Shockers/Struts fitting problem

Got new Bilstein shockers for my '97 318.

Took the spring off and because it was in good shape, decided to reuse it and put it on the new shock.

All fitted together, came to fit it back on the car and I don't have a clue how to.

When hanging attached to the mountings under the hood, it's far too low to line up with the wheel hub holes and locating thingy. Basically, anyway I try to fit it, it won't line up. I push down hard on the hub, still doesn't line up.

Am I missing something here? all fittings instructions that I've seen have made no mention of needing to do anything special to make it fit. No spring compressors etc. Just the reverse of taking it out.

The new shocks look identical to the ones I took off, but I'm wondering if the shocker rod extends out more in the Bilstein ones I got and thus the overall length make them too long to fit on the car?

What the hell is going on

Hmmm... Can you take a photo to show us? A gazillion people have Bilstein struts/shocks on their E36s, so I'm sure you will be able to make it work eventually. It's just going to take some persistence. I installed the Bilstein shocks in my car, and I didn't have any issues like you are describing, but I'm on H&R Sport springs, which are shorter than stock, which makes life easier.

Worst case scenario (and it isn't very bad), is that you will need to rent/borrow/buy some cheap spring compressors to pull the springs in a bit, then manually push the struts up a bit so things line up better, then bolt it all up, and then remove the spring compressors. Pretty easy, and you can rent spring compressors from most auto parts stores for free. Alternatively, they're pretty cheap to buy, too.

Assuming you're talking about the front struts, are you certain you have the center nut that holds the spring/strut assy together tightened all the way down to where it's driving everything to be tight on the shoulder of the shock rod? It can be really difficult to get fully tightened because the shock rod starts spinning......

I think i remember having this issue too..... i got it to work though.


took force and messing around abit though.

Guys, it looks like I may have bought e36 318 coupe shockers instead of the e36 318 saloon.

Can anyone confirm here if they are different?

I have tried everything to get these shocks to fit, jacking them into place, spring compressors, brute force, ingenious methods using rope and a bit of praying to all the gods of all faiths.

Nothing will make this line up with the hub.

I've just contacted the guy who sold them to me on eBay and see what he says.

Either way, I'm going to feel like an idiot. If I bought the wrong ones or too dumb to figure out how to fit them.

Too add insult to injury, I also bought new brake pads for the rear. My car was listed as compatible on the eBay site. Took the wheels off, only to be faced with drums and not discs.

I know I sound thick, but I have 3 cars and I got confused with my other two which have discs all round.


Me

Suspension wise, there is no difference between sedan and coupe. I don't see how you couldn't have gotten them in using spring compressors.

And most E36 have 4-wheel disc brakes, so I don't blame you there. In fact, I think all E36s sold in the US came with disc brakes, so I don't think I've ever seen one with drum brakes in my entire life.

There are a couple things to consider here.

1. Your car is euro spec. In the North American market for the E36, there was no difference between suspension set ups for coupe or 'saloon'.

2. If you're trying to fit OEM springs on Bilstein sport shocks, you'll have a tough time regardless since the sport struts are shorter than OEM. (aka more compression required).

For the first, asking over at http://www.edirty6.com may be beneficial, as they're UK based, so will have more euro-specific details for you.

Although it seems that if he installed stock springs on Bilstein Sports, the shorter piston of the Bilstein Sports would keep the overall length of the installed strut/spring assembly shorter than a stock spring installed on a stock strut. If anything, it should be easier to install them that way compared to doing so with stock springs on stock struts. If he is using Bilstein HD or Bilstein OE Sport struts, they should be at roughly the same length at "full droop" (i.e. fully extended), so nothing should be different there, either. I'm a bit stumped on this one. I think it will fit, but just needs some convincing.

And I don't think there is any difference between Euro and North American E36s in this regard, so that should be a non-factor, too.

Thanks for the input guys. I posted on here because the British site seemed slower and I needed some advice pronto.

As far as I can tell, I have stock springs.

The struts were sold as being suitable for standard spec.

These are the ones I bought.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bilstein-B...item35b6e27130

Am I right in saying they won't fit my car?

I'm usually fairly good with this kind of stuff and have fitted struts before, albeit a fair few years ago.

Everything I read suggests they should fit just fine. What happened when you used a spring compressor? In other words, what prevented you from being able to push the bottom of the strut into the correct location after compressing the spring?

or this one, specifically around the 6:30 mark.

ZeGerman

I compressed it till the spring was free on both end caps. Compressed the hell out of it, scared I was going to snap them - but still the strut hung lower then hub height. So I then thought about jacking the strut from underneath, but of course then it's jammed against the jack and it was very hard to align it. None of the instructions for e36 strut replacement talked about needing to compress the springs to get the new struts in or the old struts out.

The only time spring compression is mentioned in the manual and various online 'how to' steps, is after you've removed the strut from the car (with the spring) and want to remove the top cap to take the spring off and replace it or put it on the new strut.

