front shock question

Rubber Stops

If the A-arms are not down on the rubber stops then the shocks are still under tension from the spring.

BTW: this is BAD as it means the shocks have reached full extension before the A-arms have been stopped by the rubber bumpers. In this case you need shocks with more stroke as limiting the downward movement of the suspension with the full extension of the shocks will just "shock" them and eventually destroy them.

There needs to be an inch or so of extension left in the shocks at full A-arm movement to allow for the compression of the rubber bumpers too. Also check at the other end of the A-arm movement - shocks bottoming out at full compression will likewise destroy things and affect handling in extreme rebound conditions.

I'm a little confused...the rubber bumpers (two cone shaped pointing down) are at the top of the A-arm and stop the A-arm under load..compressing the shock. When the front end is out of the car, the a-arms go down. I don't recall any rubber bumpers stopping the downward movement of the a-arm. Am I missing something??

I think that's the perch..but it is still not in contact unless under load of the car. What I'm wondering, is when the front end is out, and I take the bolts out of the shocks, will that a-arm slam down, or is it pretty much at its limit (these are the original shocks).

Oops!

Quite right - there are no bumpers when the A-arms hang down and the shock can well be under spring pressure at the limit of travel - another "aged moment". And another "fantastic feature" of the Opel front supension!

Just put a couple of bags of sand on top of the cross member to compress the spring a little to relieve any force and remove the bolts then. HTH

the perch should always be in contact and the rubber stop should under normal driving never be hit. If you have a bad perch it will affect the ride height of the side in question and if you have a bad bump stop you may never even know it. The perch is held by the 2 front bolts to the sub frame and the bump stops are bolted to the A arm. Kevin I do remember showing you a perch but not a bump stop. HTH