LGT Wagon Pinks Install w/ Pics

I decided to consolidate my posts into a single thread for clarity. First off let's start with tools needed:

 

1) Floor jack (and not just to lift the car), big-ass breaker bar and/or impact wrench

2) Spring compressors

3) Torque instrument capable of producing 15 ft-lb to 120 ft-lb of torque. If you use a torque wrench you'll almost certainly need two to cover this range.

4) 14mm crow's foot to torque rear top mount bolts.

5) 17mm offset wrench. Suggested version - Sears Craftsman #44366. Thanks to Myles and Keefe for turning me on to this part. Here's a link:

 

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00944366000

 

6) Various assortment of 12mm, 14mm, 17mm and 19mm sockets.

7) 6mm allen wrench.

8) buddy:)

 

REAR INSTALLATION

 

First, let's start with the rears. Everyone seems to be paranoid about reaching the top hats. Not to worry, they're pretty easy to get to:

 

1) Remove rear cargo tray cover and two carpeted side pieces.

2) Pull the carpet extension from the rear seat away from the floor. It's just a friction fit like one of those slide-on binders.

3) Pop up the three clips holding the floor piece. There's one at the rear of the piece in the middle and two at the front edge. Careful popping them out, they like to take off and then hide beneath the rear seat. Don't ask me how I know.

4) Remove the floor piece and there are the top hats! Weird, huh, sitting in the floor like that instead of up in the wheel well. Actually, they're recessed a bit under the side panels but are reachable.

 

Next, remove the shock unit from the car. I'm assuming that this point you've already jacked the car up on stands and removed the rear wheels:

 

1) Support the shock using the car's scissor jack and remove the lower bolt. This requires a MAJOR effort. Some people have used an impact wrench, but I used a broken torque wrench that now functions as a breaker bar combined with my floor jack to break the bolt loose.

2) Remove the two nuts from the top hat. They're a little hard to reach, especially the right rear nut, but with a little patience they'll come off OK.

3) Lower the scissor jack and remove the shock unit.

 

Now we're ready for the spring replacement:

 

1) Compress the springs using the spring compressor until the spring comes clear of the upper and lower mounts.

2) Remove the strut nut from the strut rod. This is a major PITA. The bolt is attached MUCH tighter than the factory torque spec. Place the 17mm offset wrench on the nut, put the 6mm allen wrench in the strut rod hole, and pull! You may want to loosen this nut before step 1, but DON'T remove it before you compress the spring unless you want an STi lobotomy. Note the strut mount and shock alignment - you'll have to put it back together the same way.

3) Remove the top hat and spring, taking care not to scratch or dent the strut rod. You'll have to proceed slowly to prevent the shock boot from crunching up.

4) Decompress the stock spring and compress the pink. Since the spring is a little shorter than stock you won't have to compress it as much.

5) Place the spring on the lower mount, making sure the lower end of the spring seats into the notch in the mount. Place the upper mount on top of the spring, making sure to duplicate the original mount-to-shock alignment.

The spring notch in the lower mount goes to the inside.

6) Reattach the top mount nut. Good luck torquing it:)

7) Decompress the spring, again taking care to maintain the top hat's relationship to the shock and the spring's seating in the lower mount.

 

Now reinstall the unit in the car:

 

1) Supporting the shock unit with your scissors jack, reinstall the top mount nuts and torque to spec using crow's foot. Again, right rear nu t will be the most difficult. Depending on your tool situation you may have to remove the right rear interior trim.

2) Using the scissors jack, compress the shock unit until the shock hole lines up with the control arm hole. This seemed easier to do then the manual's method of jacking the arm down. If you need to adjust the shock longitudinally just hammer it back or forth. Install the bolt and nut and torque to spec.

 

One down, three to go! The other side in the rear is the same. Here are the torque specs:

 

1) Upper shock bolts - 22.4 ft-lb

2) Strut rod bolt - 41 ft-lb

3) Lower shock bolt - 118 ft-lb (ugh!)

 

FRONT INSTALLATION

 

First, remove the strut unit from the car:

 

1) Remove the two bolts holding the ABS sensor and brake line from the shock unit.

