Front Shocks, I hate them.

[65IIba64]

I now realize why I vowed never to do rear shocks again. They were a pain.

Today I was feeling ambitious and decided to tackle the front ones. Let me tell ya, for anyone who has never done shocks, they are a pain in the patoey. I got them to the point where I can work on them without any type of trouble. Or so I thought.

After spending 45 minutes struggling and muscling with the first bolt, I figured out that there was a nut on the reverse side. So the past 45 minutes were just a waste of time. Then, almost like the Nova gods were enjoying this torture I put myself through, the bolt slips, my hand looses control of the breaker bar, and my hand slams into the lower control arm. My hand, pulsating and bleeding had gone completely numb at this point thanks to a 2 inch slice right done the middle of my right wrist.

Why, oh why, must they torture me so?

What I'm getting at is, is there a better, easier way of going about getting the old shocks off?

Thanks,

Alex

[wskaiser]

I guess I have just been lucky with mine. I never had a problem replacing the front shocks. There are a lot of things that are much more difficult to work on with a first gen in my opinion.

[Mike Goble]

All you need to do is take the two lower nuts off the bayonet mount then remove the 4 nuts off the tower and the shock lifts right out.

[teddisnoke]

Now you got the "Nova" virus in your veins. There's no turning back now. You've given blood. You've appeased the Nova gods. Thay are happy now. Everything will be easy to do on your car until they need a sacrifice again.

[novaBRO]

i have a 67 and yeah i guess the shocks kinda sucked to take on and off but not that bad. harder than my chevelle at least.

[chevynuts88]

My 66 shocks on the front were easy but ..the ones on the back! Wow!

[L78 Nova]

You guys are also forgetting the "northern winter" factor. Exery nut and bolt on a car with even minimal road salt exposure is virtually seized together.

I recently bought a 68 from Denver and every time I work on it I am in SHOCK and AWE at how easy all the 38 year old fasteners come apart.

There is a HUGE difficulty factor with the northern climate cars.

[65IIba64]

Yeah, I was just gonna say that I'm in Minnesota, and although it sat in the field for 16 years before I picked it up, I'm sure it had alot of exposure to the the salty roads. I still prefer sand over salt though. I've already broken all the nuts on back shocks, so I need to spot weld them in place.

I hope you get out there again today, with welding gloves on both hands to prevent any more injuries.

Alex

[Gloryhound]

Normally I just buy new mounting hardware with the new shocks. Break out the hot wrench and buda boo buda bing things come apart like crazy. :D Now if It could all just go back together as easily.

[batman09]

I had no problems at all with my front and rears,I replaced all 4 in 2 or 3 hours.You have to take off the shock towers(like mike said) and the slip right out.I actually did the whole procedure(front and back)twice.I bought expensive Edelbock shocks and they were way too stiff for city driving(too many potholes).Swapped those out for monroe sensa-trac....much better shock!!Good luck bm

[vuss6t6]

Hey batman09, how do you like your sensa-tracs?I put some on my wagon last week and haven't driven it yet.

[batman09]

I love them!!!Much more comfy then the edelbrocks and at 1/4 of the price!thanks bm

[vuss6t6]

thanks Batman i will hopefully take a ride this weekend and check mine out. Mark

[mychevyii20]

One trick when removing/tightening the lower shock bolts up front. The hole in the A frame will allow a socket and extension to reach the nuts. Much easier that way.