Rear shock replacement

This guide will give you an idea of what to expect when doing the job with instructions and diagrams below.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/replace-shock-absorber

Yours will be a little different here is a guide with diagrams BELOW

The electrical power to the air suspension system must be turned off prior to hoisting, jacking or towing an air suspension vehicle. Failure to do so can result in unexpected inflation or deflation of the air springs, which can result in shifting of the vehicle during these operations.

Turn the air suspension service switch off

Raise and support the vehicle.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/jack-up-and-lift-your-car-safely

Use the special tool 014-00942or equivalent to support the rear axle.
Vehicles equipped with air suspension

WARNING: Do not remove an air spring under any circumstances when there is air pressure in the air springs Do not remove any components supporting an air spring without exhausting the air.
Release the air pressure from the air springs.

Diagrams BELOW

Hi there,

See text for removal, access is often tight working on many makes of car, often you just have to do the best you can, designers often pay scant regard to those who have to repair what they design, thi sis a problem we face every day in the trade, and i have plenty of scars on my hands and arms to prove it, basic hand tools should be enough to do this, just be patient and don't rush.

mark (mhpautos)

See diagrams

Brutal but effective

You might need a special thin wrench to sneak in there. The nut could be square or a hex head, and the size can vary depending on the manufacturer that supplied the shock absorber and whether these are still original or if they've been replaced once already. Sometimes the upper cover is steel and you can just hold onto that to keep the shaft from spinning as you try to unscrew the top nut.

Not only did I look at your photos multiple times, as a suspension and alignment specialist I've replaced a lot of these rear shock absorbers over the years. Some took me almost three hours to do a pair of them, and they always involved muttering under my breath that an engineer could design something so miserable to work on. To add to the misery, the top nuts usually are rusty, so wrenches won't grab well. My best approach was to grab the top nut with a Vise-Grip pliers, then grab the steel cover and turn it with my hands. In the '80s and '90s they didn't even have the thin nuts on top of the covers.

Some of these shock absorbers had soft plastic covers. On those you can cut the covers off, then grab the shafts with another Vise-Grip pliers after grinding some flats on them.

I have never had one of these where I was able to unscrew the top nut, as you are hoping to do. At one shop I worked at, we weren't allowed to have a torch because we were attached to a shopping mall. Most of my success came with using a cutoff tool with a 3" metal-cutting wheel to cut through the shaft just below the upper mounting plate. Later, when working at a very nice dealership, the torch made quick work of the upper nuts, as long as there wasn't the typical leaking gas tank.

By the way, those upper nuts started life as 15 mm nuts. If you're trying to get a 14 mm on there, the nuts are already rusted away and the threaded shaft is going to be the same. You're never going to get those nuts unscrewed, so you can resign yourself to looking for a different way.

It varies by load on car. It depends on what ride you want hard or soft. 30-35 psi should be okay if not lower the pressure.