can someone please explain what they mean when they say i need to put the car on jackstands, and "keep the suspension loaded so its not hanging freely."

 

The second part is easy, and is usually associated with re-installing control arms that have the OE bushings in them. Those kind of bushings are bonded to both the inner sleeve and the outer shell and the inner sleeve may be "toothed" for extra grip. You want the bushing to be unloaded with the car at rest so that it can accommodate movement in either direction with about equal ease. If they are installed and torqued tight with the suspension in full droop (aka "hanging freely") you can overstress the bushings and they will tear. Probably not right away - it's a fatigue sort of thing.

I don't understand what your confusion over the first item could be, though.


Norm

 

but how do you jack the car up without the suspension hanging... how to keep the pressure on the shocks

 

If you jack up the rear of the car and place your jackstands under the axle, load will remain on your rear suspension, therefore the suspension is loaded, if you place the jackstands on the frame and your rearend is hanging down then the suspension is unloaded.

 

thank you newbie you should be in over drive.

 

A good example of loading the rear suspension while the car is on Jack stands is presented by TacoBill in his latest post about swapping out Lower Control Arms. Good Read.