Removing front shocks, any tips?

[mrzed]

Attempted today to fit my lowering springs, gave up after 2 hours trying to remove the front shocks without removing the axle bolt & spreader tool or whatever the majority of the guides tell you to do
Has anyone done it without doing this?
I got the bottom of the shock about 90% out of the hub/carrier by brute strength/hammer/sweat but couldnt get it out completely, so gave up.
Really dont want to pay a garage to do them..
Thanks

[biffobear]

try to get a flat bar into the gap and try to widen it, you will need a length of scaffold bar about 6 ft to force the hub down enough to clear  the strut

[GrayMK5GTI]

A bottle jack between hub and shock platform will compress the shock and lift it out of the hub 

[SurreyED30]

Don't pay a garage around £400 mate, I removed my Coilovers and fitted a complete suspension kit on my drive today, it's not easy but it is do-able. Lots of swearing and cut fingers is required 

[mrzed]

Cheers all, Ive ordered a strut spreader and the bottle jack idea is a good one. Round 2 later in the week me thinks 

[SurreyED30]

Hardest bit is lining everything up and tighten it all to the required nm at the same time as holding it in place, as some bolts, like on the ball joints are very low down and getting good leverage on them can be a pain. Good luck mate you can do it  I assume you have a spring compressor?

[mrzed]

Hardest bit is lining everything up and tighten it all to the required nm at the same time as holding it in place, as some bolts, like on the ball joints are very low down and getting good leverage on them can be a pain. Good luck mate you can do it  I assume you have a spring compressor?

Thanks, yep got spring compressors and have modded the suspension on most of the cars i've owned just this one is proving to be more difficult than the others!