rear chapman strut re-assembly - which order do you choose?

[Dunc]

I've had the shafts and suspension off the back of my cars umpteen times, but I always end up with a huge faff when getting the lower shock bolt to go in.

I spend as long trying to line up that bolt through the carrier, shock and arm as I do on the rest of the job. It's such a faff that I am convinced I must be doing it wrong

My usual approach is to fit the shaft to the drive flange, then bolt up the driveshaft to the drum face, before putting the shock bolt in last.

How do you guys do it? (and no - I didn't bother reading what the manual says...rarely do, as that would be cheating....)

[johnpwalsh]

Dunc. Last time I did it I did shock first, then the drive shaft. It went fairly easily.

[soldave]

I'd fit the shock first, the the driveshaft through the hub carrier, followed finally by bolting it onto the drum. Think that's how I did it when I replaced my rear shocks anyway.

[CharlieCroker]

Jack under the hub carrier, raise it slowly until the bolt lines up, tap in with hammer, 5 minutes max. 

[Clive59]

I did what Charlie did too, seemed to work.

[Dunc]

12 hours ago, CharlieCroker said:

Jack under the hub carrier, raise it slowly until the bolt lines up, tap in with hammer, 5 minutes max. 

tried that = 50 minutes of faffing and 1 ruined bolt.

 

I'm wondering if it is because I have spax adjustables, which arent quite as wide as the shocks that came off at the lower bush, which I shimmed up with 2 washers - maybe its allowing the shock to "twist" as I drift the bolt in, which then doesn't line up with the last section?

[CharlieCroker]

Couldn't tell you without looking at it. If it's taking you that long then something seems off beat, shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to locate properly,  any photos?