Hold on.

Pull the strut out assembled. With the strut hat still attached. WOrry about changing the spring to the new strut with everything off of the car. You'll find it far easier that way. Just like in those two video's.

Originally Posted by jonesin

Hold on.

Pull the strut out assembled. With the strut hat still attached. WOrry about changing the spring to the new strut with everything off of the car. You'll find it far easier that way. Just like in those two video's.

Apologies if I wasn't clear.

Took the old strut and spring off the car easily. Then compressed the spring and took it off the old strut and decided to reuse it, as it was in good condition.

Slipped it onto the new strut, put end cap on and took compressors off.

Came to fit onto the car, and the thing was just too long. I almost got it in with brute force putting all my weight on the hub and flexing it down, but I soon realised that this is supposed to be a one man job and I needed 4 hands.

I've done this before on another car many years ago and although a fiddly job, it never required all of my strength or needing to jack and compress etc.

Having said that I do have this nagging feeling that I'm missing something obvious.

Got my father involved who is well versed on fixing cars and he's stumped too.

Yes, it will take a decent amount of pressure to compress the strut. I used a jack under the base, attached the strut hat to the shock tower, then (still using the jack) lined up the bottom two bolts before lowering the jack. Give that a try?

Originally Posted by jonesin

Yes, it will take a decent amount of pressure to compress the strut. I used a jack under the base, attached the strut hat to the shock tower, then (still using the jack) lined up the bottom two bolts before lowering the jack. Give that a try?

Hmm, just that none of the instructions I've seen talk about needing to jack things into place.

Very hard to jack the strut and allow it to align because there's isn't enough room between the steering/hub arms to get the jack in and jack perfectly vertically.


Here's a pic. When I push the hub towards it, it's nowhere near aligning (height wise). Even when I flex the hub down as far as it will go then at the same time try and push it in, still just falls short.

unbolt the strut mount and turn it a different way.

Originally Posted by Eight Thirty

unbolt the strut mount and turn it a different way.

I don't understand this. The E36 non-M strut mounts are not directional (like the M3 mounts are), so it shouldn't make a difference. The way I got mine in was to get the stud on the spindle partway inserted into the corresponding hole on the strut, then tip the whole spindle assembly upward so it's somewhat forced to go together correctly. Also, you're obviously not going to get it installed with those ropes in place, but I'm sure you know that. I didn't use anything of the sort when I installed mine.

PS: I've never seen so much corrosion! Yikes. Even growing up in the US rust belt, where road salt is dumped onto winter streets for months at a time, my cars never got like that. Did you exhume this E36 from the ocean?

One remote possibility is that a previous owner have managed to mix in 91-92 components in your suspension. Struts and top mounts are of different length and I believe new struts with old top mounts will be to tall. The telltale sign is that the topmost part with threads is 2mm smaller in diameter than what is should be. Check the top threaded part of the new and old struts if they are identical!

The other way around (if I remember the mixup correctly) will cause a suspension drop, almost as if you had lowering springs.

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

PS: I've never seen so much corrosion! Yikes. Even growing up in the US rust belt, where road salt is dumped onto winter streets for months at a time, my cars never got like that. Did you exhume this E36 from the ocean?

Worse, I live in Scotland.


gradlund - I'll check, but the car was bought from an older guy who handed it into the BMW dealer for everything, including oil changes. So I would doubt any parts mix-up.

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

... Did you exhume this E36 from the ocean?

Ha!

I used a jack on the bottom of the strut to get it in line for bolting.

Just did this the other day. Getting those old springs on the new strut is a bit of a pain. I ended up buying a second set of spring compressors to ease the anxiety a bit. Harbor Freight had a second set for like $15. What this allowed me to do was actually get one of the secondary Harbor Freight compressors on the top of the strut hat to press it on further so i could get the top bearing assemblies on. I don't think I could have done it without the second set of spring compressors.

I wouldn't have wanted to use those Harbor Freight strut compressors by themselves. Considering they were being used in a secondary role they still flexed like anything.

Getting the assembled strut back up in ther wasn't too bad, but it is a 2 person job to make it easier. I lifted the strut up and then the helper guided the three studs into the strut tower and loosely bolted them on.

The next step is to bolt the strut into the hub assembly. Start with the two bolts holding the strut to the hub. Tightening it up you notice the pinch bolt up above starts going into place. At some point when you can maneuver it into place, line up the pinch bolt and torque into place. New hardware is really important here as is red threadlocker. Then i finished up the two bolts on the bottom holding the hub onto the strut. New hardware and threadlocker as well.

It doesn't sound like you changed other suspension parts, but i had done my Lower Control Arms & Tie Rod ends as well so both of those were obviously done first before the strut.

From the picture though I don't understand why the strut is tied up? and looking at that YIKES ! I'm glad i didn't have to deal with all that corrosion. Sure the ball joints on those Lower Control Arms are ok?