2) Remove the two lower bolts from the strut. Note the alignment of the upper bolt - it adjusts the front camber. There are marks on the bolt and there should be a vertical mark on the strut. These bolts, while difficult, should be removable without using extreme measures, but your floor jack is standing by (assuming you've got the car up on stands and aren't putting your life in jeopardy by working on the car while supported by only the floor jack).

3) Remove the three bolts from the upper mount and remove the strut unit from the car.

 

Spring Replacement:

 

1) Compress the spring. The front is a little tricky because there are so few coils you'll have to hook on to adjacent coils. This will BARELY compress the spring enough to remove the top mount, tho this will vary depending on the compressor you use. Car must also be taken to position the compressor so that you can get a socket on it. The mounts are very wide and flare past the spring in some spots. If you pick a bad spot you'll have to compress the spring using a wrench - not fun.

2) Remove the strud rod bolt. Everything I said about the rears applies here. Also, you may want to loosen this nut before removing the strut unit from the car. I needed help from aforementioned buddy to get these nuts off.

3) Remove the top mount and spring. No worries about the strut rod and boot here - the front spring is much bigger in diameter than the rear.

4) Decompress the stock spring and compress the pink. A little planning is required here. I found that, in order for the compressor to clear the mounts so it was easily accessible with a socket wrench, I had to put one of them on about 2" past the start of the rubber sleeve at the bottom of the shock. This placement determines the other compressor's placement as well.

5) Place the spring on the lower mount, taking care to make sure the lower end of the spring is seated in the lower mount notch. Replace the upper mount, again taking care to retain its alignment relative to the strut. Install the strut rod nut and torque (ha!) to spec.

6) Decompress the spring. It's very easy for the spring to inch its way out of the lower mount notch and for the upper mount to rotate during this step so watch them both carefully.

7) At this point you'll probably notice that the lowest compressor finger is caught between the coils. You can just use a hammer to get it out, again taking care that the spring does not rotate away from the lower mount notch.

 

Unit reinstallation:

 

1) Reinsert the strut unit into the upper mount holes, replace the bolts and torque to spec.

2) Using your friendly floor jack, raise the control arm until the strut holes line up. Install the lower bolt and nut and then lower the jack.

3) Install the upper bolt and nut. Align the marks to their precious setting and torque the bolt to spec, taking care not to let the bolt turn.

4) Retorque the lower bolt.

5) Reinstall the two ABS/brake line bolts and retorque to spec.

 

Repeat for the other side. Here are the torque specs:

 

Upper mount nuts - 14.5 ft-lb

Strut rod nut - 41 ft-lb

ABS/Brake bolts - 24.5 ft-lb

Lower strut bolts - 112 ft-lb

 

Congratulations, you're now the proud owner of a Pink'd Legacy! I have a few more general observations:

 

1) It may be easier to group your torquing by effort. In other words, do all four corners first without torquing, then torque in order of magnitude. This will save you a lot of cranking if you have a click-type wrench.

2) Even with the offset wrench it's hard to get a good bite on the strut rod bolts. I trimmed the rubber surrounding the fronts to get a better look. I am also considering installing washers under these nuts for future work. As long as all of the nut's threads are engaged on the strut rod this should be fine, and will make it a lot easier to torque them during future shock replacement.

 

I believe this information is accurate but please feel to correct any errors I may have made in my retelling (like I have to ask:)) Here are the pics:

Wow, that's the real deal there. My hat's off to you. THanks for the detailed post and congrats.

For pinks on an Outback wagon - I laid a straight edge across the top of the tire and to the wheel well lip [ like the picture ] 1" and 1 1/4" rear. Looks just about the same to me. The is with the stock 225/55/17s which are 2" taller than the legacy tires.

Nice Hal... thanks. And nice wheels! :) So what's your driving impressions of them?

