Applies To: 2002-2008 Mazda 6, 2006 - 2009 Ford Fusion & Mercury Milan
Introduction
I have a 2007 Ford Fusion S. Since new, I have had a clunk / rattle type noise coming from(it seems) the passenger side rear strut area.It sounds like a loose shock absorber clanging around when going read more. 2012 Ford Fusion Shock/Strut - Front A 2012 Fusion shock absorbers hold the weight of the vehicle over the wheels, and generally keep things stable on the road. The most basic explanation: they compress so that your vehicle's wheels can move up and down without moving the whole car up and down when you drive on roads with bumps or potholes.
Changing the rear shocks is usually a fairly easy and quick job. Not so on the Mazda 6, Fusion, and Milan. You'll be dealing with rusted bolts, tight quarters, and debris falling on your face. So to make this job easier on you, I'm going to list a few things that you will want to get before you start this job. The rear shocks on the Mazda 6 are mounted to a bracket. You have to remove the bracket and shock as one unit. You will want to have:
- 3/8' ratchet with 14mm, 15mm sockets.
- 1/2' ratchet with a 18mm socket.
- 14mm, 15mm open ended wrenches
- breaker bar or a cheater pipe.
- universal joint adapter so that you can reach one of the bracket bolts.
- safety glasses to prevent debris from falling in your eyes.
Rear Shock Removal
1. Raise the rear of the car and support with jack stands.
2. Remove the lower shock mounting bolt (18mm). You will need to use a breaker bar as this bolt requires a lot of torque to remove, especially if you live in areas that have a lot of snow. When I removed this bolt I found that it got stuck half way through the shock so I had to hammer it out from the other end.
Ford Fusion Rear Shock Absorber Removal Pads
3. If you look up above the shock you can see the bracket that needs to come off. It is secured with three 14mm bolts. The image below shows one of the harder bolts to take out. You have several options - you can use an deep offset wrench, you can also use an open ended wrench but you have to be careful not to strip the bolt. And the last thing you can do is to remove the whole upper control arm. I really recommend you take out the control arm as it will make removing and reinstalling the shock and bracket much easier.
Here are the other two bolts. One is easy to get, just use an extension (#1). The other bolt (#2) you can either use an open ended wrench or a ratchet with a universal joint adapter to get it at an angle.
4. Once you have all three bolts removed, you have to guide the bracket and shock out. There is not a lot of room and if you did not take out the control arm it is a real pain to wiggle the bracket and shock out. This will probably take the up the bulk of your time. If you plan to remove the control arm, they are secured by 15mm bolts.
5. You should now have everything out. Time to install the new shocks. Before removing the old shock from the bracket, index the shock in relation to the bracket. You will transfer this index mark to the new shock. When reinstalling, make sure the shock is at a 118 degrees from the bracket. The shock is held by a 15mm bolt with an 18mm nut. When reinstalling the new shock, tighten the nut to 76 lb-ft.
6. Reinstall the bracket and shock and tighten the bracket bolts to 35 lb-ft (if you can even get a torque wrench in there).
7. Install the shock lower bolt but do no tighten it all the way yet. You have to make sure the suspension is in a neutral state before you can fully tighten the bolt. You can use a jack and compress the rear or just lower the car on its tires and then tighten the lower bolt to 85 lb-ft.
Removal
1 Slacken the roadwheel bolts, raise the rear of the vehicle, support it on stands (see “Jacking and Vehicle Support”) and remove the roadwheel.
2 Support the suspension lower arm with a jack.
3 Open the tailgate and lift the parcel tray to expose the shock absorber top mounting (see illustration).
Ford Fusion Shock Mount Rear
10.3 Rear shock absorber top mounting
4 Remove the cap and then unscrew the nut from the shock absorber spindle. To prevent the spindle turning, use an Allen key in the socket provided (see illustration).
10.4 Removing the shock absorber top mounting nut - Saloon and Estate models
5 Take off the cap and insulator.
6 Separate the brake hydraulic hose from the shock absorber by slackening the centre locking nut and easing the hose and pipe down and out of the slot in the bracket (see illustration). On the right-hand side there is very little clearance for a spanner and it may be easier if the roadspring is removed as described in Section 13.
10.6 Brake hydraulic hose-to-shock absorber attachment (arrowed) - Saloon and Estate models
7 Undo the two bolts securing the shock absorber to the stub axle carrier and withdraw the unit, together with cup and bump rubber, from under the wheel arch.
Testing
8 To test the shock absorber, grip its lower mounting in a vice so that the unit is vertical.
9 Fully extend and retract the shock absorber ten or twelve times. Any lack of resistance in either direction will indicate the need for renewal, as will evidence of leakage of fluid.
Refitting
10 Refitting is a reversal of removal, but if a new unit is being installed, prime it first in a similar way to that described for testing.
See also:
2014 Ford Fusion Rear Shocks
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