Rear Coil-over Shocks

The original GTE manual suggests using air shocks and that's because you're looking at 450 lbs of batteries over the back axle.  I plan on placing 12 batteries next to the electric motor, which will actually equal the weight of a 1500 CC engine.  Then in the back seat area I'll place another 16 batteries.  This is 4 sets of 4 lithiums. This will weigh approx 116 lbs.  Even though this isn't much extra weight at all, it's a good idea to add the shocks anyway.  Coil-over shocks can be very expensive.  I bought 3 for my Sparrow a while back and spent $500.  I found these online and they were about $30 each.  They're branded as "economy" and are made in Taiwan. They sure are pretty!

The nice thing is these are adjustable.  There's a tool that comes with them.  (It's in the center) It's a good idea to adjust them before you put them on the vehicle lest you get scraped knuckles.  I placed these on my vice and they adjusted very easily.  Hmmmm the last set I adjusted coil-over shocks, they were much harder to adjust.  Maybe these will be econo-crap?

So what's the worst thing that can happen when you go to swap out shocks?   The bolt gets rusted to either the lower arm or the bushing sleeve.  During this procedure, it happened 3 times.  On two occasions the rubber bushing was so rotted, the sleeve came out.  One of the bolts was rusted to the lower arm.  Needless to say I pounded away with a 5 lb sledgehammer to no avail.  After a night of penetrating oil it finally came free. Thank God for penetrating oil!!!

Even after sitting all night in oil the sleeves will not come off the bolts. I can see I'm going to have to run to the hardware store and get some new bolts, washers and nuts.
 The metric bolts and nuts are expensive - $4 just for the bolts.  When I came home I realized that the bushing on the bottom of the shocks are wider.  The existing bolt length will not work.  The hardware store DID NOT have a longer metric bolt.  I jumped to a similar 7/16 bolt. This cost about $1 each.  Once again I used the hydraulic jack to help lift the bottom of the shock into place - the springs added a whole lot of resistance.

Of course now I'm wondering just what kind of shape the front shocks are in? They will also gain some weight from the front battery pack.  Better order them now!