I may be the first voice of dissent on the Pinks. While I enjoy the increase in roll control and the overall feel from a performance standpoint, so far it seems that the ride/handling compromise inherent in any lowering spring is too much for my tastes. The suspension really picks up and transmits small bumps much more than before. Some people have commented that the shocks are primarily responsible for this effect. If so the Pinks have exacerbated the problem. I'm pretty sure I'll keep the springs, but I will certainly be on the lookout for shocks that better meet my requirements. Also, B4_manic put HKS coilovers on his car and he's indicated that he's pretty happy with the results. I may look into that as well. As far as looks go it's a huge improvement. I don't think my picture accurately captures the change.

[quote name='chucktoo']For pinks on an Outback wagon - I laid a straight edge across the top of the tire and to the wheel well lip [ like the picture ] 1" and 1 1/4" rear. Looks just about the same to me. The is with the stock 225/55/17s which are 2" taller than the legacy tires.[/QUOTE] That's a good idea. I'm going to update the after pics at some point and I'll do something like that to better show the drop. Based on my interpretation of the pics the drop appears to be somewhere between the 15mm specification and the 30mm plus found by some other Pinkers.

so where did you get the pinks?

Myles at [url]www.racecompengineering.com[/url].

Hal... rather have honest feedback on the pinks than smoke up our bums. ;) Thanks. I'm actually now leaning at the 20mm rear bar for being mod 2 (behind tires), simply for cost and not upsetting the ride too much. Can then decide if springs are needed after that.

[size=2]There is a ride quality compromise with the stiffer STi spring. The car no longer has that creamy, soft feel when going over small imperfections and there can be some initial impact harshness on sharp-edged potholes or broken pavement. But, roll is dramatically reduced and the car is much more responsive. [/size] [size=2][/size] [size=2]If you are unsure I would start with the rear bar.[/size] [size=2][/size] [size=2]Tom[/size]

Hal9e3, Great looking car and BBS style really sets it off perfectly. Good feedback for those of us needing first hand advice so we can weigh the pros/cons. Thanks

how difficult is the spring install? i've helped out with other cars, but not the LGT.

Probably no harder or easier than any other strut/multilink-equipped car. The initial removal of the strut/shock bolts is tough because of the high torque spec. Adjustable front camber means a little extra care must be taken to keep the bolts aligned properly, unless you're going to do a full align afterwards, in which case put 'em on any way you like:) Other than that it's pretty straightforward.

ya, car's coming close to 15K miles and hubby is a service advisor at the dealership and quite adament that i do the 15K "maintenance" which includes an all wheel alignment. this is why i wanted to get the springs done and installed before that happens. just not sure if i'm gonna do them myself or have someone help me out. if i have someone help me, then it'll cost some $$ for their time (he's one of the techs so does this on the side).

I decided to consolidate my posts into a single thread for clarity. First off let's start with tools needed:

 

1) Floor jack (and not just to lift the car), big-ass breaker bar and/or impact wrench

2) Spring compressors

3) Torque instrument capable of producing 15 ft-lb to 120 ft-lb of torque. If you use a torque wrench you'll almost certainly need two to cover this range.

4) 14mm crow's foot to torque rear top mount bolts.

5) 17mm offset wrench. Suggested version - Sears Craftsman #44366. Thanks to Myles and Keefe for turning me on to this part. Here's a link:

 

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00944366000

 

6) Various assortment of 12mm, 14mm, 17mm and 19mm sockets.

7) 6mm allen wrench.

8) buddy:)

 

REAR INSTALLATION

 

First, let's start with the rears. Everyone seems to be paranoid about reaching the top hats. Not to worry, they're pretty easy to get to:

 

1) Remove rear cargo tray cover and two carpeted side pieces.

2) Pull the carpet extension from the rear seat away from the floor. It's just a friction fit like one of those slide-on binders.

3) Pop up the three clips holding the floor piece. There's one at the rear of the piece in the middle and two at the front edge. Careful popping them out, they like to take off and then hide beneath the rear seat. Don't ask me how I know.

4) Remove the floor piece and there are the top hats! Weird, huh, sitting in the floor like that instead of up in the wheel well.

