I am thinking of doing the install of the spring/shock/mount on my 03 xk8 to save some $$$$. I am going to take them to a shop and have someone put together the spring/shock. It is hard to remove the old units and put the new setups in?

 

It's not too hard if you have the tools. Most wrenches/sockets you need will be in the 15-20mm range and you will need a good size torque wrench to do it properly.

Most important thing is to support the hub assembly when you take the upper control arm loose so that it doesn't flop over and damage the lower ball joint.

Also a good opportunity to replace the upper control arm bushes, since you need to take it loose to get the shock assembly out.

 

You have to remove the upper control are to get the shock assembly out. Mine gave me no issues but there has been reports of sever issues getting the bolt out. Go ahead and get new upper bushings, pay special at tension to the spacers and which ones go where.

 

Fairly easy, if you have a lot of experience wrenching on cars. The hardest part is removing the upper wishbone pivot bolt, which might be frozen due to corrosion. You also have to be careful with the castor shims, being certain to put them back EXACTLY as they were during re-assembly. And don't let the suspension parts hang by the brake line hose or the ABS sensor wire!

I used the same approach as you plan for the swaping-out of the parts. The shop charged me only $30 for the pair.

Good luck!

 

There you go.

 

that bolt was hard for me, I wonder if there is tool to make it simpler. besides that it is very doable.

 

I've done hundreds of these and all you have to do is pray that effing long bolt holding the upper control arm is not rusted into the control arm. When I put it back together I always put antiseize though, the rule is make it easy for the next tech around.

I wrote an article if you want some reading but can't beat the video:

jaghelp.com: Changing the shocks and the shock mounts on your Jaguar XK8

 

how much labor costs (hours I guess) am I saving to pay a shop that works on European cars, NOT a dealer.

 

You need to know the book time and labor rate for the shop. I would guess the book time is about 3 hours per side. Total cost non-dealer labor only probably about $700-800 I would guess. Its a day job in your own garage if you haven't done it before and if you rent/borrow a spring compressor to do the top mount swap yourself, and a C-clamp will push the A-Arm bushes out fairly easy. With experience, it can be done in about 4 hours, unless as others have said, things are seized. The shop would add another 1-2 hours to do A-Arm bushings at the same time. If you get a spring compressor and do it all yourself most auto-parts stores lend them for a deposit, but make sure you get one with retaining clips that will lock onto the spring, otherwise, not retaining claws will slip off and are dangerous.

 

I just did mine. Removing the upper wish bone bolt was the most work. And I used a spring compressor from the local parts house. That was a lot of work and I will never do that again. If that compressor had broken one of the arms the spring stored energy is enormous. And very dangerous. Please take the struts along with your part to a good front end shop and have them use their stationary spring compressor to do all the work. Do not do this part yourself like I did. Way too dangerous.

 

indy shop that works on Jags where I live, 3 blocks away (lucky me!), quoted me $119 per side!!!


parts geek sells the mounts for $114. $230 + $240 = $470 for me.

 

can buy the rebuild kit from motorcars ltd and rebuild the upper mounts yourself also ...these have the poly bushings instead of the foam . also when you get the control arm bolt out buy a bolt similar size but shorter to use as a guide when re installing the bolts the shims are 3 and 1 on one side and 1 and 3 on the other... look for a post on here for them .

 

I have a car shop (stand alone) that has been around for AGES that works only on European cars, they are a few blocks away, as is the only Jag *********** in the Cincy area.

 

s t e a l e r s h i p is blocked out here? ha ha ha