Guide: DIY MA61 Rear Spring Replacement

[RObErT_RaTh]

DIY: MA61 Rear Spring Replacement
by RObErT_RaTh aka Stumpy

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any damage or harm you may cause to youself or your car while following this guide. I've put it here just to help some people have more of an idea what to do and what is involved. If you don't feel confident enough to mess with your suspension then leave it to your local mechanic. However I am quite cheap and poor at the moment so I don't have a choice.

Time frame: ~4 hours for both springs if you're newb like me
Money saved: I was quoted $90 for both rear springs installed. I paid $75 for the springs

Tools Required:
-Couple jacks (preferrably good quality)
-Car stand
-Spanner Set
-Socket Set
-Tyre Iron
-Pliers
-Flat head screw driver
-Torch/light
-Some commen sense



I got most of my information from the TSRM and other than that I had never messed with a cars suspension before so you don't need to be a pro to do this. Pages used were RA-44 to RA-47

Step 1: Place wheel chocks infront of front tyres. Slighty loosen wheel nuts on one rear wheel while wheel is on ground (doesn't put pressure on handbrake). Jack up the same rear side of the car with your average car jack. Position the jack just infront of the wheel arch and just get the tyre a centimetre off the ground. Undo the wheel nuts completely and remove the wheel. If you have done it to the rear left wheel you should see something like this.



Step 2: Get a second jack (preferrably a trolley jack like what I have used) and a block of wood and align it under the suspension arm in a central position where it won't slip off and it's not pressing against any hoses etc. Now jack up the suspension arm carefully to compress the spring and becareful to only do it a bit at a time. The more you jack up the suspension arm the more it jacks up the whole car and you will have to tighten your original clamp and make sure that stays tight against the car aswell.

[RObErT_RaTh]

Step 3: Now it's time to remove the brake hose clips, there are 3 of them. If they are anything like mine they will require a little wiggling back and forth with a pair of pliers to get loose. You can see all 3 clips in the following pics.



And here is the first clip after I have almost removed it with the pliers

[RObErT_RaTh]

Step 4: Next we have to undo the stabilizer bar end.

NOTE: I would recommend putting a stand underneath the diff just to make sure the car isn't going to drop on you when you are under it from now on.


With any nuts/bolts I first used WD40 to try and help loosen them up a tad. If I remember right the nut on the stabilizer bar end was a 12mm. Undo the nut and also take off the washer and the rubber cushion. Try and keep things in the same directional order from when they came off ie don't flip the washer or cushion over. The first shot was taken from the rear looking towards the front over the rear axle. This is showing the end of the suspension arm. You only need to undo the nut under the suspension arm.

[RObErT_RaTh]

Step 5: Once you have undone the nut on the stabilizer bar end you can begin the fun task of removing the bolts and spring washers from your rear axle shaft on the wheel side (not the diff side). These were a 14mm nut and were quite tough to undo. If you are young (or a pussy weak girleh man) then I would recommend getting a strong friend or dad to come give you a hand undoing these. Now initially my dad and I didn't realise this (we're slow) but you can rotate the axle shaft to make it easier to access the different nuts holding it on. I had applied the handbrake earlier to stop the car rolling and thus the axle wouldn't turn, a quick release of the old hand brake and the other 2 nuts become much more accessable. Once you've removed all the nuts pry off the rear axle shaft from the 4 bolts.



Once you've done that remove the bolt and washer holding on the shock. Used the same 14mm socket as the axle nuts. Once the bolt and washer are removed you can pull and wriggle the shock (might want to use gloves or a rag) off. Don't worry, it won't shoot off like a compressed spring.

[RObErT_RaTh]

Step 6: Now that everything has been undone you can get out from under the car, remove the stand under your diff and slowly (very slowly) lower your trolley jack. Be careful to make sure the rear axle shaft is not hooked on any of the bolts on the wheel side because you could run into some serious issues if you drop the suspension arm without properly detaching the axle. This may take two people to do properly and make sure nothing gets caught. You might also want to put a block of wood on the ground to keep the wheel assembly off the ground.These pics shows the axle shaft removed and the rear suspension arm dropped




Step 7: Take out the spring, you should just be able to lift it straight out because there is no longer any pressure on it. If yours is stiff because the wheel assembly is still a fair way from the ground then you might need to use the spring clamps just a little but my springs in there were king highs and they almost fell out.



While you've got the spring out it is a good idea to remove the rubber insulators from the top and bottom of the spring and brush them out and also brush off any dust/crap that is built up on the suspension arm. This can slowly wear away the insulators and we don't want that to happen.

[RObErT_RaTh]

Step 8: Put the bottom insulator back onto the suspension arm, make sure it is properly rotated to fit correctly. Fit the top insulator to your new spring, take note of the channel designed for the end of the spring. Put the spring in being careful not the shift the insulators and make sure you rotate the spring to align the cut end properly on the bottom insulator.



Step 9: Grab a helping hand again because now we are ready to jack the suspension arm back up and put it all back together. You will need to be careful and make sure to align the axle shaft onto the bolts whilst the suspension arm is being jacked up. Then when you get to the correct height also connect your shock back onto the assembly with washer and tighten the bolt. Next before you go any further make sure the bolt for the stabilzer bar is aligned with the hole and you have put the cushion back onto the bolt. And I found it easy to sit the washer on top of the hole on the suspension arm where the stabilzer bar bolt will go through. Once everything is aligned then keep jacking it up (careful to adjust other jacks as you go if need) and stop when you think it's about right.

Apply the handbrake and grab your 14mm and tighten the nuts on the axle shaft. Release handbrake, rotate axle, apply handbrake, tighten nut, repeat until all are done.

[RObErT_RaTh]

Step 10: Now everything is screwed back together you can put the brake line clips back on. The first two (closer to the rear) weren't too bad but I always had trouble with the clip closest to the front of the car, just hard to fit your hand, head and light in there.



Step 11: It's all connected back the way you found it so now you can slowly release the jack holding up your suspension arm and let it go down. Put your wheel back on, tighten your wheel nuts and there you have it, one nice low riding MA61.

Spring comparison:


The rear of my car used to have king highs and it was 395mm from the centre of the wheel to the top of the wheel arch, now with king lows it is only 310mm. I am very happy with the end result

[Negative Boost]

Wow, thats an excellent write-up. You got some 'natural tech write-up skill' there buddy.

When i swapped the rear springs once, i did it the hard way without disconnecting anything and ended up using spring clamps to get them out becuase the rear arm hadnt dropped enough. Silly me. Well atleast i know now how to do it properly!

[RObErT_RaTh]

Thanks mate I really appreciate it, glad you find it useful

[avante]

Great write up mate

Definately enough inspiration for me to have a crack myself on my RT-142!!

[RObErT_RaTh]

Let me know how you go

And thanks for the rep fellas

[Mike]

Errr yeah, I remember Stuart (Classique71) and I trying to do this in the bum end of my car....and umm yeah. How about those local sports teams

[RObErT_RaTh]

Springs have had some time to settle in and now the wheels are actually under the guards

[ed]

um - you should buy some spring clamps man... save yourself 1/2 a day of labour disassembling shit that you dont need to

[RObErT_RaTh]

um - you should buy some spring clamps man... save yourself 1/2 a day of labour disassembling shit that you dont need to

I didn't want to risk getting drilled by a compressed spring, call me a sissy. My mate loaned me 2 spring clamps but they were king highs so there would have been a fair bit of compression. Plus this way didn't cost me a cent, I'm a tight ass