 

Next, remove the shock unit from the car. I'm assuming that this point you've already jacked the car up on stands and removed the rear wheels:

 

1) Support the shock using the car's scissor jack and remove the lower bolt. This requires a MAJOR effort. Some people have used an impact wrench, but I used a broken torque wrench that now functions as a breaker bar combined with my floor jack to break the bolt loose.

2) Remove the two nuts from the top hat. They're a little hard to reach, especially the right rear nut, but with a little patience they'll come off OK.

3) Lower the scissor jack and remove the shock unit.

 

Now we're ready for the spring replacement:

 

1) Compress the springs using the spring compressor until the spring comes clear of the upper and lower mounts.

2) Remove the strut nut from the strut rod. This is a major PITA. The bolt is attached MUCH tighter than the factory torque spec. Place the 17mm offset wrench on the nut, put the 6mm allen wrench in the strut rod hole, and pull! You may want to loosen this nut before step 1, but DON'T remove it before you compress the spring unless you want an STi lobotomy. Note the strut mount and shock alignment - you'll have to put it back together the same way.

3) Remove the top hat and spring, taking care not to scratch or dent the strut rod. You'll have to proceed slowly to prevent the shock boot from crunching up.

4) Decompress the stock spring and compress the pink. Since the spring is a little shorter than stock you won't have to compress it as much.

5) Place the spring on the lower mount, making sure the lower end of the spring seats into the notch in the mount. Place the upper mount on top of the spring, making sure to duplicate the original mount-to-shock alignment.

The spring notch in the lower mount goes to the inside.

6) Reattach the top mount nut. Good luck torquing it:)

7) Decompress the spring, again taking care to maintain the top hat's relationship to the shock and the spring's seating in the lower mount.

 

Now reinstall the unit in the car:

 

1) Supporting the shock unit with your scissors jack, reinstall the top mount nuts and torque to spec using crow's foot. Again, right rear nu t will be the most difficult. Depending on your tool situation you may have to remove the right rear interior trim.

2) Using the scissors jack, compress the shock unit until the shock hole lines up with the control arm hole. This seemed easier to do then the manual's method of jacking the arm down. If you need to adjust the shock longitudinally just hammer it back or forth. Install the bolt and nut and torque to spec.

 

One down, three to go! The other side in the rear is the same. Here are the torque specs:

 

1) Upper shock bolts - 22.4 ft-lb

2) Strut rod bolt - 41 ft-lb

3) Lower shock bolt - 118 ft-lb (ugh!)

 

FRONT INSTALLATION

 

First, remove the strut unit from the car:

 

1) Remove the two bolts holding the ABS sensor and brake line from the shock unit.

2) Remove the two lower bolts from the strut. Note the alignment of the upper bolt - it adjusts the front camber. There are marks on the bolt and there should be a vertical mark on the strut. These bolts, while difficult, should be removable without using extreme measures, but your floor jack is standing by (assuming you've got the car up on stands and aren't putting your life in jeopardy by working on the car while supported by only the floor jack).

3) Remove the three bolts from the upper mount and remove the strut unit from the car.

 

Spring Replacement:

 

1) Compress the spring. The front is a little tricky because there are so few coils you'll have to hook on to adjacent coils. This will BARELY compress the spring enough to remove the top mount, tho this will vary depending on the compressor you use. Car must also be taken to position the compressor so that you can get a socket on it. The mounts are very wide and flare past the spring in some spots. If you pick a bad spot you'll have to compress the spring using a wrench - not fun.

2) Remove the strud rod bolt. Everything I said about the rears applies here. Also, you may want to loosen this nut before removing the strut unit from the car. I needed help from aforementioned buddy to get these nuts off.

3) Remove the top mount and spring. No worries about the strut rod and boot here - the front spring is much bigger in diameter than the rear.

4) Decompress the stock spring and compress the pink. A little planning is required here. I found that, in order for the compressor to clear the mounts so it was easily accessible with a socket wrench, I had to put one of them on about 2" past the start of the rubber sleeve at the bottom of the shock. This placement determines the other compressor's placement as well.

