Has anyone here had to deal with Tokico's warranty? I just bought four new blues and I installed them and everything was cool for a few days and then the front passenger side started banging when hitting bumps. I checked the nut on top of the strut and it was somewhat loose. I tried torquing it down again and it cleared up for a day or so and started doing it again. This time when I tried tightening the nut, it started turning with barely any resistance. So I figured right away the nut must be stripped out, I'll just take it off and get a different one....but...the nut will NOT come off the strut. It just turns both ways. I tried pulling up with channel locks while turning it to try and get it to bite and come off but no dice. So for safety I put another nut on top of it to keep it secure, with about 75 ft. lbs. Then I went to try getting it off again and now BOTH of them are stuck on there... If I'm reading it correctly the FSM says they're supposed to be from 73-80 lbs. and I believe that I put them in correctly... Come to find out the driver side did the same thing and the struts themselves look to be stripped. I'm hesistant to remove them and take the nuts off because if I can't get them back together I have no car. Tokico's warrantly info says the struts had to be installed by a "professional" installer, which I am not by any means professional but I know how to put struts in. It also says the struts had to be registered within ten days and so on... Is there any chance that they will honor the warranty or am I screwed? Just curious if any body else has ever had to gone through a warranty ordeal with struts. Thanks!

 

It's more likely that your strut mounts "D" shaped hole is not D shaped anymore, it could be the strut shaft itself, but either way read the thread link below, it has some solutions to your problem.


--->http://forums.maxima.org/3rd-generat...strut-nut.html

 

it sounds like installer error here.
how's your strut mount?

i don't think tokico will warranty your strut if it compresses and rebounds correctly they don't see it as a failure. i sent in a set to shox.com for warranty and they sent me a check since i already ordered replacements. the struts were worn...push it down and nothing happens and it would go down very easily/quickly.

 

dyam i m about to replace my suspension system....now i donoo wat to get lol

 

there is nothing wrong with toks, burhan. I am about to order a set myself.
(off topic, like the new SN better.)

 

Break out that thick towel and the VISE GRIP PLIERS! You "D" is now an "O"! That's why I love my 5.5 Gen the strut mount "D" bore fits tighter on the shaft, and the mount is thicker!

 

so tokico struts and eibhac springs?

 

Yeah I'm not bashing tokico. They are great struts IMO. That's what I was running in there before the replacement.

 

The other possible issue is you were shipped the wrong nuts. IIRC the strut shaft is a 12mm x 1.25mm. They are VERY close to a 1/2"-20 nut. in fact the nut will thread on, but will usually only hold 20-30lb of torque before popping loose. It's possible you had the wrong nuts in there, but the D to O thing it also fairly common.


in order to get the struts apart, you'll probably have to wrap the strut shaft in rubber or a towel and grip with channel locks, then turn the nut while you've got some spring pressure on it. (i.e. jack the car up and pull the struts off or start loosening the bolt with the front end jacked up.)

once you get the nut started on some good threads, then you can put spring compressors on and finish the job the proper way.

now...... go to the parts store and buy some 7/16" fine-thread nylock nuts and a high quality cutting die to match. (7/16" = 11.11mm)
carefully cut the slightly smaller threads onto the strut shafts and call it a day.

 

Will do, Thanks for the help.

 

I ended up re-cutting the threads on the top of the struts down to a 7/16 thread. Put some lock washers on and it was fine again untill a few days later the driver side stut was leaking and I could tell it was blown out. Overall I cut my losses and picked up some factory struts and springs from the junkyard and cut about a coil and a half off of the springs so that the car wasn't ridiculously higher in the front than in the back. It's driving pretty well and it's nice having some suspension again. It's turns out Danny was right I believe it was my fault. I didn't have the strut mount clocked correctly. I was paying more attention to how the spring looked sitting in the strut. When installing the spring in the strut according to the manual it looks as though the spring would or could pop out. I also over torqued the nuts waaaay to much. I feel like a crackhead after looking at the FSM again. I'm not sure how I got 80 ft. lbs out of 43. I might have been looking at the wrong measurement. Personally I think it is also excessively hard on the struts when the car is 2 inches lower although alot of people might disagree.

 

ha anyone with a brain will agree... dropping cars is harder on the struts.

 

how about cutting stock springs to lower your car while keeping the stock struts...how about that? would that be a gud idea on VE?

 

drop springs really need to be stiffer to reduce travel... cutting stock springs will make you more likely to bottom out. if it's just by a half inch you might be ok but if you want to drop it 2 inches... you HAVE to have a stiffer spring.

using spell check, on the other hand, is a really gud idea

 

spell check?

 

it's a new concept to you, I know. but we can get through this together

anyways, point is, if you're gonna make a big change to the car like that, get the right parts. saving ~$200 by NOT buying drop springs isn't worth the trouble you'll come across later...

 

i hate to say it but you're going to be doing struts again in a short time.
while the strut is on the car mark the stud position...i like to mark everything. when the strut mount goes on the spring note the notch is the outer position. everything should be clocked the right direction before and it should be the same after.

if you do the struts again it might be a good idea to seek help for go to a shop...and let me say that i'm a big believer of DIY...but sometimes going DIY ends up costing you more money and safety may be a concern.

 

easy easy...let's all play nice in the sand box.

 

lol nothing to see here. we just like teasing him, is all.

 

ya my buddy dropped his 240sx by cutting his stock springs....i was thinking of doing that too but i guess its not a gud idea...

 

cutting springs=

 

does any one have struts and springs lying around for cheap?