BC Racing rear spring install - How to torque lower shock bolt?

[Michael48]

Hey everyone, I'm currently installing some BC racing BR coilovers and I'm a bit confused on the rear install. I checked out BC's video about setting preload by bolting up the lower control arm and raising it 7-10 mm from static height. From here you set the height of the shock and do up the lower bolt. But at this point, with the spring installed and loaded, there is not enough room to fit a socket onto the lower shock bolt with a torque wrench.

My thought is that once the shock height is set, I would uninstall the spring, fully bolt and torque the shock, then reinstall the spring. It seems like a bit of backtracking but I haven't found much info covering this issue because most car examples have bolts that run the length of the car, not the width like in the MKV.

Any thoughts on the matter would be very helpful! This is my first coilover install and I want to get it right. Thanks in advance.

 

[snobrdrdan]

I think you're overthinking it.
Just put a jack under the rear knuckle and then tighten/torque down the lower shock bolt. Then you can install the spring and then adjust the shock length.
You can use the jack to compress the rear suspension to imitate the suspension loaded

 

[vwengineer]

This exactly