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Body Leveling Kit - DIY and Review (+)
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Posted by robp [Email] (more from robp) on Mon, 21 Oct 2002 10:10:16 Share Post by Email
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I recently installed the Body Leveling Kit (Saab Accessory) in our 2002 Linear Wagon and thought I'd pass along a few DIY notes and some impressions. First off, thanks to Patprice for answering my previous questions and to SaabCenter for the great service and price on the kit itself.

The Body Leveling Kit is made by Sachs (Germany). It's basically a set of struts that are beefier than the OE units. The kit came with decent installation instructions complete with exploded parts diagrams that were easy to follow.

Installation took me a little less than two hours. Required tools are a set of metric socket wrenches and some STURDY jack stands while you work under the car. A hydraulic floor jack and a strut spring compressor are also recommended. (AutoZone has the strut springs compressors as a free rental w/ fully refundable deposit.)

One tricky part of the installation was to press-fit a conical washer into the top of the plastic dust cover sleeve. The instructions said to press the washer up from the inside of the sleeve - but it's a very tight fit and the washer kept shooting out the top. Instead, I soaked the plastic sleeve in scalding water to soften it up, and then inserted the washer in from the top, just under the 4 retaining tabs.

Once the car is securely on the jack stands, removing the existing spring assembly is pretty easy. Remove the 4 (17mm) bolts at the top of the spring housing and the large shock mounting bolt from the bottom. The large bolt is approximately 20mm (?). I did not have a metric socket that size, but a 13/16" worked fine. The entire spring assembly and mounting bracket drops right out once these 5 bolts are removed. The only thing left to do is to remove the nut from the top of the existing strut to remove it from the housing. If the strut rod turns while you turn the nut, you may have to use a box end wrench on the nut while holding the strut rod with a crescent wrench.

Installation is the reverse of the steps in the previous paragraph. When I reinstalled the first strut, the large bolt used on the bottom of the strut threaded into the swing arm without any problem - I did not have to use the strut spring compressor to get it started. However, on the other strut the bolt kept binding / would not thread so I ended up using the spring compressor - and then it threaded in just fine. I was glad I had rented the tool ahead of time.

After installation, I found the kit had raised the body of the car by a little less than .5", measured at the rear wheel well opening. My first test drive was with an empty car - I wanted to get an impression of the kit without a load. It felt a little stiffer on smooth roads, but in a good way. I then purposely took it on one of the roughest washboard expressways we have in Northern Illinois to see if the ride was noticeably harsher with the heavier springs. I was pleased when I found it the ride and the road noise not much affected at all compared to the original struts. I was able to conduct a 'loaded' test the following day while taking my parents to the airport. The rear cargo area was filled with heavy suitcases, and with 3 adults in the car the ride height was not nearly as affected as with the OE struts. The true test will of course come on the next family road trip we take when the car is loaded up complete with a Yakima Spacecase cartop carrier.

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