Replacing shock absorbers, maintenance on a Subaru

Replacing shock absorbers, maintenance on a Subaru

Shock absorbers or struts are one of the most important parts of a car when it comes to stability and handling. A suspension strut ensures on the one hand that a car can be driven comfortably and on the other hand that the wheel coupled to the suspension strut maintains as much contact with the road as possible for optimal grip. Struts wear out, but because that is fairly slow, you don’t notice much of it. Time for new springs or shock absorbers and replacing them yourself is easy with some patience and good preparation.

Wear symptoms

After years of loyal service, the operation of a Subaru strut diminishes. The spring becomes weaker and loses its resilience, the shock absorber filled with oil and / or gas gets porous rubbers and therefore starts to leak. In the worst case, a spring is so affected by rust that it snaps while driving.
If the following applies to your car, there is a good chance that some struts are worn;

• When taking a bend or roundabout, the car reacts a bit “mopey”.
• The car is very low with rear load.
• You feel and hear something thumping when you drive over a bump or through a hole.
• The left or right side seems to be lower, so the car is skewed.

Preparation

A few days before you start tinkering, spray the bolts that hold the strut to the steering knuckle with penetrating oil. These bolts can, especially if they have not been loosened for a few years, quite tight.

Tools

• (Garage) jack
• Axle supports
• Hammer
• Hacksaw
• Tip / combination pliers
• Flat screw driver
• Plug / ring key or cap 12
• Plug / ring key or cap 19
• Piece of steel pipe or the like
• Spring tensioners

Replace suspension strut

Front suspension strut

Loosen the wheel nuts one turn. Jack up the car at the front, a jack plate is mounted under the subframe, place a garage jack there to lift the front as a whole. Preferably use axle supports to prevent the car from tipping when you are busy. Remove the wheel and put it aside, if you do not have axle supports, place the wheel flat under the car at the level of the door as a protection against tipping over.

remove

1. When reusing or replacing the springs, it is wise to loosen the lock nut of the top spring seat a few turns. Once detached from the body, this is very difficult without special tools.
2. Mark the position of the camber adjustment bolt. *
3. Remove the brake line bracket. **
4. If the Subaru is equipped with ABS, remove the bolt holding the sensor.
5. Remove the bolts securing the strut to the steering knuckle. ***
6. Loosen the three nuts securing the suspension strut to the body, leaving one nut on the end of the threaded rod.
7. Detach the strut from the steering knuckle, taking care that the lower part does not damage the boot.
8. Unscrew the last nut from the stud and take the strut from under the car.

*) There is a scale on the camber adjusting bolt, a mark is stamped in the suspension strut. Scratch the mark of the strut on the camber adjustment bolt so that the position remains the same when mounting.

Camber adjustment bolt

**) At the garage, the pipes are removed from the brake calipers for easy removal from the suspension strut. These are inserted through a bracket in the strut and secured with a clamp. When tinkering at home you do not need brake fluid that you have to collect and then bleed the brakes just because you have replaced the struts. There is a trick to detach the brake hose from the strut that does not affect the safety and attachment of the brake line to the strut.

Using pliers or a large flat screwdriver, pull off the steel clip securing the pipe to the suspension strut. Now you can turn the pipe one turn and pull the coupling through the opening of the bracket. Now take a hacksaw and cut the bracket at the thinnest spot at the bottom or top. With pliers you can now slightly bend the sawn-through piece of iron and detach the pipe from the suspension strut. You will have to do the same on the new strut to get the pipe back into the bracket. After this you bend the iron back and you can place the clamp.

***) These bolts can be very tight, use a ratchet or ring spanner to apply the most force. Scare the nuts ?? by giving a few big blows to the ratchet or ring spanner with a hammer. With a piece of iron pipe you can make the arm of the ratchet or ring spanner longer and thus exert more force. When loosening the camber adjustment bolt, keep the head in the same position and loosen the nut. If the bolts remain tight, tighten the nuts a few turns and tap with a hammer to loosen the bolts

Rear strut

Subaru sedan

Remove the back of the rear seat, if your car has a folding bench, folding it forward is sufficient. If there is a fixed rear seat, loosen two bolts of the seat, these are at knee height. Remove the seat and loosen two or three bolts securing the backrest. Then lift the backrest straight up so that it pops out of the hooks at the parcel shelf.

Subaru station

The top of the strut is covered with a plastic frame, which is clamped and can be removed with care.

Before you jack up the car at the rear, loosen the nuts that hold the strut to the body. Especially with a sedan, these nuts are quite difficult to reach and it is safer and more stable to do this before you place the car on axle supports. loosen the lock nut a few turns as well.

remove

Loosen the wheel nuts one turn. Jack up the car at the rear, place the garage jack under the rear differential on an AWD model and on the edge of the subframe on an FWD model. Preferably use axle supports to prevent the car from tipping over when you are busy. Remove the wheel and put it aside, if you do not have axle supports, place the wheel flat under the car at the level of the door as a safeguard against tipping.

With a standard version, a Subaru does not have a camber adjustment bolt on the rear struts, check this before loosening.
Follow steps 3,4,5,7 & 8 of the front diagram to remove the strut from the car. Is behind a camber adjustment bolt, follow step 2.

Spring tensioners

Maintenance to the suspension strut

If the springs are (too) weak, you can replace them. If the springs are still good but the shock absorber is leaking or damaged, you can transfer the springs to another shock absorber. Check the strut for leaks.

Disassemble the spring

• Use spring tensioners or the like to compress the spring. Don’t underestimate the strength of a spring, don’t mess around with straps / rope / glue clamps!
• Loosen the locknut completely.
• Remove the shock absorber head and the ring (auxiliary spring) located underneath.

Install the suspension strut

1. Use spring tensioners or the like to compress the coil spring.
2. Make sure the straight side of the spring is up.
3. Place the spring on the suspension strut, make sure that the underside falls properly into the seat. Don’t forget any rubbers!
4. Place the auxiliary spring and dust cap on the piston rod.
5. Pull up on the piston rod as far as it will go and install the rubber bearing and spring cup. When installing the spring seat, make sure that the stamped text points to the outside of the body (text in a straight line above the mounting holes for the steering knuckle). On the front it is the text ?? OUT ?? and at the rear ?? FWD ?? or ?? AWD ??.
6. Tighten the locknut onto the piston rod as far as it will go.
7. Loosen the spring tensioners carefully.

Step 2 / Source: Manual Legacy 1994 NV Subaru Benelux

Step 3 / Source: Manual Legacy 1994 NV Subaru Benelux

Step 5 / Source: Manual Legacy 1994 NV Subaru Benelux

Apply

• Lift the strut into the wheel arch and tighten the three bolts from the inside on the studs, taking care not to damage anything near the bottom strut.
• If equipped with ABS, attach the cable to the suspension strut.
• First place the lower bolt to fix the steering knuckle to the suspension strut, the upper one is easier to place afterwards due to the hinged effect.
• Camber adjustment bolt; Align the mark on the camber adjustment bolt with the mark on the suspension strut. Hold the head of the bolt in position and tighten the nut.
• Tighten all bolts connecting the knuckle to the strut.
• Tighten the locknut in the spring cup head.
• Attach the brake hose to the bracket on the strut, bend the iron back and install the clamp.
• Mount the wheels.