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shock replacement

can anyone tell me that is involved in replacing 10 shocks on a 2003 gv320
do I have to remove fenders to get to top shock mount bolt, and how hard is fender removal
also with air bags fully inflated does the shock stop over extension of suspension
in other words is the shock under tension with air bags fully inflated .
thank anyone

Re: shock replacement

Reply #1 –
Quote from: Speedup –
can anyone tell me that is involved in replacing 10 shocks on a 2003 gv320
do I have to remove fenders to get to top shock mount bolt, and how hard is fender removal
also with air bags fully inflated does the shock stop over extension of suspension
in other words is the shock under tension with air bags fully inflated .
thank anyone
I don't know about your gv320 but on my u320 there are eight shocks four in the front four in the back. These are not under tension with the airbags fully inflated. In order for me to replace my shocks I removed the fenders in order to get better access to the bolt. While I probably could have done it without removing the fenders it would have been much harder.

Removing the fenders is fairly easy. With the utility knife cut the silicone that's holding the long strips in with Philip head screws. Remove the screws and the strip. There will be additional screws underneath that strip remove those after removing the silicone caulking. Those screws were mostly rusted out on my coach. That will allow you then to remove the fender after removing the rivets at the bottom. At least if you have rivets mine were  the fenders are lightweight fiberglass make sure you put them where they won't get knocked over or banged up. Now you have to remove the nuts and bolts that hold the shocks in place. I recommend getting a good penetrating spray like PB blaster. Spray each nut and bolt several times over the course of a couple days will make removing them much easier. I believe it was a 1 and 1/8 inch wrench that I used on the nut while using an impact driver on the bolt. My half inch impact driver was not strong enough so I went to harbor freight and got there 3/4 in one. That was still not really powerful enough to break all of them, so go to Lowe's or home Depot and get yourself a 48 in piece of galvanized pipe that you can fit over your breaker bar for additional leverage. Once the nut is somewhat looser you can then use the impact driver.

On replacing the shocks put in the top bolt first and tighten down then get the shock compressed in order to line up with the bottom hole. Give yourself plenty of time. I planned on doing two shocks a day and that's kind of the way it worked out for me. I did the front ones in Arizona and the rear ones in Mexico. I did them all by myself pretty much and if I can do it anybody can. Good luck with your project.
'99 U320 40 WTFE
Build #5462,
1500 Watts Solar 600 amp Victron lithium
2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Hemi
Instagram bobfnbw
Retired

Re: shock replacement

Reply #2 –
I disconnected the bottom mounts of our shocks (1998 U-320) to check them.  The nuts don't come off easily - one seized half way off.  CONSIDER buying new nuts and bolts, cutting through the old ones rather than loosening, and saving a lot of grunt.
Matt B
1998 u-320

Re: shock replacement

Reply #3 –
Quote from: oldmattb –
I disconnected the bottom mounts of our shocks (1998 U-320) to check them.  The nuts don't come off easily - one seized half way off.  CONSIDER buying new nuts and bolts, cutting through the old ones rather than loosening, and saving a lot of grunt.

That's a good point that I should have brought up as well. Buy new grade 8 bolts and nuts and washers. You may have to cut the old ones off although I was not looking forward to doing that and in the end I think I only had to cut one or two off when the nuts seized on the bolts.
That was in Mexico where I got eight grade eight bolts nuts and washers for not very much money. The problem with cutting them off is that you're in a confined space with a rubber airbag and plastic air hose not to mention tires and your face all nearby easily damaged by whatever you're using to cut it off. I use my grinder with a cut off blade and that would have caused some real damage if it got away from me. A multimaster tool with a metal cutting blade would have been better probably from a safety standpoint but I probably would have had to use a new blade for each bolt and that would have gotten expensive. In the end I think the four foot extension on your breaker bar is your best bet along with plenty of penetrating oil.
'99 U320 40 WTFE
Build #5462,
1500 Watts Solar 600 amp Victron lithium
2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Hemi
Instagram bobfnbw
Retired

Re: shock replacement

Reply #4 –
I just replaced all 10 on my u320 with no problem and used the same bolts did not take off fenders as I have full body paint. Spray down all bolts with rustoff or whatever you have several times for a couple of days. I have air in my shop so 1/2 impact did the work, had plenty of room for access. If you don't have air recommend you buy a 1/2 drive Milwaukee battery impact, they have plenty of power to do the job, way to much work doing it by hand IMO. Easier to do them with the bags at full raise position with your stands in place. I would not cut off bolts unless absolutely necessary. Most likely if a nut does seize it will be part way off and give you enough room for  a Sawzall, lot less sparks around rubber and plastic. The key is to keep soaking them and if a nut gets tight part way off spray it and retighten spray again and should go past the hard part, all my did. Made a huge difference with the new shocks.

Larry
Larry & Debbie Town
2000 U320 4210 
Previous 88 GV

Re: shock replacement

Reply #5 –
Fully raise the coach and put your safety stands in place properly.  Then try removing the top shock nut with a 1/2" HF impact wrench.  See what happens.  You can always go bigger and deal with fender R&R if you have to.
Keep it simple at first.

With the stands in place the shock shouldn't be quite fully extended, so no binding of the bolts.
Have something that you can lay on that will elevate your upper body so you can reach the upper nuts and bolts, like a piece of plywood with something under one end. 

Make sure the nuts are really tight when reinstalling them, or you'll have a clunking that sounds like the front end is falling apart.

Good luck,  and while you're up in there how about some new bags?

Sent from my Samsung at Happy Hour.

Re: shock replacement

Reply #6 –

Don't forget if nut starts hanging up relube threads and run it back on. Relube  again to remove. Grit gets pressed into threads when removing dirty.  Much easier to remove that cut. Milwaukee will break bolts also. 👍👍 great-tool. Will remove wheel lug nuts also. They are heavy and bulky compared to air tool but they are brutes. 1000ftlbs.
Milwaukee 2767-20 1/2" High Torque Impact Wrench w/ 48-11-1850 5.0Ah Battery...
Scott

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