Article by: Johan
Article applies to: all E32 and E34 models.
When the disc that holds the spring on the rear right shock absorber broke off almost completely I decided to replace both spring struts with new ones.
To replace the struts you have to completely remove the backseat. The bottom just pulls up (this is different for electrical seats!).
To keep the rear C-pillar panels nice I removed these before the rear part of the backseat.
The rear part is secured with 4 nuts. 2 on the sides, and two behind the center armrest. After removing these the rear seat can be pulled upwards and removed from it’s place.
When you want to remove the seat from the car you also have to loosen the seat belt mounting bolts.
You can if you like remove the rear parcel shelf. This is not required, but makes working a lot easier.
The shelf is held in place by 4 push buttons on the front and can them be pulled towards you.
The strut is held by a large bolt on the underside and by three self locking nuts (be sure to get new ones before starting).
The new strut has to be assembled as they come in parts.
Be sure to use spring compressors to fit the spring to the strut.
I’ve tried without and I couldn’t get the spring to compress enough so that the top part can be bolted on.
Fit all the parts in the correct order then bolt the top locking nut in place.
The shock can be held in place with spanner 6 when you tighten the top nut.
When the struts are assembled they are ready to go under the car. Removed the wheels and support the car on jack stands.
Remove the lower bolt and the three nuts.
First tighten the upper 3 nuts on the new strut, then use a metal bar to pivot the support frame down so that the pin on the strut will go in the frame.
Then tighten the lower bolt. The torque values are 127Nm for the lower bolt and 24Nm for the upper three nuts.
Then put the wheels back on the car and lower the car. Finished !
I noticed the old harmonica style plastic protection tubes are now replaced by more rigid plastic types.
These will probably last a lot longer then the old design (I had only 1 of the 2 left).
