Soft shocks

[marioc89]

Hello all. I replaced my rear shocks some months ago. How much weight can I have in the rear before it hits the rubber bumbers? I mean, i'm carrying weight but nothing heavy and when I hit a dip of some sort, it hits the bumpers. I'm like, this is not suppose to happen if they are new. I got the shocks from O'rielly's. I can't remember the brand or style but I know I got the oem standard type. Could this also be that I'm needing to replace my control arms?

[atraudes]

Well, it's not because of your control arms. They restrict the lateral movement, not vertical. Shocks simply dampen the up and down movement and don't impact the ride height, so I'd also say they weren't to blame. If the ride sags even with no load, then replace the springs. If it doesn't sag with no load and does with some load and you don't want it to, replace them with some medium or heavy duty springs.

We also have a thread on installing an air ride kit if you want to control ride height when towing and such.

[marioc89]

Do you know of any place or site that sells springs for us?

[atraudes]

Moog sells a set of coils for a pretty reasonable price. The fitment guide on Amazon says they don't fit a 2000 QX4, but it does say they fit a 2000 Pathfinder, so I wouldn't hesitate to assert they do fit both. 4x4parts.com sells some not-so-wallet-friendly medium-duty coils. There may be more medium and heavy-duty options out there, but I don't know any offhand.

[atraudes]

Oh, and be sure to replace the top and bottom plastic insulators on the coils (part 55034+A in these diagrams). You can replace 55034 as well, but the ones you have are probably still fine. Having the coils off also presents an opportunity to replace the bump stops if yours are torn up (55240), but also not necessary.

Make sure you read up on all the proper safety precautions if you decide to install them yourself. It's pretty straightforward, but compressed springs have enough stored energy to kill or seriously injure folks

[Hawairish]

The clearance between axle and bump stop is relatively small with OE springs normally, but if your concern is that the ride quality in the rear seems too soft, then you should consider replacing the springs. The shocks and trailing arms are not a factor as altraudes mentioned. However, worn springs will also fatigue shocks faster.

Without knowing your current setup (presumably stock), the Moog springs will likely suffice and are an affordable replacement ($32/pair from rockauto.com). Replacing them is pretty easy...the stored energy comment above applies if you plan to use spring compressors, but I've never needed them to remove rear springs.

[atraudes]

I've heard others say you don't need compressors for the rear, but I have no idea how you get away without them! Even after removing the shocks and stretching the rear brake hose to its limit I still didn't have enough space, even to remove the originals. I wonder if it's different on vehicles without LSV

[patqx4]

No lsv here, and I also needed to compress the rear springs.

[Hawairish]

It's all about manipulating the axle.

I've used the same technique on my Jeep (front and rear) and my R50 (rear only, of course). If you try to get the springs out by just letting the entire axle droop, it won't work. You need to pivot one side of the axle up, and let the other side droop. The concept is no different than if you were flexing the rear axle while offroading.

I use a floor jack, 4 jack stands (doable with 3), and the necessary sockets/wrenches to remove the tires, shocks, and sway bar end links. Everything else stays attached.

I lift the rear enough to put all jack stands at max height under the unibody pads (under the rear doors) and at opposite ends of the axle under the spring perches.

The pic below explains it. However, it also shows the right trailing arms removed. These were removed after I removed the spring because I was also replacing the trailing arm bushings (among other things). It wouldn't have been safe to remove the trailing arms first. Disconnecting the sway bar end links is probably optional, but easy enough to do...I had them removed to access the upper trailing arm bolts.

[atraudes]

D'oh! It's so obvious now Thanks for the enlightenment

[rgk]

Very cool. Do you unbolt the spring before or after angling the axle? I'll be taking on this task sometime this summer.

[Hawairish]

No bolts on the springs to unbolt. Once the axle is drooped enough, the spring becomes fully unloaded and will just lower with the axle. Once they've unseated from the upper perch enough, you just need to lift up the spring a little by hand to clear the lower spring perch, then tilt it out.

In that pic, the brake drum is on the ground...I needed all the clearance I could get to install 2" spacers (I also run OME springs).

[marioc89]

Thank you guys for so your input and suggestions. This was very informative.