I have a 2006 Mercury Gran Marquis LS with rear air springs and the Handling and Performance Package. The car has 95K miles and is beginning to get bouncy. I believe that I need new shocks. I have installed many sets of shocks over the last 50 years. I have the Factory Service Manual (FSM).
The rear shocks appear to be straight forward.
The front suspension has upper and lower control arms on each side. The front shocks look to have the front spring as part of the "shock/spring" assembly. I can see where a plate at the top of the spring/shock assembly is retained with three nuts on studs on a casting attached to the frame rail. So far so good. I can see where the top of the shock attaches to the center of the plate. It looks like the plate on which the bottom of the spring is seated is attached to the shock's reservoir housing. It looks like the force of the spring is transmitted to the lower control arm through the shock reservoir housing and the single (hefty) bolt that connects the bottom of the shock to the lower control arm.
Is this all correct?
According to the FSM I have to take apart the whole front suspension on each side; i.e. remove the brake caliper, brake disc, stabilizer bar link, the wheel speed sensor wiring harness from the wheel knuckle, and remove the upper ball joint nut. Then I can spread the control arms and remove the shock/spring assembly.
Is my understanding of the front suspension work correct?
I'd like to go to the Monroe Crown Vic police shocks. I plan to get the Monroe Magnum Severe Service rear shock #550018,
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...0018/03415.oap
and the Monroe Magnum Severe Service front shock # 553001,
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...3001/03415.oap
I know that I will have to compress and remove the front springs from the current front shock/spring assemblies and move them and mounting hardware to the new front shocks. I live in south Texas with no exposure to salt. Am I likely to need a parts kit for the front assemblies or can I probably reuse my current eleven year old parts with 95k miles? I know that the FSM specifies for certain nuts and/or bolts to be discarded on removal and replaced with new.
Or should I go for a new complete shock/spring assembly? I would, but I can't find one for the Handling and performance package. The Monroe "Quick Strut" appears to be for standard Crown Vics, Mercurys, and Lincolns. I want to keep the stock height for ground clearance in normal driving.
Does it sound like I have a reasonable plan? Please advise.
Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge and experience. Rob