I'm wondering what equipment would be needed to install tanabe springs on a evo IX?? I was told a spring clamp and just obviously loosen the strut bolts and what not. Any info would be appreciated.

 

yep that's it, just a spring compressor as far as specialty tools are concerned. autozone rents them for free if you need one. there's a great write-up on evomoto.com in the tech section on how to do a spring install, very helpful. just remeber to preload your rear suspension some with a jack when torqueing the bolts/nuts down for the control arm so you don't tear any bushings down the road. and crack the top nuts on the front struts loose with the car on the ground(same applies to tightening them)and have some grease handy to repack it with.

 

Thanks for the info hondafan...not sure why you have to preload the rear...evomoto doesn't mention that, so I need to jack the rear suspension up a little then torque the bolts? How does that help?

Also my biggest concern is tightening the strut shaft nut without a torque wrench...evomoto says I won't be able to measure torque...that scares me a bit cause I'm always paranoid about tightening things and don't have a good human torque wrench.

I'll probably understand it better when I'm doing it but how do you keep the front strut shaft nut from spinning if you can't hold the shaft. The rear isn't a problem cause it's not recessed like the front but I don't understand how you can tighten it without a special tool to hold the shaft.

 

yeah I was told a spring compressor but also I've been told that you would need an impact gun to loosen the nuts on the strut towers and then i've been told they aren't that bad. So I would have to put a jack in the rear to bring it up to pre-load it? what is that recommended out of curiousity. Thanx for the info hondaman, huge help thus far.

 

when the front of the car is on the ground, the shaft won't spin, so you can easily break the nut loose and retighten it without using an impact. using an impact on your shaft nuts can damage the shock. i was able to torque these(front and rear) to spec with my torque wrench fine with the car on the ground, just finger tighten them until you put the car back on the ground. you have to preload the rear to around what the suspension would see when on the ground because if not, when you tighten those bolts up you can put a preload on the rubber bushings and cause them to tear from the metal bonded to them once it's at normal ride height. it doesn't say this in the evomoto write-up, but it does say this in the service manual. just tighten em all a little by hand, jack it up to ride height unde the rotor, and then torque them to spec.

 

my bro installed tanabe springs in his car 2 weeks ago and everything went smooth.. he didnt use no spring compressor or power tools. i just helped him alittle bit lol. the rear was the easiest. i think it took him 2 hrs to do the job. if you have any questions just pm him -> Advan EvO V

 

Thanks, so why are you recommending jacking it up to ride height instead of just dropping the car back to the ground and then tightening everything up. That's what evomoto's writeup says so is that ok?

So for both the front and rear strut shaft nut you used a torque wrench without having to hold the shaft? Evomoto says you have to hold the shaft on the rear when tightening...sorry man I'm just so confused.

 

Oh I think I understand so you don't need to preload the front cause you don't have to remove any suspension bolts besides the bottom knuckle of the strut and that I assume doesn't need to be preloaded to tighten.

Now for the rear you have to preload it cause you have to tighten the lower suspension arm before dropping the car? Right? Can't you reach those bolts from under the car once you drop it back down?

 

it'd be pretty difficult to get a torque wrench under there and tighten them with the car on the ground, much easier just to jack it to ride height and torque em with an open wheelwell. and you won't need a spring compressor for the rears. just follow the evomoto write-up, but torque the rear lower control arm bolts with the suspension preloaded.

 

You dont need an impact gun or spring compressor.

Just remember when removing the factory struts to do the fronts together
then the rears . The stabilizer bars will make your life a pain if you do them separately.

 

Can anyone do me a favor and look at the 2 bolts on the rear lower arm...

the evomoto writeup says that the outer most bolt head that connects the lower arm to the knuckle faces toward the front of the car and the bolt head that connects the rear strut to the lower arm faces toward the back of the car...

now the diagrams from the evo manual that shows the torque specs and a blown up view of the rear lower arm shows the opposite...



can someone please confirm by looking under the rear of the car...thanks!

 

i think i already told you in a PM that the shock bolt faces the front while the hub bolt faces rear.

 

Ok so the evomoto writeup is incorrect...

 

i didnt even use a spring compressor when i did mine..i compressed it with my hands and my buddy put the nut on....it was very easy

 

Can at least one more person check the bolts for me...thanks!