I changed my springs to H@R springs (2000 GLE)
the front went good
the rear I had one problem and i dont know if this is normal..

the drivers side came out of the car easy
i changed the spring and installed the new spring and old shock.
the passangers side when i took out the old spring and shock out of the car (the top bolts were removed but the center bolt spun and would not loosen)
the bolt on the bot of the shock was hard to remove because of pressure from the factory spring, the shock kinda sprung an inch or two when i finally got the bottom bolt out.
the center nut would only spin and not come off until i removed the shock from the car and i put a vice grip on the top of the post (the flat area next to the nut ) IS THAT NORMAL OR IS THE SHOCK JUNK?
I changed the spring to the new spring and when i went went to mount it in the car the shock was 2 inches too long (past the mount for the botttom of the shock) I had to pry down the rear axle 2 inches to get the bolt into the shock. IS THAT NORMAL?
(both rear tires were not on when I pryied down the drivers side had the new spring on and the passanges side had the new spring also on)

The shocks were replaced 2 years ago and do not leak so i didnt change them out.
I am wondering if some how did my rear "sway bar" move the axle and make it hard to install the shock.
or
2 years ago did they put 2 different size shocks on my car?

any thoughts or questions would be appreciated

 

You have to loosened, but not removed, the center nut before you remove the other main bolts. Same thing when reinstalling. You would but that center nut on, then release the spring pressure, then tightened the center nut.

 

I understand about the loosing the nut in the center (thats what i did on the drivers side)
but the passanger side would not loosen just spin with about 30lbs of pressure

Since the nut would only spin, would that shock be bad?

the drivers side center nut loosened fine.

so since they are different would the shock be concidered bad?

and

why did I have to pry down the rear axle to mount the shock on the passanger side? does everyone have that problem?

 

No. Just because the piston spins does not mean the strut is bad. Happens often, and there is no rhyme or reason to why some spin and some don't.

Because you have a solid beam axle. It's like a see-saw. You're fine, there is nothing wrong with your car.

 

I did think about the "see saw" of the solid axle
but
if the spring is 1" shorter wouldnt that pull up on the axle (driverside) and make the passangers side go down?

the shock was 2" lower than the axle,
I had to put a bar between the chassi and the top of the brake caliper and push down on the caliper so i could get the bolt back into the bottom the shock and it was super tight getting the bolt back in.

with the "see saw" i would have thought that the axle would be higher than the shocks bolt hole.

 

It's fine. You're really overthinking this. I highly doubt someone put in two differently sizes struts (where would they even find them?), or somehow found a spring that is the exact diameter, exact spring rate, but is just 1" shorter.

This thread needs to be closed.