Spring swap walkthrough - Tein H-Tech's

Well I'm getting my H-Techs installed next monday. I need to snap some before and after pics.

 

I'm surprised that people are having problems with rubbing since the H-Techs don't sit as low as the S-Techs.

 

Anyways, great thread mccory.

yea because they are on stock shocks I replaced mine cause I never use worn shocks. I have koni yellows adjustable because they have rebound setting you guys do not change shocks so that why they rub I have the same set-up with the tein H springs save your money SWP-legacygt I mean what a another $600 bucks.

Well I'm getting my H-Techs installed next monday. I need to snap some before and after pics.

 

I'm surprised that people are having problems with rubbing since the H-Techs don't sit as low as the S-Techs.

 

Anyways, great thread mccory.

 

Good luck, im getting mine uninstalled tommorow. Probably close to 15k miles on them. Im going to have the stock struts checked to make sure none of them are blown. Very uncomfortable ride w/ Htechs on Perrin F&R SB's w/ AVO End Links.

Good luck, im getting mine uninstalled tommorow.

are you selling them?

are you selling them?

 

Yeah I think Bosco wants them for his new Corvette :lol:

I am getting ready to do this but I am having trouble finding pass-thru sockets. I can only find one brand called gear wrench. Am I looking for the right product? I dont want to buy crap tools and I have never heard of gear wrench. Any word on the subject?

Gear Wrench are pretty decent units... but what you really need are pass-through sockets.

 

My set is Armstrong... but Kobalt makes some and I think Craftsman have them out now...

GearWrench is pretty good, I have a set of Flex-Head wrenches at work, they've taken a beating and haven't failed me yet...

I used a Gear Wrench pass through for my spring install on my Bils and it busted. Good thing is that it has a lifetime warranty. I got a hold of GW and they sent me a new one rather quickly.

So I printed this walkthough and all of the helpful posts and went over to a friends home to install my new Swifts. I had read about how hard the rear bolts are to break loose but I didn't think they would be that bad...

 

Holy S+*&!!! My friend has impact tools and we could not get the bolts to break free!! WTF is up w/ that? The car has 26k on it and I live in FL where the road conditions are great....so they should have been easy to take off. Unreal!

 

So here I am having to go to a shop and have them do the install...I guess it would really help to have to a lift!

I wish everyone who swaps springs on the ground with jacks/jackstands would read this post to save hours of frustration. Spray some PB Blaster on the bolts and let them sit for a few minutes. Slap a wrench on the bolts and then put a floor/bottle jack under the wrench. Jack up the wrench, VIOLA! Bolts are loose.

 

I am reading this thread again trying to foigure out what went wrong....I tried this exact thing. When we jacked up the wrench, the enitre car lifted up too. So the weight of the car would not break the bolt!! I am soooo bummed!

Great walk-through. I used it to install swift springs and it was an immense help. It took me a total of 2 hours to finish, but I also had the use of a lift.

It's not mentioned in this write-up but I think it would be usefull, you mention the rear strut is past the hole for the bolt, but you don't mention the front being past the hole. I had this problem so I had to come up with a solution, the rear may be fixed with the same solution, I didn't try it there

 

If the strut in the front is too far below the two bolt holes then jack up the hub assembly until there isn't any stress on the front sway bar and unbolt it. Then lower the hub assembly to the right height. After the two bolts are in jack it back up and reinstall the front sway bar.

Great write up, helped a ton. Although, the rear lower strut bolt beat me. That thing is not coming out (4 NY winters). I even brought it up to a local garage to see if they could just break the bolt loose for me and with heat and a impaact gun it wouldn't move.

 

I did the fronts on my own without any issues, so I'm taking it to the dealer Monday so they can deal with the rears. I'm more comfotable with the dealer having to get that bolt out than some private shop.

 

So I've been driving around all week with the back jacked up. One thing I kind of noticed yesterday was that the one side looked higher than the other in the front. Not sure if it was the lighting or what?

Funny thing is my rear lower bolts came off with a 12 inch socket wrench....didnt have to use my 30 inch breaker. Is that a bad thing? Should I put it back on tighter than they had?

 

Took me 4 and a half hours!!!!! Had to track down a set of offset wrenches....

I had to use a jack and two breaker bars to pop those rear bolts off... Just make sure you torque them back to spec!

Just did mine today, of course, the last bolt I go to do, the front driver camber bolt, stripper. Everyone who said " You can't go to tight", is incorrect. I was just using a regular breaker bar and was pulling it down with one hand, and the damn thing stripped. I wasnt even pulling all that hard. Now my car is stuck in the garage, everything done, but that one bolt, I am super pissed...

 

Besides that it went fine, getting the rear bolts of was no problem, just a little bit of pull and pushing, used the jack trick on the passenger side. Everything is all done, 3 tired back on and back on the ground, now just have to wait to either get the bolt from Subaru tomorrow if they have it, or order it from rock auto for $13, pay overnight and pay $32 all together to have my car driveable again on friday...

That sucks. I've never heard of one stripping out before.

That sucks. I've never heard of one stripping out before.

Yeah it really does, I suspect a defective bolt, in which case I'm glad I figured that out now, not driving 70mph on the highway with people in my car:cool: I wasnt pulling even close to as hard as the other bolts and they had no problem snugging right up. Hell, to get one loose I used the floor jack and it was actually lifting the suspension up so I had to stand on the rotor to keep it down. I'm relatively strong, but not even close to that strong...lol

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VAPORTOWER

Edited March 25, 2011 by GP2001

What stripped... the nut or the bolt?

What stripped... the nut or the bolt?

The bolt, the nut appeared to be fine but I used a new one anyway just in case. Maybe the threads just got messed up over time ( It is a 2005 in New York), and when they came off that was the last time they were ever going to be used. Threads probably were weak and got even worse when I took it off

________

Blonde Russian

Edited March 25, 2011 by GP2001

So my spring and strut swap is all done as of yesterday morning ( Tein H techs and low mileage stock struts). It has been on the ground settling since wednsday night. How long should I wait to get it aligned? It drives fine, I adjusted the camber the best I could by eye, but I know I should get it aligned. I read that you should wait a week so the springs settle, is that true or should I just go tomorrow or something? That would be almost 3 days of the car being down on the suspension and being driven.

 

BTW it looks awesome and drives very nice. Doesn't handle like its on rails or anything, but it is a BIG improvement over stock handling for sure. If your looking for a slightly lower stance and slightly better handling, but still practical and not really losing much comfort, this is the way to go. I wish the front was a little bit lower, I am hoping it will settle, I like a little bit of forward rake

I'd go after a day or so. You'll be fine now.

Working on installing bilsteins, got 3 done today, the drivers rear wheel I couldn't get that one bolt off, with WD-40, an impact gun, using the jack to lift a wrench, and a breaker bar. Any suggestions?

Pray?