How to install KW v2's - replacing stock shocks?

[rhallman]

Before I jump in to replace my stock shocks, anyone have experiance and / or "How-To" tips on installing upgraded shocks?

Thanks....
Rich

 

[AbsolutHank]

Sure Rich...I've done a few sets now, so I can help you out. On the fronts, you need to disconnect the sway bar end links from the lower control arm because the lower coilover mounting bolt is facing the wrong direction and cannot be removed. I reinstalled the lower bolt the opposite way so there is nothing to disconnect in the future.

On the rear, you need to remove the rear half of the wheelhouse liner and then pull the 5" rubber plug up above the coilover to gain the necessary clearance to remove the coilover.

Ive installed all my sets with the car on jackstands; and was always sure to raise the lower control arm with a floor jack before tightening the mounting bolts.

 

[Sonoman]

Removing the original _rear_ shocks can be a pain because of all the pre-load on them that cannot be released (you can back off the spring pre-load on an adjustable shock like the KW). That, in combination with the long forked clevis that straddles the half shaft make the rear shocks more challenging to pull off. Removing the sway bar end links in the back can give you a little more room to maneuver by allowing the control arms to drop down further. I found it faster to drop the upper control arm mounts than to remove the rear inner fender liner. If you are really in a hurry and are going to discard the old shocks, you can even cut off (!) one leg of the aluminum forked clevis that connects the shock to the lower control arm. I buzzed through one in a few minutes with a cut-off wheel after covering up everything to keep aluminum bits from getting everywhere. Not proud of it, but when the clock is ticking, the race pit crew mentality sometimes comes in handy...

Also, Ryan mentioned torquing all the suspension mounting hardware with the car at ride height. This is recommended in the service manual. I put the lug nuts back on (with no wheel) to keep the disc rotor torqued in place and carefully lowered the car down onto a 6-inch wood block to bring the suspension up to ride height after installing the new shock. It helps to know what height the bottom of the disc rotor is at when the car is sitting at normal ride height, but on mine, six inches was about right. Use caution regarding the control arms, since they are aluminum and could be damaged by jacking or prying on them with anything, steel in particular.

While you're in there replacing the shocks, it's a good time to grease the upper and lower ball joints on each corner.

Here's what my new KW's looked like after the install:

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[CPPRHD265]

I do not have any pictures to share of the install I did a couple of years ago, but I do have some trouble points to relay to ya. As mentioned above, the 5 inch rubber plug on the top of the rear wheel wells is the key to removing & installing the rear coilovers. You can pop them out and in using the hole up there, you will not need to saw on the stock ones at all. Just line up the top, pull the shock up into the hole, then rotate and remove the shock, that's it.

The fron swaybar balljoint end links can be a PIA. On my drivers side, The whole ball would spin as I was trying to get the nut off the swaybar. I ended up replacing that one as I managed to wreck the threads on it in my removal attempts

I had to lightly contoure ( on a sanding sanding disk ) the shock bushings in the top of the rears to fit into the top mounting bracket. Mine were about a centimeter to wide to fit, and no amount of pursuasion would get them in otherwise. The fronts went in without "tweeking".

 

[Sonoman]

If I remember right, the 2003 Vipers did not have the 5-inch rubber plugs? In any event, the later year models definitely have them. I found the spring pre-load on mine to still be too much to allow the top mount of the shock to be moved into the hole where the plug was without a bit of spring compression. Even with the sway bar released to get more travel on the lower control arm, the shock was just too long to bring the upper shock eye into that hole in the body. Anyone else experience this PITA?

Now that CPPRHD265 mentioned it, the upper mounts were slightly too narrow on mine as well (about 2mm). The mounting tabs to the rear frame had a bit of give and I was able to get the shock eye to slide in with some effort and a few taps of a nylon dead-blow. The Viper's front mounting tabs are rock solid and I had to take almost a millimeter off each face of the KW shock's top mounting eyelet to get them to fit perfectly (snug).

 

[ulllose]

2003's have the plug.....if hey didn't you would not be able to get the shocks off

 

[rhallman]

KW's are installed but Im a bit confused on the adjustments? I looked at the manual for the KW v2's and wonder which adjustment does what? Which one is the Height Adjustment? Rebound or bump? Thanks...

 

[Sonoman]

KW's are installed but Im a bit confused on the adjustments? I looked at the manual for the KW v2's and wonder which adjustment does what? Which one is the Height Adjustment? Rebound or bump? Thanks...

Rebound is adjusted by turning the rod with holes located near the very top of the shock above the spring. There is an adjustment key (basically a small hex wrench with a triangular "handle" bent into one end) that can be inserted into the holes in the rebound adjustment shaft and rotated about one-quarter turn at a time. Looking down on the shock, clockwise gives a stiffer damping setting. You will also feel subtle "clicks" or detents while turning the rebound adjuster, and there are six clicks for each full revolution of the adjustment shaft. The manual says 9 clicks out (1.5 turns) from full clockwise is centered on the adjustment range. I marked my rebound adjuster with a red dot so that I could verify one full turn, and yes, it really was six clicks.

Height adjustment is done by changing the effective length of the spring. You will notice the lower shock body is threaded. There is a purple collar at the base of the spring that can be rotated to either increase or decrease the pre-load on the spring, which changes your ride height. For instance, if you turn the adjustment collar so that it is 1/4" closer to the bottom of the shock, the spring is then longer and under lower tension when you place the weight of the car on it, so the car rides lower. All adjustments are normally made with the car supported at the under-body jack point for the wheel being adjusted, with the wheel removed (no weight on the suspension for that wheel). Before adjusting the spring collar you must first loosen the small hex head set screw which locks the collar in place. The set screw is then re-torqued after adjustments are made to only 1-to-2 N-m (not much). It is a small screw and can be stripped easily if over-torqued.


Before making a change to the ride height I would carefully measure the existing height on a level surface. I set mine after all level adjustments were done to be dead even side-to-side with 180 pounds of weight in the driver's seat (not too fat so far!). The rake of the Viper is typically set to 1.75" from front to rear at the wheel center lines (rear is 1.75" higher than the front). I used masking tape to mark locations on the fender arch directly over the centerline of the wheel, but you can use reference points on the frame as well. A good starting point for a lowered car with stock wheels is 26.25" front and 28.0" rear at the bottom of the fender arch centered over the wheel. The stock ride height (original shocks) on my '05 was at 27.125" in front and 29.375" rear. These numbers give tire-to-fender gaps similar to a school bus.

 

[rhallman]

This is what I was looking for!! Thanks...!!

 

[CPPRHD265]

Another note. When I put mine on, I lowered the car quite a bit, just couldn't stand the trail rated look on the Viper.... After I got done tweeking it, I took it in to my local vipertech for a full alignment, I didn't want to eat up the new PS2 shoes I put on it. That alignment took over 4 hours, but he dialed it in perfect.