5) Place the spring on the lower mount, taking care to make sure the lower end of the spring is seated in the lower mount notch. Replace the upper mount, again taking care to retain its alignment relative to the strut. Install the strut rod nut and torque (ha!) to spec.

6) Decompress the spring. It's very easy for the spring to inch its way out of the lower mount notch and for the upper mount to rotate during this step so watch them both carefully.

7) At this point you'll probably notice that the lowest compressor finger is caught between the coils. You can just use a hammer to get it out, again taking care that the spring does not rotate away from the lower mount notch.

 

Unit reinstallation:

 

1) Reinsert the strut unit into the upper mount holes, replace the bolts and torque to spec.

2) Using your friendly floor jack, raise the control arm until the strut holes line up. Install the lower bolt and nut and then lower the jack.

3) Install the upper bolt and nut. Align the marks to their precious setting and torque the bolt to spec, taking care not to let the bolt turn.

4) Retorque the lower bolt.

5) Reinstall the two ABS/brake line bolts and retorque to spec.

 

Repeat for the other side. Here are the torque specs:

 

Upper mount nuts - 14.5 ft-lb

Strut rod nut - 41 ft-lb

ABS/Brake bolts - 24.5 ft-lb

Lower strut bolts - 112 ft-lb

 

Congratulations, you're now the proud owner of a Pink'd Legacy! I have a few more general observations:

 

1) It may be easier to group your torquing by effort. In other words, do all four corners first without torquing, then torque in order of magnitude. This will save you a lot of cranking if you have a click-type wrench.

2) Even with the offset wrench it's hard to get a good bite on the strut rod bolts. I trimmed the rubber surrounding the fronts to get a better look. I am also considering installing washers under these nuts for future work. As long as all of the nut's threads are engaged on the strut rod this should be fine, and will make it a lot easier to torque them during future shock replacement.

 

I believe this information is accurate but please feel to correct any errors I may have made in my retelling (like I have to ask:)) Here are the pics:

 

 

woah...heck of a write up! car looks good with those wheels too...

I just cant believe they make the springs pink.. I mean come on.. pink?? I am sure there good but I am also sure I'd be painting them before they went on. lol. Thanks for the article and the picks..

I just cant believe they make the springs pink.. I mean come on.. pink?? I am sure there good but I am also sure I'd be painting them before they went on. lol. Thanks for the article and the picks..

 

jeebus,,,

I just cant believe they make the springs pink.. I mean come on.. pink?? I am sure there good but I am also sure I'd be painting them before they went on. lol. Thanks for the article and the picks..

 

......kidding right?

kidding about painting my springs?? Id probably just spray some undercoating on them.. Its possible I might not. Some guys are ok with pink.. but I might actually be getting some of dem dere springs. I am thinking about it.

looks like we'll be attempting this today and tomorrow perhaps. thanks for the great write up!

good write-up . I will follow it this weekend and let you know if anything can be described better. Then it should get sent to the Walkthrough section!

2) Even with the offset wrench it's hard to get a good bite on the strut rod bolts. I trimmed the rubber surrounding the fronts to get a better look. I am also considering installing washers under these nuts for future work. As long as all of the nut's threads are engaged on the strut rod this should be fine, and will make it a lot easier to torque them during future shock replacement.

 

Just wanted to add that I did do this and it does make it a lot easier to torque the bolts. You can use either 12mm or 7/16", both readily available at any hardware store.

edit: nvm, I found the answer already I mistaken the cm tape for inch reading ...

2) Even with the offset wrench it's hard to get a good bite on the strut rod bolts. I trimmed the rubber surrounding the fronts to get a better look. I am also considering installing washers under these nuts for future work. As long as all of the nut's threads are engaged on the strut rod this should be fine, and will make it a lot easier to torque them during future shock replacement.

 

First of all, thx for the great concise write-up. Just replaced some springs and your post was a great reference. When it came time to muck with the strut rod bolts, I just grabbed a socket with the Vice-Grips, and thus could put the allen key through the socket. The only thing I couldn't do was torque them exactly to spec, but I'm pretty sure I made a decent guess...

 

Andy

subscribing for future reference.