200q20v suspension = 1, me = 0

[Enzeder]

I don't remember it being that bad, but my dad had a hard time on his V8.

Honest question, is the pinch bolt removed, and not just loose?

I find having both wheels off the ground helps much - the first time I 
tried I only jacked one side up.

One time with a particularly sticky ball joint, I jacked up a little on the 
side I was trying to undo to let the sway bar help me.

I also found that I had good luck using a 8' 2x3 as a pry bar.  I didn't 
have anything else longer than 2'.

Good luck,
Arryn




At 12:34 AM 9/19/2004, Ken Keith wrote:
>Man what a pain.  Changing springs in a 200q20v sure ain't as easy as
>in a Coupe GT.  I wasn't able to get it done and had to put it all
>back together.  The sticking point was getting the ball joints out of
>the strut housing, fighting the sway bar pressure (and losing).
>
>A call to my Audi tech friend confirmed that there's no shortcut to
>simply being able to apply leverage against the control arm/sway bar
>to push it down and out of the strut housing.  He said it's a two man
>job on a lift, with a beefy 6" pipe for leverage.  I probably could
>have gotten it out, but I doubt I would not have been able to get it
>back in again by myself.  I only had the car on jack stands and I
>think even with a long bar I might not have enough room for downward
>travel to get it done.
>
>I thought by undoing the front sway bar brackets it would let it drop
>enough for the ball joints to come out, but no dice.  I'm wondering if
>I would have dropped the whole subframe if that would have helped
>anything.  I'm much more of a fan of releasing the stored energy in a
>controlled fashion than trying to use force to overcome it.  But maybe
>that's just how it's supposed to be done?
>
>I spent most of the day beating up my hands on it, and the only real
>thing I got done was replaced the noisy squawking starter.  I'm
>starting to see the value in paying to have someone else work on my
>car, and free up my day for more productive and less frustrating
>things.  If indeed I have to have a shop do it, at least in this case
>I know it's worth it.
>
>Has anyone done their own spring install, and is there a trick or
>special method to getting it done?  If there's a way to DIY, I'm
>willing to give it another shot, but otherwise I'm going to have to
>pay to have someone else do it.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Ken
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