on the front. Just curious as to what youtake off remove the shocks. I just wound up taking lots of stuff to try and see what was holding it back but thought I might be removing extra stuff.

Unbolted:

1 middle nut with the rubber thing on top
3 nuts from strut tower
2 bolts from upper control arm
1 bolt through LCA shock mount
1 bolt through sway bar mount piece.
1 brake line clip.

Over all it was a real pain to try and get stuff to line up, but thinking the other side will be easier now. Just wondering if anyone had any things they did that made it easier...or if I'm removing stuff unecessarily.